UW-Stevens Point opens its museum collections to the public
3/30/2015
 

Explore the wonders of the natural world through collections of animals, fish, plants and prehistoric specimens on display as the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point opens all of its museum collections to the public.

Hosted by its Museum of Natural History, the sixth annual Collection Crawl will be held Saturday, April 11, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Visitors can see more than 25,000 square feet of museum collections on display in several university buildings. Featured this year is the campus’ largest collection, the 220,000 botany specimens in the Freckmann Herbarium. It is free.

“This is our chance each year to throw open the doors and allow the public to experience the amazing diversity of natural science collections held by the museum,” said Ray Reser, museum director.

Visitors begin the Collection Crawl at the University Library, where they pick up passports then gather stamps at 11 collection areas around campus. At each stop, university students will provide information and answer questions for families, students and community members who attend.

In addition to the Museum of Natural History, access will be available to the following collections: archaeology, entomology (insects), geology (rocks), herbarium (plants), herpetology (amphibians and reptiles), ichthyology (fish), mammalogy (mammals), ornithology (birds), paleontology (prehistoric life) and parasitology (parasites).

The UW-Stevens Point Museum of Natural History is an outreach and educational facility of the College of Letters and Science. The only public natural history museum in north-central Wisconsin, the museum’s exhibits are located on the first floor of the University  Library and may be viewed during regular library hours: 7:45 a.m. to midnight Monday-Thursday; 7:45 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday; 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday; and 11 a.m. to midnight Sunday. Visitors may park for free for the day in Lot R, which is accessible from Portage or Reserve streets. More information may be found at www.uwsp.edu/museum.

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