Author: UMMNH

Garry Rechnitz

UMMNH

BS in Chemistry, 1958

Year of Memory: 1954
As a naïve freshman in 1954, I remember wandering into the old museum. It was a dusty place with passive exhibits and rather uninformative labels. If I remember correctly, I was the only visitor!

What a long way you have come since then, and I wish I could see the current displays.

There is something that troubles me in LSA magazine article about museums however.

It is stated that the collection of Filipino artifacts is larger than any in the Philippines; that suggests to me that some of the materials should perhaps be returned to that country!

Living in Hawaii, I am aware that native residents have actively sought to retrieve Hawaiian artifacts from mainland museums … with considerable success.

Taya Sapp

UMMNH

American Culture Major, Geological Sciences Minor 2003

Year of Memory: 2003
I took Paleontology the final semester of my senior year. I was excited for the class, but I also loved that it gave me a behind the scenes look at the museum. Having class in the lab space and looking at actual fossils that are part of the university’s collection was one of my more memorable academic experiences at Michigan.

Balogh Halton Family

UMMNH

LSA – Poli sci 1085

Year of Memory: 6/1/2004
1. Exhibit Museum Butterfly Garden Grows (see photo on UM website) – My daughter, Amanda, and I helped plant the butterfly garden outside the Ruthven building when she was 4 years. She grew up going to the museum and donated money toward Edmontosaurus exhibit as a birthday gift. In Fall 2017, she will be a first year student year at U-M and maybe we can help plant the garden outside the new museum!
2. My daughter, Carli, contributed to the Whale exhibit when growing up. As a U-M student, she got to work in the Tucker Lab in the building at her UROP position. As a geologist now, she has such fond memories of working int that beautiful, historic building!

Will Hathaway

UMMNH

Residential College, 1983

Year of Memory: 1967
The Museum was a favorite location for childhood outings. We went often and I felt at home there. We would always climb up to sit on the pumas. This photo was taken by my grandfather, AK Stevens. He had taken me and my neighborhood friend, Jeff, to see the dinosaurs. I don’t know why we had straw hats…

Todd Newell

UMMNH

Education 1975 BS, 1979 MA

Year of Memory: 1977
In 1977 while attending grad school, I took my 5 year old son, Todd, to look at the dinosaurs. He knew the name of every dinosaur in the exhibit as well as what they ate, which ones were dangerous and which ones were peaceful. As we neared the end, a docent came up and asked us if we had any questions. I replied no, my mini, dinosaur-loving guide of a son had already answered them!

Eileen Dickinson

UMMNH



BS and a Certificate in Physical Therapy- 1975

Year of Memory: 1955

I have fond memories of sitting in front of the Native American dioramas every time I visited the museum. I would imagine that I was part of the scene. This is the dominant memory of being there, other than in the planetarium.

I can also still smell the small zoo that was outside and just east of the museum. And the Gila monster on the landing of the stairs. I loved the stairwell as a kid (3 or 4 years old).

The Hassinger kids

UMMNH



BA, Psychology, 1973, MSW 1975

Year of Memory: 1961

In late 1960, my family moved to Ann Arbor from Cincinnati. We lived on the east side in what is now called the College Hill neighborhood, within a mile from campus. The big sister, and the oldest of three, I was in charge of looking out for my sister Sara and our 2 year old baby brother Donnie. In our first spring and summer of 1961, new to the neighborhood, we had few friends but my sister and I had our bikes and mine had a big front basket into which Donnie fit snugly. Several times a week, with sandwiches and thermoses in our knapsacks, down the Geddes hill we’d fly on our big tired bikes, headed for our day’s outing to the Natural Science Museum. I felt very proud of my independence that summer and didn’t even mind my duties as sister-in-charge.

I was in awe of the museum’s beautiful building with its marble floors and large staircases. Our visits began with the Great Mastodon and bone-counting contests (how many bones does a Mastodon have?!). Then up the stairs to the amazing dioramas and learning about the eco-systems of woodlands, swamps, lake shores; the many varieties of birds and small mammals, the human body (edited for certain body parts), and native human ecology. I loved those dioramas that opened my curiosity about ancient societies of the grasslands and forests. I remember thinking about the craftspeople who made these wonderful displays and how lucky they were to have jobs like diorama-builders.

Then, back down the stairs we went and out the door to take our turns sitting on the enormous black stone panthers by the front door before we headed to our last and favorite stop–our picnic lunch at the zoo at the back of the building. I marvel now at our affection for that zoo–really a rather sad, smelly place with an odd-lot collection of animals–I think there was a small bear, a raccoon, and was there really a wolverine? (I think so).

No matter how many times we went on that field trip that summer, it remained a magical adventure. We felt very lucky indeed to have this magical place in our own neighborhood. Now, an alum and retired faculty member, I still live in that neighborhood and still go by Ruthven Hall everyday. And everyday, I fondly remember those exhilarating bike rides down the Geddes hill and our afternoons at the natural science museum.

Dan T

UMMNH

 
Year of Memory: 1990s
I think my family first heard about the museum when I was a kid in Lenawee County. Our neighbor dug up parts of a mastodon that ended up on display in a cabinet across from the mounted specimen for a few years. We went frequently in my childhood. When I was 5, I remember father saying my sister (4) and I were a year older to attend the planetarium show (which then had a 5-year-old minimum). Unfortunately, she got scared and we left mid-show.

In my teens, I got to see behind the scenes with my mother. Encouraging me to study the sciences she pointed out specimen records, telling me “you get to work with these things that only a handful of people have ever looked at.” Something about that moment really stuck with me.

Today I’ve worked in museums and planetariums for almost 15 years, and I think I owe at lot to my formative experiences at the Exhibit Museum.