The University of Oregon Museum of Natural and Cultural History is a museum that studies nature and culture. It is located on the University of Oregon campus in Eugene, Oregon, United States. The museum's building is designed to look like the homes of Native people from the Pacific Northwest.
History
The museum began when the University of Oregon was created in 1876. Thomas Condon, the state geologist, was one of the first three professors hired by the university. He brought his large collection of fossils with him. In 1935, the Oregon State Legislative Assembly established the Oregon State Museum of Anthropology (OSMA) at the University of Oregon. Luther Cressman, an archaeologist, became the first director of the museum. In 1936, the Condon Museum and the State Museum of Anthropology were combined to form the new University of Oregon Museum of Natural History, which Luther Cressman also directed.
Collections
The museum has four sections: the Condon Fossil Collection, the Archaeological Research Division (previously called OSMA), the Anthropological Collections division, and the Public Programs Division. The museum’s collections include nearly 100,000 fossils from Oregon, the Pacific Northwest, and other parts of the world; nearly a million archaeological items, such as the famous Fort Rock sandals, which are among the oldest shoes in the world (about 10,000 years old); large collections of items related to cultures worldwide, including over 1,500 Native American baskets; and thousands of specimens from modern or historical birds (including their eggs and nests), mammals, reptiles, marine and freshwater shells, and other living things. Many of these items are displayed in the museum’s exhibit halls, along with changing exhibits that focus on the work of Pacific Northwest artists and other themes related to culture and natural history. Around the museum are a Native plant garden, a geological timeline, and a replica of the Willamette Meteorite. The museum’s new website also includes more than 20 online galleries showing objects from its collections.
The museum is the official storage place for archaeological and paleontological collections from Oregon. It has a responsibility to protect and explain these materials forever. Museum staff work with many groups, including University of Oregon students and staff, thousands of K-12 students and teachers from nearby areas, community members, volunteers, visiting researchers, and visitors from around the world. Research and collections staff also work with local, state, and federal agencies and other organizations to study and store collections for future research and explanation. Tribal members helped museum staff design exhibits and create replicas that show the long history of Native American tribes in four areas of Oregon: the Northwest Coast, Columbia Plateau, Great Basin, and Willamette Valley. The museum also uses its collections to explain the geology, fossils, and natural history of the Pacific Northwest. Museum research is shared with the public through the University of Oregon Anthropological Papers series, which recently published its 69th volume.