Welcome Back!

Welcome back students! It’s great to see so many faces back on campus. I hope everyone had a wonderful and relaxing summer break! This semester at the Museum of Natural History is full of exciting opportunities for students and faculty. 

Are you interested in volunteering or need to complete a service learning requirement? Well, the museum is the place for you! We provide opportunities for students to work in the gift shop and education department. You can also help out with children’s programming, museum tours, and public outreach – like the UI Homecoming Parade, FRY Fest, Creepy Campus Crawl, and more! For more information about volunteer, please contact Ashlee Gloede, Assistant Education and Outreach Coordinator – ashlee-gloede@uiowa.edu. Also check out our booth at the UI Volunteer Fair on Wednesday August 29^th from 11am-3pm in the IMU.

If you are not interested in volunteering, that’s okay too. The museum offers a wide range from programs from children’s birthday parties to adult lectures. And it’s also a fun place to hang out between classes. We are open Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays 10am-5pm, Thursdays 10am-8pm, and Sundays 1pm-5pm. For more information about the museum, please call 319-335-0606 or email uimnh@uiowa.edu. This week only we will be open until 8pm on Wednesday! Stop by and meet Rusty out Giant Ground Sloth.

Over the summer, the museum became involved with a mammoth excavation in Southern Iowa. For the past two years John and the family have kept the discovery of the mammoth relatively quiet, but they recently decided to enlist the help of UI experts to aid in the excavation.  So far more than thirty bones have been recovered, including an impressive femur, multiple ribs and vertebrae and a few toe bones. We will be visiting the site periodically throughout the semester, so if you are interested in volunteering at a dig please contact Sarah Horgen – sarah-horgen@uiowa.edu – for more information. I would highly recommend this once in a life time opportunity! 

There are many organizations and groups to join on campus, and sometimes it can be a bit overwhelming. Tomorrow is the Student Organization Fair at Hubbard Park from 11am-3pm., which you can meet and talk with the different organizations on campus. A great organization to join is the Campus Museum Collective. This organization is dedicated to strengthening the position of campus museums within the University community. It seeks to assist campus museums in efforts of outreach, while fostering a robust collective of individuals committed to the advancement of these important institutions. If you are interested in joining, please email iowa.cmc@gmail.com to get more information. 

Have a wonderful semester and remember to stop by the museum!

-Written by Assistant Education Coordinator Ashlee Gloede

Hoover’s Hometown Days

Public outreach is very important for the museum. Each year the museum’s education staff visits a variety of places throughout the entire state of Iowa to promote the museum, its programs, its collections, and more.

 

A few weeks ago (August 3 and 4), West Branch celebrated Hoover’s Hometown Days.  This is an annual celebration held at the Herbert Hoover National Historic Site. The weekend is filled with live entertainment, Hooverball competitions, birthday cake, and over 70 exhibitors and vendors. And it’s not Hoover’s Hometown Days without extreme heat! Well this year we were thrown for a loop; not only was it extremely hot but we also got to experience 50+ miles an hour wind, lightning strikes, and a torrential downpour.  But I am getting ahead of myself!

We had a booth at Hoover’s Hometown Days to promote and spread the news about the museum’s upcoming programs and exhibits. Many families stopped by our booth to tell us how much they enjoy visiting our museum. Our favorite thing to hear! We were also able to inspire new families to visit the museum. Throughout the morning the weather seemed to be getting muggier and muggier, and the sky was starting to turn a dark shade of blue (which is never a good sign). Moments later, park rangers began announcing the upcoming forecast of 50 miles an hour wind and rain. We quickly began to pack up all our promotional materials and replicas. We were told this would be a quick storm, so we left everything inside our tent. 

As soon as all our things were packed away, the rain started. The closest shelter we could find was on the porch of the Superintendent’s office.  The wind and rain really started to pick up. And with one huge gust of wind our tent along with the OSA’s tent were picked up and blown several feet away. Since the storm had no intention of stopping, all we could do was stand on the porch, soaking wet, watching the horrible storm blow through Hoover’s Hometown Days. 

Luckily no one was hurt by this storm and 

we will never forget Hoover’s Hometown Days 2012!

-Written by Assistant Education Coordinator Ashlee Gloede

Lion King at the Museum!

Did you know that Iowa City once had a zoo? Indeed, City Park used to have a zoo, City Park Zoo. Not much is known about the zoo, but it did have a variety of animals: chickens, monkeys, rabbits, raccoons, bears, and of course, the lions.  A young girl who frequented the zoo in the 1930’s remembered taking old bread to feed the animals.  With her back turned to the lion cage, she remembered one lion lunging at the bars, rattling the cage, and scaring her group.  She also remembered that if she left the windows open in her house on a summer night, she could hear the lions roaring in the distance – not something you hear every day in the city or in Iowa. 

 

 In the 1920’s Harry Bremer, Iowa City resident, brought two lions to the United States from Africa. For a short time, Mr. Bremer actually kept the lions in the carriage house on his property at 1036 Woodlawn Avenue, less than 1 mile away from Macbride Hall.  Inside the carriage house, there is still evidence of the lions; there are metal posts in the ground where the pair were likely chained.  Later, Mr. Bremer donated the lions to the City Park Zoo.

   What happened to the lions? The male lion unfortunately died in the extremely hot weather of July 1931.  He was only 2 ½ years old.  This explains why he does not yet have a full mane.  After his death, the male lion was brought to the Museum of Natural History. The female lion lived in the City Park Zoo well beyond the death of her companion.  She died in February of 1939 and was then donated to the Museum of Natural History where she was reunited with her companion. 

These two lions are a huge part of the museum’s history, as well as the history of Iowa City and its residents. In celebrating this history, the museum is hosting a free program for children and families on Saturday August 11^th from 5pm-8pm. Families can lead an African expedition through the museum, tell jokes with our hyena, and make lion crafts! Following the program, the Summer of the Arts Free Movies Series will present Disney’s “The Lion King.”

In addition to the museum’s program, the Johnson County Historical Society and Hills Bank are hosting a Barn Tour on Saturday August 11^th. The group will be exploring urban barns in Iowa City including the barn were the lions once lived. These barns were either built in the city as a carriage house/barn or have become absorbed by the city as it has expanded. Pre-registration is required. Visit the Johnson County Historical Society’s website for more information - http://www.johnsoncountyhistory.org/

-Written by Assistant Education Coordinator Ashlee Gloede