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FOOTPRINTS OF DISASTER

The Alabama Museum of Natural History is pleased to work with the Department of Geography to organize a Symposium and Exhibition entitled Foot Prints of Disaster.  We believe the program will compliment the Discovering Alabama Tornado show by emphasizing the science and the effects of the April 27 2011 Tornado Tragedy.

The symposium will be held in Smith Hall from 1 to 3 pm on Friday, April 27, 2012 and will feature guest speakers from the Department of Geography, the media, public officials and Discovering Alabama.  The poster exhibition is being organized by Melissa Mayo with the Alabama Emergency Management Agency and will be displayed on the Mezzanine through August.  This event is free and open to the public.  Free event parking at the Campus Drive Parking Deck.

For reservations call 348-7551 or email caverett@bama.ua.edu

Click here for spring programs!

Click here for new exhibits!

Click here for Expedition 34!

 

 Alabama Museum of Natural History

Experience the natural diversity of Alabama through exhibits from the Age of  Dinosaurs, the Coal Age, and the Ice Age. View the extensive displays of geology, zoology, mineralogy, paleontology, ethnology, history, and photography. Explore the Alabama Museum of Natural History housed in historic Smith Hall, one of the finest examples of Beaux-Arts architecture in the region. See the Hodges meteorite, the only meteorite known to have struck a human, and the State Fossil of Alabama:  Basilosaurus cetoides.

The Museum is located in Smith Hall on the corner of Sixth Avenue and Capstone Drive on The University of Alabama campus in Tuscaloosa and is open Monday – Saturday, 10:00 am to 4:30 pm.

Directions: To reach the Museum from Highway 82 (McFarland Boulevard) , take the University Boulevard exit and follow the signs leading west to Hackberry Lane.  If you are arriving on I-59, exit onto I-359 and take the University Boulevard exit traveling east to Hackberry Lane.  Limited parking is available behind the Museum.  Additional parking is available in the parking deck located one block north at the corner of Hackberry Lane and Campus Drive.

Staff Listing:

Randy Mecredy – Director (205) 348-7550

Carolyn Averett – Administrative Secretary (205) 348-7551

Valerie Duncan – Rental Coordinator (205) 348-2542

Amanda Espy-Brown – Education & Outreach Coordinator (205) 348-6383

Todd Hester – Naturalist (205) 348-9482

Kelli Harris – Development (205) 348-9826

Robert Clouse – Executive Director, UA Museums (205) 348-7551

Contact Information:
Alabama Museum of Natural History
Box 870340
Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0340
Phone 205-348-7550
Fax 205-348-9292
museum.programs@ua.edu

The mission of the Alabama Museum of Natural History is to broaden the knowledge of natural sciences and human culture through collections, exhibitions, and quality programs of research, instruction, and service.

Smith Hall 100 Years and Counting!

 

 

The Alabama Museum of Natural History, with thousands of invaluable  specimens from all lines of scientific research, is a lasting monument to the energy, labor and love exhibited by Dr. Eugene Allen Smith.  He was appointed as state geologist in 1873 and Dr. Smith spent nearly 40 years surveying, mapping and collecting scientific specimens throughout the state of Alabama.

According to historic records, the cornerstone for Smith Hall was laid on May 28, 1907.  Alumni President Hill Ferguson placed in the cornerstone “documents and souvenirs which would help some yet unborn generation glimpse the glory of the day.”  The construction of Smith Hall was completed in the fall of 1909 and it was “formally dedicated with appropriate pomp and ceremony at Commencement, May 5, 1910.”

Smith Hall consists of a three-story central section built to house the Alabama Museum of Natural History, and has a two-story north and south wing.  The north wing originally housed the Department of Biology and the matching south wing was for the Department of Geology.  Both wings still contain classrooms and labs used by students today.  The basement currently houses the Museum’s teaching collections and field research equipment.

The Museum facade, designed in the Classical Revival style, features an engaged colonnade of eight Ionic columns raised above a full basement.  The main entrance on the ground level is through a massive pedimented stone doorway, flanked by standing lamps.  The Atrium Gallery  is a spacious center hall dominated by a sweeping staircase made of Alabama marble and supported by Alabama-manufactured iron.  The staircase leads to the Grand Gallery Exhibition Hall above.  The newel posts at the base of the staircase contain cartouches with “U of A” inscribed in the center.

The architecture of the Alabama Museum of Natural History reflected, on a more modest scale, the design and layout of the great natural history museums then only recently constructed in Chicago, New York and Washington.  The Grand Gallery on the second floor is surrounded by a colonnade of Corinthian columns which support a full entablature with a highly enriched cornice.  Museum exhibits are housed in glass and polished wood cases on the second floor and along the third floor mezzanine.  Above, spanning the colonnade is a large glass roof that floods the interior with natural light.  The grand sunlit room is one of the most beautifully proportioned interiors on campus – perhaps, in Alabama.

Nature South:  The Magazine of the Alabama Museum of Natural History.  Volume 4, Number 2.