FLORIDA MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY The Florida Museum of Natural History, located at the University of Florida, is Florida's state museum of natural history, dedicated to understanding, preserving and interpreting biological diversity and cultural heritage. HOURS
The Museum is open all year, seven days a week except for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Please note: Last tickets sold 30 minutes prior to closing.
All Museum exhibits are wheelchair accessible. Cameras and camcorders are welcome. Tripods, monopods and commercial photography are prohibited. No food, drinks or gum permitted in Museum exhibits. The University of Florida campus is a tobacco-free environment. Due to the limited width of the paths, backpacks and strollers are not permitted in the Butterfly Rainforest. Bags larger than 15" x 15" x 7" must be checked at the desk before entering the exhibit.
History of Museum The Florida Museum of Natural History (formerly known as the Florida State Museum) got its start in 1891 when Frank Pickel, a professor of natural science at Florida Agriculture College in Lake City, purchased research collections of minerals, fossils and human anatomy models as aids in teaching biology and agricultural sciences.
Flint Hall The initial collections grew steadily with donations from other professors. When the Florida Agriculture College was abolished in 1905 the Museum became a part of the newly-created University of Florida, and was moved to Gainesville in 1906. The collections expanded in size and scope and were displayed for some time in a dormitory, Thomas Hall. Recognizing the significance of the growing research collections and teaching exhibits, the university found a new home for the Museum in the basement of the sciences building, Flint Hall.
Van Hyning Thompson H. Van Hyning, director of the Iowa State Museum during the preceding 10 years, was appointed the Museum's first director in 1914 and ran the Museum virtually unassisted for 29 years.
In 1917, Chapter 240.515 of the Florida Statutes was enacted which formally established the Florida State Museum at the University of Florida. (The statutes were renumbered in 2000 so this statute is now FS §1004.56.)
Seagle Building By the early 1930s, the Museum had acquired nearly half a million specimens and was running out of space. So, in 1937, the Museum's exhibits were moved to the Seagle Building in downtown Gainesville which they occupied for more than 30 years. Most of the collections remained in Flint Hall where they would be available to the faculty and students of the Department of Biology, which was housed in the building at that time. The collections continued to grow and space became so critical that by the mid-1960s all the zoological collections were transferred to the Seagle Building.
Grobman Arnold Grobman became the director of the Museum in 1952 and the first full-time faculty were hired to curate the collections and interpret them to the public. In 1953, the Museum developed its first traveling exhibit - a panoramic survey of Florida history beginning with the state's earliest inhabitants.
Dickinson In 1961, Joshua C. "J.C." Dickinson, Jr. was appointed Museum director. Under his leadership, research and education experienced explosive growth, particularly in curatorial staff and in the vertebrate systematics collections. The Seagle Building became increasingly cramped and once again there was a need for more space for research collections and exhibits. Dickinson spearheaded a drive for a new building.
The Matheson Museum building itself is located in Gainesville’s old American Legion Hall.It houses temporary & permanent exhibits that tell the story of Alachua County from the time of the Timucuan tribes through the Spanish occupation of the area William Bartram’s travels on through the 19th & 20th centuries.The Museum also houses a research library with an extensive collection of books,periodicals,maps, photographs,postcards & other objects.
The Matheson House the second oldest residence in Gainesville is a blend Classic Revival raised cottage architecture & the South Carolina plantation style.It's furnished with period furniture & the Matheson family’s personal possessions.The Matheson House is open by appointment.
The Tison Tool Museum houses the tool collection of Gainesville native James Mason Tison Jr.The building & tools honor the artistry & skill that created Alachua County’s built environment.
Directly behind the Museum is Sweetwater Park.When completed the Park will feature a 12-panel local history exhibit clusters of native plants & a formal Southern garden.
Hours: Tuesday-Friday 9:30a-1:30p; Sunday 1p-5p. Admission: Free though there may be a small charge for tours or special events.
Contact the Museum to make an appointment to use the research facilities.
The Florida Museum of Natural History, located at the University of Florida, is Florida's state museum of natural history, dedicated to understanding, preserving and interpreting biological diversity and cultural heritage.
Address :
Florida Museum of Natural History
University of Florida Cultural Plaza
SW 34th Street and Hull Road
PO Box 112710
Gainesville, FL 32611-2710
(352) 846-2000
A Brief History of the Museum :
The Florida Museum of Natural History (formerly known as the Florida State Museum) got its start in 1891 when Frank Pickel, a professor of natural science at Florida Agriculture College in Lake City, purchased research collections of minerals, fossils and human anatomy models as aids in teaching biology and agricultural sciences.
The initial collections grew steadily with donations from other professors. When the Florida Agriculture College was abolished in 1905 the Museum became a part of the newly-created University of Florida, and was moved to Gainesville in 1906. The collections expanded in size and scope and were displayed for some time in a dormitory, Thomas Hall. Recognizing the significance of the growing research collections and teaching exhibits, the university found a new home for the Museum in the basement of the sciences building, Flint Hall.
Thompson H. Van Hyning, director of the Iowa State Museum during the preceding 10 years, was appointed the Museum's first director in 1914 and ran the Museum virtually unassisted for 29 years.
In 1917, Chapter 240.515 of the Florida Statutes was enacted which formally established the Florida State Museum at the University of Florida. (The statutes were renumbered in 2000 so this statute is now FS §1004.56.)
By the early 1930s, the Museum had acquired nearly half a million specimens and was running out of space. So, in 1937, the Museum's exhibits were moved to the Seagle Building in downtown Gainesville which they occupied for more than 30 years. Most of the collections remained in Flint Hall where they would be available to the faculty and students of the Department of Biology, which was housed in the building at that time. The collections continued to grow and space became so critical that by the mid-1960s all the zoological collections were transferred to the Seagle Building.
Arnold Grobman became the director of the Museum in 1952 and the first full-time faculty were hired to curate the collections and interpret them to the public. In 1953, the Museum developed its first traveling exhibit - a panoramic survey of Florida history beginning with the state's earliest inhabitants.
In 1961, Joshua C. "J.C." Dickinson, Jr. was appointed Museum director. Under his leadership, research and education experienced explosive growth, particularly in curatorial staff and in the vertebrate systematics collections. The Seagle Building became increasingly cramped and once again there was a need for more space for research collections and exhibits. Dickinson spearheaded a drive for a new building.
In 1968, with a $1.1 million grant from the National Science Foundation, and with matching funds from private donors and from state and local governments, construction began on a new Museum building on the University of Florida campus. By the fall of 1970, construction on the new building, Dickinson Hall, was complete and the research collections were moved into the new building. The public exhibits and education programs occupied the top floor of Dickinson Hall, which was formally dedicated in September 1971.
F. Wayne King became director in 1979 and oversaw a period of programmatic expansion. Through a $5.25 million grant from the Goodhill Foundation in 1980, the 9,500-acre Katharine Ordway Preserve was acquired and the Katharine Ordway Chair of Ecosystem Conservation established in the Museum.
Through a generous gift by its founder, Arthur C. Allyn, Jr., the Museum acquired the Allyn Museum of Entomology in Sarasota that same year. With this addition, the Museum received the largest butterfly collection in the Western Hemisphere and gained two curators of Lepidoptera.
Curatorial oversight of the UF Herbarium was transferred from the University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences to the Museum and the faculties of the Museum's departments of Anthropology and Interpretation were expanded. Major orphaned collections were received from a number of sister institutions: fishes from the National Marine Fisheries Service's Tropical Atlantic Biological Laboratory and from Florida State University; mollusks from the University of Alabama and from Rollins College; and fossil invertebrates from the Florida Geological Survey.
In 1986, Thomas Peter Bennett became Museum director. In 1988, the Florida State Museum's name was changed to the Florida Museum of Natural History to more accurately reflect its mission. Once again the continued growth of the research collections resulted in a shortage of space. Plans for a new exhibit and public education building came to fruition in 1995 when construction of a new facility, Powell Hall, began on Hull Road near Southwest 34th Street, approximately two miles west of Dickinson Hall. The new construction was made possible by a leadership gift of $3 million from two Florida alumni couples, Bob and Ann and Steve and Carol Powell of Fort Lauderdale, and with matching funds from the National Endowment for the Humanities and from state government. Powell Hall joined the Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art and the Curtis M. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts as the third component in the University of Florida Cultural Plaza on the western edge of campus.
In 1996, the Randell family gifted 53 acres of a 240-acre, internationally significant Pineland Site Complex in Lee County to the University of Florida, which the Florida Museum operates as the Randell Research Center. This research and education program is an extension of the Museum's Southwest Florida Project and "Year of the Indian" archaeology/education project.
With the departure of Bennett in 1996, Douglas S. Jones became interim director of the Museum and was named permanent director in 1997. Powell Hall, the 55,000-square-foot Education and Exhibition Center, was dedicated that same year and opened to the public in January 1998. All of the exhibits and public education programs were relocated to Powell Hall where the permanent exhibits were installed in succeeding years.
The vacated space in Dickinson Hall was retrofitted to relieve crowding due to continued collection growth. In 1997, the first phase of retrofitting was completed when the Herbarium moved from Rolf's Hall into Dickinson Hall.
You can find more details about Florida Museum of Natural History in
The Cade Museum for Innovation and Invention - located in Gainesville, Florida - is named for James Robert Cade, the physician, musician, researcher and inventor best known for leading the University of Florida team that created Gatorade. The mission of the Cade Museum is to promote a culture of creativity and innovation. In particular, the programs and the exhibits focus on:
These themes will be presented to the public through educational outreach programs, innovation competitions, virtual exhibits, conferences, workshops, lectures, and interactive exhibits in a building to be located in downtown Gainesville.
In partnership with the Gainesville Community Redevelopment Agency, the Cade Museum will be a cornerstone of one of the most important environmental reclamation and urban renewal projects in the city's history. Its 55,000 square foot facility will be located in downtown Gainesville's Depot Park. (See our webcam to view daily progress in Depot Park.)
Collaborating with local schools, Santa Fe College and the University of Florida, the Cade Museum will also be an invaluable educational asset in Central Florida. A virtual museum will give students around the world access to the Cade's exhibits and programs as well as to special lectures and seminars.
Please refer to the below link for list of all museums in Gainesville, Florida
The museum in Gainsville is Matheson Museum, Florida.
The Alachua County Historic Trust: Matheson Museum, Inc. is dedicated to preserving and interpreting the history of Alachua County, Florida. The Museum is a nonprofit organization in operation since 1994.
The Museum complex includes 4 sites: the Matheson Museum, housing the exhibit hall and research library, the Matheson House, the Tison Tool Museum, and Sweetwater Park.
The Florida Museum of Natural History is the State of Florida's official state-sponsored and chartered natural history museum. Its main facilities are located on the campus of the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida.
The main public exhibit facility, Powell Hall and the attached McGuire Center, are located in the Cultural Plaza, which it shares with the Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art and the Curtis M. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts. The main research facility and former public exhibits building, Dickinson Hall, is located on the east side of campus at the corner of Museum Road and Newell Drive.
Powell Hall's permanent public exhibits focus on the flora, fauna, fossils and historic peoples of the state Florida. The museum does not charge for admission to most exhibits; the exceptions are the Butterfly Rainforest and certain traveling exhibits.
The museum was founded in 1891 and relocated to the campus of the University of Florida in 1906 and was chartered as the state's official natural history museum by the Florida Legislature in 1917. Formerly known as the Florida State Museum, the name was changed in 1988 to more accurately reflect the museum's mission and help avoid confusion with Florida State University, which is located in Tallahassee.The role of the Florida Museum of Natural History as the official natural history museum for the State of Florida is defined by Florida Statute §1004.56 which states:
"The functions of the Florida Museum of Natural History, located at the University of Florida, are to make scientific investigations toward the sustained development of natural resources and a greater appreciation of human cultural heritage, including, but not limited to, biological surveys, ecological studies, environmental impact assessments, in-depth archaeological research, and ethnological analyzes, and to collect and maintain a depository of biological, archaeological, and ethnographic specimens and materials in sufficient numbers and quantities to provide within the state and region a base for research on the variety, evolution, and conservation of wild species; the composition, distribution, importance, and functioning of natural ecosystems; and the distribution of prehistoric and historic archaeological sites and an understanding of the aboriginal and early European cultures that occupied them.
State institutions, departments, and agencies may deposit type collections from archaeological sites in the museum, and it shall be the duty of each state institution, department, and agency to cooperate by depositing in the museum voucher and type biological specimens collected as part of the normal research and monitoring duties of its staff and to transfer to the museum those biological specimens and collections in its possession but not actively being curated or used in the research or teaching of that institution, department, or agency.
The Florida Museum of Natural History is empowered to accept, preserve, maintain, or dispose of these specimens and materials in a manner which makes each collection and its accompanying data available for research and use to the staff of the museum and by cooperating institutions, departments, agencies, and qualified independent researchers.
The biological, archaeological, and ethnographic collections shall belong to the state with the title vested in the Florida Museum of Natural History...In collecting or otherwise acquiring these collections, the Florida Museum of Natural History, except as provided in s. 267.12(3) shall comply with pertinent state wildlife, archaeological, and agricultural laws and rules.
However, all collecting, quarantine, and accreditation permits issued by other institutions, departments, and agencies shall be granted routinely for said museum research study or collecting effort on state lands or within state jurisdiction which does not pose a significant threat to the survival of endangered wild species, habitats, or ecosystems.
In addition, the museum shall develop exhibitions and conduct programs which illustrate, interpret, and explain the natural history of the state and region and shall maintain a library of publications pertaining to the work as herein provided.
The exhibitions, collections, and library of the museum shall be open, free to the public, under suitable rules to be promulgated by the director of the museum and approved by the University of Florida."
[edit] Current Facilities In the over 100 years of operation the Florida Museum of Natural History has been housed in several buildings, from the Seagle Building in downtown Gainesville, to the three halls on-campus and one off-site research facility.
[edit] Dickinson Hall Dickinson Hall, opened in 1971, is located on Museum Road. It currently houses over 25 million objects and artifacts in its collections, which include ichthyology, paleontology (both vertebrate and invertebrate), botany, paleoboatany and palynology, herpetology, malacology, mammalogy, ornithology, environmental archaeology, historical archaeology, archeology of the Caribbean and Florida, and the ethnography of Latin and North Americas. It also houses a state of the art Molecular Systematics and Evolutionary Genetics lab.[2]
[edit] Powell Hall Front of Powell Hall.Located in the University of Florida Cultural Plaza, Powell Hall was constructed in 1995 at the corner of Hull Road near S.W. 34th Street, approximately two miles west of Dickinson Hall. It serves, along with the connected McGuire Center, as the main exhibits and public programs facility. Powell Hall was partially funded from a gift of $3 million from two University of Florida alumni couples; Bob and Ann and Steve and Carol Powell of Fort Lauderdale, and with matching funds from the National Endowment for the Humanities and from the Florida state government.[3]
[edit] Randell Research Center In 1996, the Randell family gifted 53 acres (210,000 m2) of a 240-acre (0.97 km2), internationally significant Pineland Site Complex in Lee County to the University of Florida, which the museum now operates as the Randell Research Center. This research and education program is an extension of the Museum's Southwest Florida Project and "Year of the Indian" archeology/education project.
In 2008 the Randell Research Center completed a two-year program to plant more than 800 native trees that replace ones destroyed in the 2004 Hurricanes Charley and Frances.[4]
Response from:
Dr.Anjna Agarwal, Council Member on
Ammas.com
Source:
This information comes from my own knowledge.
Florida Museum of Natural History University of Florida Cultural Plaza SW 34th Street and Hull Road PO Box 112710 Gainesville, FL 32611-2710 (352) 846-2000
Harn Museum of Art's University of Florida Cultural Plaza, SW 34th Street and Hull Road, Gainesville, FL 32611
Matheson Museum Complex Matheson Museum 513 E. University Avenue Gainesville, FL 32601 Phone (352) 378-2280
Get the latest queries and responses via Important Disclaimer: This question and answer system is open to the public. The opinions expressed are those
of their individual authors, as attributed beside each item of advice. Neither the authors nor the information they
provide are endorsed by this website. We recommend using common sense, making your own inquiries, and, if necessary,
seeking professional advice before relying on material generated on this site.
