Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History

Traumador of the Tyrannosaur Chronicles is hosting this month's Boneyard carnival and asked for submissions on "My Favorite Museum."


Here is what I have for him - my recent trip to the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History, located on the University of Oklahoma campus in Norman, Oklahoma.



The first time I had a chance to visit this museum was in 2002 when the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology Annual Meeting was held in Norman, Oklahoma. I can't remember if we had the meet and greet there or not, but I do remember that the auction was there! The museum was so full I did not get to see many of the exhibits well. So this visit was a long time coming!

I went down to look at their beautiful Pentaceratops sternbergi for some continued research I am doing with chasmosaurine ceratopsids. They have wonderful collections if you ever have the chance to visit them (this is the way all museum collections should be!). It was great to spend the entire day in the museum and get to tour their exhibits (which you can do virtually here). They have a new Paleozoic exhibit (many pictures of that above, click here if they are not working for you or for larger views). They also had a traveling exhibit "Hatching the Past," about dinosaur eggs and discoveries with many nice Lui Ray prints. And as always, it was nice to see their other paleo exhibits and the Karen Carr murals throughout the displays. Saurophaganax and Apatosaurus are fun to see, even if it is impossible to get a good photo of them ;)

I remember going to the museum at OU (University of Oklahoma) when I was a kid and it was the still the Stovall Museum. The Stovall is now gone, but this 'new' museum is definitley worth a visit if you are ever in (or near!) Oklahoma!!