Humboldt State University Natural History Museum

Humboldt State University Natural History Museum

File:Natural History Museum HSU Arcata CA.jpg The museum at its original location
Location within California
Location	Arcata, California, United States
Coordinates
Type	natural history museum
Collection size	2,000
Director	Jeffrey White
Website	www.humboldt.edu/natmus/

Humboldt State University Natural History Museum (also known as HSU Natural History Museum) is a natural history museum in Arcata, California in the United States.

History

Wells Fargo Bank donated the original location of the museum to Humboldt State University (HSU).

Around 2010, the university was unable to continue to fund the operations of the museum. The museum closed. Eventually, the Humboldt Science Mathematics Center/Redwood Science Project took over the management and the museum reopened. Jeffrey White became the Executive Director. Museum administrators sought grants and public support in order to sustain itself. In 2013, it was announced that the museum would move from its original location into the location where it is currently located. The new building was donated by Redwood Capital Bank. It is 2,700 square feet in size. The museums former building is now a Redwood Capital Bank location.

Collections

The museum has over 2,000 natural history objects. Collections include Native American cultural objects. They have a large fossil collection, called the Maloney Fossil Collection, including sand dollars and Busycon contrarium from the Pliocene and a Chlamys from the Miocene.

Exhibitions

Students from HSU assist in the design and curation of exhibitions at the museum. Many exhibits are interactive. Visitors can touch a meteorite, fossils, and dinosaur bone casts. Most of the exhibitions focus on the natural history of the region surrounding the museum.