News Articles

November 29, 2019

Looking for fun, family trip ideas? Consider visiting Martinsville, Henry County and the Virginia Museum of Natural History for your next getaway!

November 27, 2019

SPECIAL HOLIDAY HOURS VMNH is closed at noon on Wednesday, November 27 and all day Thanksgiving Day. We'll re-open at 9 a.m. on Friday, November 29. Thank you!

November 27, 2019

Museum staff are always willing to volunteer their time to help museum and community partners! Jonathan Martin, chief financial officer for the museum, is lending a helping hand to Rooster Walk Inc. with setup for its upcoming "Rives on the Road" concert featuring BIG Something at the Heritage Conference Center in Bassett, Virginia this Saturday! Rooster Walk Inc. is a Martinsville-Henry County based non-profit organization that promotes music, arts and education in Martinsville and Henry County, Virginia. The organization has raised over $175,000 for local and regional charities, including educational scholarship funds. To learn more about Rooster Walk Inc. and this Saturday's concert, visit roosterwalk. ...

November 21, 2019

The re-imagined Fossil Overlook exhibit is officially open! From the largest lizards of all time to the "terror of the deep", the exhibit takes visitors back in time during and before the age of dinosaurs, when life below the ocean surface looked vastly different than the marine life of today. The updated exhibit and its new displays were made possible due to funding provided by the Hermes Family Foundation.

November 19, 2019

Johanna Vivanco, a senior at Bassett High School, is interning at the museum this school year as part of the O'Henry Internship program. Johanna, who is interested in conservation and environmental studies, is currently working with Dr. Kal Ivanov (associate curator of invertebrate zoology) and Liberty Hightower (research technician) as part of the invertebrate zoology team. She's busy today helping organize entomology specimens within the dry biology collections. Thanks for being a part of the museum team, Johanna!

November 18, 2019

Dr. Kal Ivanov, associate curator of invertebrate zoology, is at the annual meeting of the Entomological Society of America in St. Louis this week! Tomorrow, Kal will be presenting "The ant genus Strumigenys Smith in Virginia with natural history notes on the cavity-dwelling Strumigenys rostrata Emery (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)". Today, he sat down for a chat with Dr. Justin O Schmidt, the creator of the Schmidt sting pain index. What is the Schmidt sting pain index you ask? It's a way to measure the painfulness of different stingers of the insect world! Learn more about the Scmidt sting pain index at www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2019/2/king-of-sting-rates-most-painful-insects-558529. Learn more about the ...

November 13, 2019

The museum recently lost a tremendous person, co-worker, and friend with the passing of Cindy Gray, long-time executive assistant at the Virginia Museum of Natural History. Cindy began her museum career on December 17, 1998 as development assistant and was quickly promoted to the position of executive assistant on August 10, 2000. During her tenure as executive assistant, Cindy served with former executive directors Steve Pike and Tim Gette, and most recently with Dr. Joe Keiper. Assisting executive leadership, however, was only part of Cindy's role at the museum. Cindy quickly became one of the most recognized faces at VMNH, serving as a central liaison between the museum and its many constituents, from its members and ...

November 8, 2019

The deadline to RSVP for the film premiere of "Hidden Rivers" is Monday at 5 p.m.! The screening is free to attend!

November 5, 2019

Jessica Davenport, museum exhibits manager, and Donnie Jones, museum technician, are busy this afternoon putting the finishing touches on major updates to the museum's Fossil Overlook exhibit, which will debut soon! Special thanks to the Hermes Family Foundation and its generous support for making this exhibit possible!

November 4, 2019

Be sure to RSVP today!

November 4, 2019

The Virginia Natural History Society (VNHS) met Saturday, November 2 at the Virginia Museum of Natural History. More than 40 members of the society attended the meeting and saw a variety of presentations on the Commonwealth's native fauna. Presenters included Steve Roble, Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, former editor of the VNHS publication "Banisteria"; Curt Harden, graduate student at Clemson University; John C. Bunch, Virginia Master Naturalist; Paul Marek, Dept. of Entomology at Virginia Tech; Kal Ivanov, Assistant Curator of Invertebrate Zoology at VMNH; Arthur V. Evans, author of numerous entomology-related publications; Fernanda Vasquez-Valverde, graduate student at Virginia Tech; Derek A. Hennen, ...