Preconference Trips and Tours

Wednesday 14 May

Experience the diversity of Oklahoma’s natural wonders, museums, and collections!
Visits to specific collections and museums also can be arranged with advance notice. Please contact the local committee to get in contact with the appropriate curators or staff at those institutions.

Tours of OU Museums

Tours of Other Museums

Field Trips to OK Natural Areas

Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History Tour (Half-Day; Morning or Afternoon) www.snomnh.ou.edu

Cost: free

The Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History is a state-of-the-art 195,000 square foot facility with 50,000 square feet devoted to exhibit space. The museum, which opened its doors in 2000 and brought together collections that had once been scattered throughout the University of Oklahoma campus in basements, attics, barns, and various departmental buildings, now houses 13 different collections and more than 7 million objects under one roof. Additionally, the museum has a conservator, conservation lab, and collection technician with an isolation area including a CO2 bubble and a detached osteology preparation facility. Come join us for behind-the-scenes tour of collections, labs, and service areas and learn about current research of curators, collection managers, and graduate students.

Beverages and snacks will be provided during a scheduled break.

OPTION 1
Earth Sciences/Social Sciences Tour:
Tour the collection areas related to Invertebrate Paleontology, Vertebrate Paleontology, Paleobotany & Micropaleontology, Ethnology, Archaeology, and Native American Languages.
Morning: Earth Sciences, Social Sciences - FULL
Afternoon: Earth Sciences, Social Sciences

OPTION 2
Life Sciences/Services Tour:
Tour the collection areas related to Ornithology, Mammalogy, Herpetology, Ichthyology, Genomic Resources, and Recent Invertebrates. In addition, see our support network including our Isolation/CO2 Bubble, Osteology Preparation Facility, and Conservation lab.
Morning: Life Sciences, Services - FULL
Afternoon: Life Sciences, Services - FULL

OPTION 3
Film, Q&A, and Partial Tour:
A viewing of “Behind the Rain” will be offered in our auditorium. This film takes a look at the design and construction process of our building, followed by a short question and answer session with the former director and NSCA President, Dr. Michael Mares. This replaces the first half of one of the tours. After the film, there will be a tour of public and collection areas.
Morning Only

University of Oklahoma Museums Tour (Half Day; Afternoon Only) - FULL

Cost: free

Join us in a tour of several museums and collections on the campus of the University of Oklahoma. We are offering behind-the-scenes tours of the History of Science Collection, Robert Bebb Herbarium, and Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art. The tour will depart the Skirvin Hilton Hotel at mid-day and depart the University of Oklahoma late afternoon.

Beverages and snacks will be provided during a scheduled break.

Capacity: 20 participants

NOTE: Due to unforeseen circumstances, the History of Science Collections will not be on the University of Oklahoma Museums Tour. Instead, participants will be visiting the University of Oklahoma's Western History Collections (http://libraries.ou.edu/info/index.asp?id=22), along with the Robert Bebb Herbarium and the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art.

History of Science Collections
www.libraries.ou.edu/info/index.asp?id=20

The History of Science Collections of the University of Oklahoma Libraries hold over 90,000 volumes ranging chronologically from Hrabanus Maurus' Opus de universo (1467) to current publications in the history of science. Notable holdings include the Galileo collection (with four first editions containing Galileo's handwriting) and the Darwin collection (with 440 editions and translations of Darwin's works, as well as several Darwin manuscript letters). The History of Science Collections comprise an internationally known, comprehensive research collection and support an academic department that offers masters and doctoral degrees in the history of science. In this behind-the-scenes tour, participants will see some of the treasures of the Collections and discuss some of the challenges of managing this valuable University resource, whether ensuring preservation by maintaining suitable climate-controlled storage conditions or providing access for teaching and research.

 

Robert Bebb Herbarium (OKL)
www.biosurvey.ou.edu/bebb/bebbhome.html

The Robert Bebb Herbarium is maintained jointly by the Oklahoma Biological Survey and the Department of Botany & Microbiology of the University of Oklahoma. The herbarium has a regional focus primarily, and maintains an active collections-based research program. The herbarium houses the largest collection of Oklahoma plants with 215,000 vascular plant specimens, less than 500 algal and fungal specimens, and 1500 lichen and bryophyte specimens. Extensive collections of Poaceae, Asteraceae, Fabaceae, Cyperaceae, and Rosaceae, and of the genera Carex, Eriogonum, and Quercus also are maintained.

Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art
www.ou.edu/fjjma/

Don't miss the opportunity to take a behind-the-scenes tour of the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art. Tour participants will have an opportunity to see collection areas, as well as the premiere exhibition of the Adkins Collection, which is among the most important private collections in the nation of works by the Taos Society of Artists as well as Native American works of art. It includes more than 3,300 objects, including 1,100 two-dimensional works, 370 pieces of pottery, over 1,600 examples of jewelry and silverwork, and nearly 250 pieces of other Native arts. This extensive collection recently was acquired by the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art and the Philbrook Museum of Art in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The museum, which completed a 34,000 square foot addition in January 2005, is preparing to expand again with a wing to house the Adkins Collection--slated to open in 2010.

Oklahoma History Center (Half Day; Morning Only) - CANCELLED

www.okhistorycenter.org/

Cost: free

The Oklahoma History Center, a division of the Oklahoma Historical Society, opened a new facility in November 2005. In addition to participating in and fully supporting the overall mission of the OHS, the museum collects, preserves and interprets the history of Oklahoma. Five state-of-the-art galleries present Oklahoma's unique history of transportation, commerce, culture, aviation, and heritage. Outside the museum, the Red River Journey offers visitors an outdoor garden featuring representations of state landforms and vegetation and signage describing important historical locations. The Research Center's extensive collections of books, microfilm, manuscripts, photographs, oral histories, film and newspapers, as well as numerous resources for genealogical research are an important source of information for aspects of Oklahoma's heritage. The tour will depart the Skirvin Hilton Hotel in the morning and return at mid-day.

The Oklahoma History Center does have a café and you will have the opportunity to eat there for lunch and view the public exhibits. If you choose to do this, you will need to find transportation back to the hotel (see Travel Information for bus or cab information).

FIELD TRIPS

Arbuckle Mountains Geology and White Mound (Full Day)

Capacity: 30 participants
Cost: $40 per person

The Arbuckle Mountains in southern Oklahoma represent a unique vista into the early geologic history of Oklahoma and the southern Mid-Continent. The folded and faulted rocks exposed in road cuts range in age from 500,000,000 to 300,000,000 years ago. You will also be able to collect fossils from the White Mound locality, a richly fossiliferous Devonian outcrop that has been a popular collecting spot for over 100 years. These fossils are typically loose finds and include trilobites, brachiopods, corals, snails, clams, and bryozoans.

This will be a full-day trip, leaving the Skirvin Hilton Hotel in the morning and return in the afternoon. Transportation, lunches, snacks, beverages, and guides will be provided. Recommended items to bring: sunscreen, sunglasses, hat, hiking boots or other sturdy footwear, camera, and binoculars. No public restrooms are available at this site.

Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge (Full Day)

wichitamountains.fws.gov/

Capacity: 45 participants
Cost: $40 per person

Established in 1901, the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge was established to protect wildlife species then in grave danger of extinction and to restore those species that had been eliminated from the area. The 59,020-acre Refuge hosts a rare piece of the past - a remnant mixed grass prairie, an island where the natural grasslands escaped destruction because the rocks underfoot defeated the plow. The Refuge provides habitat for large native grazing animals such as American bison, Rocky Mountain elk, and white-tailed deer. Texas longhorn cattle also share the Refuge rangelands as a cultural and historical legacy species. More than 50 mammal, 240 bird, 64 reptile and amphibian, 36 fish, and 806 plant species thrive on this important refuge. The wildflowers should be beautiful this time of year!

This full-day trip will leave the Skirvin Hilton Hotel in the morning and return in the afternoon. Transportation, lunches, snacks, beverages, and guides will be provided. Recommended items to bring: sunscreen, sunglasses, hat, hiking boots or other sturdy footwear, camera, and binoculars.