Florida Museum of Natural History--Exhibits & Public Programs Gainesville, Florida

Mailing Address

P.O. Box 112710
Gainesville, FL 32611-2710

Street Address

University of Florida Cultural Plaza
SW 34th Street & Hull Road
Gainesville, FL 32611

Phone: 352-846-2000
Fax: 352-846-0253
Email:
Web: www.flmnh.ufl.edu

Museum Hours

Monday - Saturday		10 AM - 5 PM
Sunday		1 PM - 5 PM

Closed on Thanksgiving and Christmas

Admissions

Free General Admission; Fee for Butterfly Rainforest and Temporary Exhibits

Description

Visitors to the Florida Museum, on the University of Florida campus in Gainesville, can enjoy hundreds of exotic butterflies in a rainforest setting, witness a South Florida Calusa Indian welcoming ceremony, experience a life-size limestone cave, and see a mammoth and mastodon from the last Ice Age. Permanent exhibits include Northwest Florida: Waterways and Wildlife, South Florida People and Environments, Hall of Florida Fossils: Evolution of Life and Land, and the McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity, which features the screened, outdoor Butterfly Rainforest exhibit with hundreds of live butterflies.

Dickinson Hall houses the museum's other research activities and vast collections containing more than 28 million natural history specimens.

History

Year Founded: 1917

Formerly named the Florida State Museum, established by the legislature in 1917 as the official state museum of natural history.

Research Collections

Anthropology: 8.8 million. It is the world's largest collection of Spanish Colonial artifacts and prehistoric Florida artifacts. Plants: 470,000. This collection leads the state in plant identification. Mollusks: 3 million. This is the eigth-largest U.S. collection. Butterflies and Moths: 1 million. This is the world's third-largest collection. Fish: 2.3 million. This is the fourth-largest U.S. collection. Reptiles and Amphibians: 190,000. This is the eigth-largest U.S. collection. Birds: 73,000. This is the world's third-largest sound recording collection and the fifth-largest skeleton collection. Mammals: 34,000. This is the world's second-largest marine mammal collection. Plant Fossils: 250,000. This collection leads the international research of flowering plant origins. Invertebrate Fossils: 3.75 million. This is the world's largest Florida collection and the fifth-largest North American Cenozoic collection. Vertebrate Fossils: 700,000. This is the fifth-largest U.S. collection. Total specimens: 20.5 million.

Services




Publications

Annual Reports, published annually. Natural History Magazine inserts, published monthly for members only. Contact the museum front desk to receive a copy.

Programs

Marvelous Explorations through Science and Stories, operated out of the museum, educates more than 850 children through science and literature-based activities in Head Start classrooms. About 4,500 students participated in docent-led tours during 2002-2003.Science and Engineering Experiences for Knowledge educated 60 students through an after-school program, and received a three-year grant from the National Science Foundation. Other educational activities include an Animal Fair, Sensational Science, Buchholtz BioTrek afternoons and Science Sunday lectures.

Staff

Douglas S. Jones, Director
Phone: 352-273-1902
Email:

Douglas R. Noble, Head of Exhibits & Public Programs
Phone: 352-273-2052
Email:

Joshua Mccoy, Director of Development
Phone: 352-273-2086
Email:

Paul Ramey, Assistant Director, Marketing & PR
Phone: 352-273-2054
Email:

Darcie MacMahon, Head, Exhibits
Phone: 352-273-2053
Email:

Jamie Creola, Head, Education
Phone: 352-273-2057
Email:

Leslie Ladendorf, Membership Coordinator
Phone: 352-273-2047
Email:

Charlene Smith, Office Manager
Phone: 352-273-2050
Email:

Kendra Lanza-Kaduce, Public Programs Coordinator
Phone: 352-273-2064
Email:

Kurt Auffenberg, Operations Coordinator
Phone: 352-273-2083
Email:

Tom Kyne, Traveling Exhibits Coordinator
Phone: 352-273-2077
Email:

Betty Dunckel, Center Director, Informal Science Education
Phone: 352-273-2088
Email:

Thomas Emmel, Center Director, McGuire Center
Phone: 352-273-2005
Email:

Marilyn M. Martin, Informal Science Ed. Coordinator
Phone: 352-273-2074
Email:

Ian Breheny, Exhibit Designer
Phone: 352-273-2078
Email:

Graig D. Shaak, Associate Director Emeritus
Phone: 352-273-1900
Email:

Elecia Crumpton, Graphic Designer
Phone: 352-273-2039
Email:


Museum Type

Archaeology
Natural History
Science

Governance

University



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