Texas Science and Natural History Museum

About Texas Science and Natural History Museum

Texas Science & Natural History Museum is located on the campus of The University of Texas at Austin in Austin, Texas, U.S. It opened as Texas Memorial Museum during preparations for the Texas Centennial Exposition held in 1936. The museum's focus is on natural history, including paleontology, geology, biology, herpetology, ichthyology and entomology. Texas Memorial Museum building was designed in the Art Deco style by John F. Staub, with Paul Cret as supervising architect. Ground was broken for the building by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in January 1936. The museum was opened on January 15, 1939.

The museum won "Best of Austin" awards from the Austin Chronicle in 2002, 2005, and 2012.

The museum had exhibits on Texas history, anthropology, geography, and ethnography, but these were relocated to other museums (including the Bullock Texas State History Museum) in 2001. In October 2013, Linda Hicke, the dean of Austin's College of Natural Sciences, cut the museum's funding by $400,000.

The museum closed in 2022 for extensive renovations. It underwent a re-branding and became Texas Science & Natural History Museum. The museum reopened on September 23, 2023.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

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Photos of Texas Science and Natural History Museum

  1. Texas Science and Natural History Museum, Texas01TexasLarry D. Moore · CC BY 4.0
  2. Glen Rose Dinosaur Tracks Display Building02Glen Rose Dinosaur Tracks Display BuildingLarry D. Moore · CC BY 4.0
  3. Longosuchus03LongosuchusReynosa Blogs from Reynosa Tamaulipas, Mexico · CC BY 2.0
  4. Glyptotherium (1)04Glyptotherium (1)Reynosa Blogs from Reynosa Tamaulipas, Mexico · CC BY 2.0
  5. Glyptotherium floridanum05Glyptotherium floridanumReynosa Blogs from Reynosa Tamaulipas, Mexico · CC BY 2.0
  6. Mylohyus nasutus06Mylohyus nasutusReynosa Blogs from Reynosa Tamaulipas, Mexico · CC BY 2.0

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Nearby museums

Make a day of it. 4 more museums are within a mile of Texas Science and Natural History Museum; the closest, Texas Memorial Museum, is practically next door.