3/8/24

By FHSU University Communications

HAYS, Kan. - On March 13, 1999, Fort Hays State University’s Sternberg Museum of Natural History opened its doors in its current location at 3000 Sternberg Dr. in Hays. After the building was purchased in 1990 for $1, it took nearly ten years of renovations and improvements of just under $10 million before the museum was ready to open to the public.

On Friday, March 15, the public is invited to help commemorate 25 years of Discovery Under the Dome. Admission is free all day, but donations, which will go to the Curtis Schmidt Zoological Collections Endowment, will be accepted.The endowment will be used to preserve, expand, and eventually fund research students who will work with the collection.

In addition to the traditional museum exhibits, various special activities will occur throughout the day. These activities include:

• 9 a.m. – Chamber Chat and Ribbon Cutting
• 10 a.m.–12 p.m. – Live animal feeding – Sternberg’s live animals include turtles and tortoises, lizards – including a Gila monster and a Monitor, several fish, poison dart frogs, and of course, their snakes, both nonvenomous like the giant Boa, as well as their large collection of venomous rattlesnakes.
• 1–2 p.m. – Sternberg family talk and museum history presented by museum education and outreach director Ian Trevethan.
• 2–4 p.m. – Behind-the-scenes tours – Join Sternberg staff for a look at the greater Sternberg collections, which are not on display to the general public, including the wet collection of animals like fish, snakes, and frogs preserved in jars, the Fleharty collection consisting of many mammals, birds, and insects, and the paleontology collection of bones and fossils.
• 4 p.m. – Unlocking the time capsule – Hidden inside the museum’s animatronic T-Rex since its creation over 25 years ago, time capsule items will be extracted and distributed to their original contributors or relatives/descendants of those contributors.
• 4:30-5 p.m. – Special Guest Speakers, including FHSU President Dr. Tisa Mason and former FHSU President Dr. Ed Hammond.
• 5 p.m. – Cake – Museum guests are welcome to enjoy some treats and browse the museum until closing at 6 p.m.

For more information, call the Sternberg at (877)332-1165 or visit https://sternberg.fhsu.edu/.