Memories

Max Kuang

UMMNH

Biochemistry, Class of 2019

Year of Memory: 2017
I used to visit the Natural History Museum frequently when I was in elementary school, particularly when the museum hosted its annual Halloween party. It was always a fun time, getting to hang out with dinosaurs on the Saturday before Halloween. Over the years, I’ve noticed the games have changed quite a bit. I remember one time where I had to stick my hand in a pumpkin filled with cold spaghetti and sliced grapes just to get a handful of candy. I don’t think I saw this game in 2017 when I photographed the Halloween party for the Michigan Daily.

Nevertheless, the Natural History Museum has had a tremendous impact on my life. Most importantly, it got me interested in the natural sciences, which I am currently pursuing at the University of Michigan.

Cameron Walkowiak

UMMNH

LSA 1997

Year of Memory: 1994
During the stresses of finals in my first winter semester at U of M, I found myself returning to the Museum I had such fond memories of as a child. The feeling of peace and belonging that settled over me as I walk between exhibits that had thrilled me as a child was astounding. This had been the first place I had ever seen dinosaurs outside of books. Looking down at the dinosaur and mastodon displays from the railing was like returning to that childhood exhilaration of that first time seeing these massive beasts.

I left the Museum that day with a sense of calm. During my time at the university, I would return whenever I needed the reset. Later, I would bring my children there to share with them this magic building.

Edgar and Rose Kahn family

UMMNH

1978 Anthropology Zoology

Year of Memory: 1960’s
My two sisters and I spent so much youthful time exploring the Natural History Museum. Our grandfather, who had long since passed before our births had designed the building. Oddly, I don’t remember our parents being there. Seems we walked less than a mile to get there from our home. There was a blessed freedom in the place. You could never see all the details in the displays. Never. So, we kept returning again and again.
There were rocks and gems. Bugs in amber. Colored lights illuminated one large quartz crystal. Seems I was hypnotized by the colors. There was a planetarium where in the darkness, stars captured my imagination.
There were bears outside at one time in a large cage. I remember their foul wild and captive odors.
The more pleasant fragrances could be found inside the museum building. My young nose loved the smell of Old history mixed with pure marble.
The staircase fit my little legs perfectly as I would grab on to the brass banister pulling myself past whatever smelly creature was alive in the cage. The bird displays…. I can still see them. Our dad told us that his mentor had prepared the tiny hummingbird skins. How was that humanly possible?
Of course, the best part of the visit was when we laid down our monies at the gift shop counter for a cool pencil filled with polished rocks. I can still hear the sound of those little rocks and see the bright colors.
The final event was to climb up on the pumas. I don’t remember the details of how we three young girls shared the pumas. Surely, we squabbled. We pretended to ride them, always convinced that they were put there for us by our Grandpa. How could he have known that we would arrive on the planet some ten years and more after his death? He must have imagined this.

Colleen Charles

Liz

 

Year of Memory: 1950’s
Growing up in Ann Arbor my neighbor, Dorthy Monaghan, worked as a secretary for a professor at the Museum (1950’s). She didn’t drive so we’d take the bus downtown some Saturdays when she had extra work to do, and I remember running up and down the stairs and exploring while she worked. I remember the marble floors and the polished wood banister and the echos! I swear there was some kind of small zoo outdoors there. I was pretty little; born 1949 so it was very exciting.

From UMMNH: Yes, Colleen, there was a zoo! Photo added.

The Dohm Family

UMMNH

Education 2008

Year of Memory: 2017
My 2 1/2 year olds first visit was April 2017 and he was so excited he ran around to see everything and said, “I not seen that before!” We have been obsessed with dinosaurs ever since.

Jenn B

UMMNH

 

Year of Memory: 1982
We were pretty poor growing up after my parents divorced when I was four. She was a single mother of 5 for the rest of her life. She couldn’t afford vacations or even day trips, but she could take us to the museum. We would go as a family and spend hours wandering, learning, and reading. It was one of my favorite places. It feels like her. The museum is tied to countless wonderful memories of her and with my own children.

The Hernández Jiménez Family

UMMNH

 

Year of Memory: February, 2013
A great memory of our first visit to our American-Mexican family at Ann Arbor. Both Zoe and Mateo enjoyed every minute inside, but Mateo was definitely blown away by the dinosaur models. He wanted a photo with each and every one of them. He even bought a fossilized shark’s tooth from the museum’s store which keeps always near him as one of his most precious treasures and he uses it to illustrate amazing adventures he imagines the shark may have had back then. We have been back to Ann Arbor more times in different years ever since. Kids have grown… but each and every time, a visit to Ann Arbor’s Museum of Natural History has been a must they look for!

tom yazbeck

UMMNH

 

Year of Memory: late 90s/early 00s
When I was a little kid, my family took me to the UofM museum. I was always into palaeontology and zoology, dragging parents to museums. The Dinichthys was probably the specimen that stuck with me most – was very terrifying for me! Remember enjoying the dioramas and gift shop especially. I’ve since been to the museum as an adult and I find the Life Through the Ages dioramas to be the best things in the museum – I hope these detailed dioramas reappear in the new building.

The Lehrer Family

UMMNH

Physics 1993

Year of Memory: 2006
The museum has always held a special place in my heart. As a 4th grader on a school field trip, I correctly identified the Allosaurus not being a T-Rex during our guided tour. Maybe it was this early sense of whimsical pride that drove me towards a love of science. Ten plus years on and I became a graduate of the University of Michigan in Physics. As a father, I wanted to somehow share the University of Michigan with my two young daughters, teach them, let them explore, and so in April 2006, we spent a wonderful day at the museum. Who knows, maybe my daughters will graduate college someday in a science and think back to the day with their dad at the museum. It is for the ever changing future, and the traditions of the past, the museum & the University are so woven into the fabric of so many lives.

Josie Chang-Order

UMMNH

BAs in Anthro & Psych, 2003; MA in Educational Studies, 2005

Year of Memory: 2004
I’d been up and down the stairs hundreds of times, leading groups of children to talk about dinosaurs and adaptation, or as a host checking to make sure no one was touching the mastodon skeleton. But on that hot September afternoon in 2004, I stood on the stairs to the second floor in my wedding dress, about to walk down into a rotunda–crowded not with seven-year-olds, but friends and family–to meet my groom and say our vows to each other.

Our wedding was both literally and figuratively centered on the place we’d met, and the close friends we had because of it. Sarah Thompson, Emily Parker, and Julia Plummer (former staff and docents) were in our wedding party, while Adam Boisvert (former docent) officiated over the donation box!

We’ll be celebrating our 13th anniversary in a few weeks, and will return to the museum at the end of the year to celebrate its history and place in our hearts.