University Natural History Museums in the 21st Century

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University Natural History Museums in the 21st
Century
This talk was presented in Baton Rouge on 19
February 2004. Annotations in blue (and white)
were added to the web version here.

• Bruce J. MacFadden
• Associate Director of Exhibits Public Programs
• Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology
• Florida Museum of Natural History
• University of Florida
• Gainesville, FL 32611

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University Natural History Museums in the 21st
Century

• Introduction Historical perspective
• Mission, governance, resources (example FLMNH)
• The four pillars
• Accountability and relevance in todays society
• Dos and Donts
• Take home messages
• This is the talk outline

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Introduction History

• Most current university-based natural history
  museums are located at state universities
• University natural history museums developed
  after the Morrill Act (1862) providing for
  land-grant, mostly state-funded universities.

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19th century mission University natural
history museums were primarily established to

• promote academic research
• teach and train university students
• develop and house
• collections

Exhibits and public programs while viewed as
important usually did not receive the resources
required to flourish.
5
Other 19th-century influences

• Public interest in natural history, for example,
  dinosaurs
• Establishment of many of todays large
  free-standing natural history museums in North
  America
• AMNH, USNM, Field

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Late 20th century

• Molecular biology
• Systematics and biodiversity
• Computers, information tech, bioinformatics

Late 20th century museums have been greatly
influenced by the above.
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FLMNH--founded in 1917
(Originally called the Florida State Museum)
Flint Hall on the University of Florida campus
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2nd FLMNH building in downtown Gainesville. This
was problematic as it was located away from UF
campus activities and visibility just a mile away.
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Dickinson Hall
The third FLMNH building opened in 1970. It was
the vision of the then-Director Dr. J. C.
Dickinson, Jr. This building was named Dickinson
Hall after his retirement.
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Powell Hall
Dickinson Hall proved inadequate for the public
because of the lack of parking. Thanks to a gift
from UF alums the Powell brothers, the FLMNH
opened the Exhibits Public Education Center to
the public in 1998. This separated
the Collections and Research which still are
housed in Dickinson Hall.
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Powell includes world-class exhibits, like the
Fossil Hall, opening in May 2004.
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As part of a new 11-million Dollar McGuire
Lepidoptera Center, the Butterfly Rainforest will
open to the public in August 2004.
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The lobby of the new McGuire Center will include
the Wall of Wings and the entrance to the living
Butterfly Rainforest exhibit.
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This is an artists vision of the public
experience in the Butterfly Rainforest.
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The McGuire Center will have one of the worlds
research largest collections of butterflies and
moths. The public will be able to look into the
collections to hopefully understand that they are
the core of the museum.
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Mission
A museums mission should be

• Succinct, clearly articulated and known to all
  staff

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Governance
How are university natural history museums
managed admistratively?

• FLMNH
• --college-level unit within UF
• --Director (Dean equiv.) reports to Provost
• --Budget within UF overall budget (1)
• --Faculty curator appointments in FLMNH
• --Faculty teach and students receive degrees
• Other models (examples)
• --split museums within university
• --museum dept within college

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Resources FLMNH

• Ca. 10 million dollar annual budget
• -60 state appropriation
• -40 grants, contracts, and private gifts
• Ca. 200,000 square foot physical plant located in
• two principal UF buildings
• Over 200 staff (including full-time, part-time,
• hard and soft funded, including students).
• Includes 30 Ph. D. faculty in research,
  education,
• and administration.

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The four pillars

• Collections Research
• Exhibits Education

A 21st century university natural history museum
must balance these four pillars.
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Collections Core of the museum
New building programs should have
collections behind glass walls for the public to
see.
(We do not do a good job of promoting these to
the public)
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Research
Collections based
Modern technology
Museum faculty have to do cutting-edge collections
-based research.
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Dedication of a new million-dollar laboratory
funded by the UF Provosts office. Assoc.
Provost Frazier (left) cuts ribbon with new
faculty Pam and Doug Soltis.
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Exhibits
Must convey modern natural science
Speak to current societal issues (e.g.,
biodiversity, evolution)
Good exhibits are very expensive and require a
strong commitment.
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University education

• Vital to programs in systematics, ecology, and
  evolution
• 75 graduate students intern in the FLMNH with
  their major professor
• Faculty curators are affiliated with zoology,
  geology,
• anthropology,
• botany, and wildlife
• departments

Distinguished Curator Kathy Deegan (left) with
student in field.
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Public education
Varied formal and informal programs to reach a
broad spectrum of society
The fourth pillar is just as important as the
other three.
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Accountability Measures(in addition to those of
academic depts)
300000
250000
200000
150000
1998
100000
1999
2000
50000
2001
2002
0
2003
Public Attendance
Attendence is a quantifiable metric of the
museums success in exhibits and public programs.
The large spice in 2002 resulted from the
traveling exhibit Sue.
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The WWW extends the impact and Reach of
the Museum.
Web access In 2003 The FLMNH had 60
million Cybervisitors www.flmnh.ufl.edu
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Some dos and donts(Lessons learned, a few)

• All four pillars together
• Museum on campus
• Parking, parking, and more parking
• Strategic planning
• Become entrepreneurial
• Development and public relations
• Watch trends

Introduction to next section of talk
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• Keep all four pillars together
• --building
• --governance
• Museum
• on campus

Keep the museum on campus.
But of course, parking is always a problem!
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Strategic planning
Where do you want to be in five, ten, and twenty
years?
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CONCEPTUAL MASTER PLAN
Save land for the next generations (50 years out).
UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA CULTURAL PLAZA CONCEPTUAL
MASTER PLAN
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Become entre- preneurial
The Sue exhibit generated net proceeds that were
returned to the museum to support future
programs. It generated immense economic impact
to the community (almost 3 million dollars in
Gainesville).
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• Development and
• public relations
• Every museum activity
• is a potential
• fund-raising event
• Every staff member should do development
• Can never have too many development
• and pr staff

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Watch trends in other museums, corporations,
foundations, etc.

• Quality visitor experience
• Institutional advancement
• DMNH to DMNS (name change at Denver)
• Darwin Centre (Nat Hist Museum, London)
• NSF ISE and Broader Impacts

US federal initiative to enhance public
understanding of science.
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Quality visitor experience
(Just one part of institutional advancement)
They do it right at the Denver Museum of Nature
and Science.
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21st century societal relevance

• The importance of collections
• Evolution and
• biodiversity
• Broader Impact

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The importance of collections
Open storage--Anthro. Museum, Vancouver
Public appreciation of role of collections cannot
be overstated.
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Natural History Museum, London
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New concept in how the public interacts with
collections and research.
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Visitor reception and collections tour sign-up
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Darwin CentreMain Hall showing research
collections
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Darwin Centre has daily Curator talks that are
simul- cast to universities and archived on
the Nat Hist Mus web site.
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Evolution debate
1998 Alabama--evolution is considered a theory,
not a fact 1999 Kansas removed organic
evolution from required life sciences
curriculum 10 of Americans believe in purely
scientific explanation of evolution 40
believe creationism should be taught instead of
evolution Politicians say-- I believe children
should be exposed to different theories about
how the world started. I personally believe
that my children were not descended from
apes.
University natural history museums should support
the teaching about societal issues such as
evolution.
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NSF ISE Supplements to active research projects
Supplements to active research (up to 75 K) are
available to disseminate current research to the
general public.
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Broader Impacts
Festivals, leisure classes, and field activities
that involve the public are important.
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In 20th century Al Romer said Paleontologists
(museum scientists) are like conies, feeble folk
that dwell among the rocks. Is this our legacy
for the 21st century? If so, We will become
extinct.

• Take home messages
• Balance the four
• pillars
• Facilitate public
• access and understanding