News Articles

April 30, 2016

Drs. Alex Hastings and Joe Keiper were ready for the crowds at Waynesboro Riverfest in Waynesboro, VA.

April 30, 2016

The First Southwestern Piedmont Science STEM Showcase. Thanks everyone who attended!

April 30, 2016

Dr. Alex Hastings, VMNH assistant curator of paleontology (left), and Dr. Joe Keiper, VMNH executive director (not pictured) are taking part in Waynesboro Riverfest in Waynesboro, VA, giving visitors the opportunity to get up close with a variety of spectacular dinosaur materials.

April 30, 2016

The museum is proud to be the host venue for today's Southwestern Piedmont STEM Showcase, featuring selected science projects by more than 80 elementary school students from across the region.

April 26, 2016

TEACHERS! TIME IS RUNNING OUT TO RSVP! This year's Teacher Appreciation Event will take place on Cinco de Mayo from 5 to 6:30 p.m. at the museum! The event is absolutely free to attend and offers free food and drinks (yes, even free margaritas!) provided by El Norteño, as well as tours of various areas of the museum. The event is open to all teachers and educators throughout Virginia and North Carolina. Space is limited and offered on a first-come, first-served basis. To RSVP, please contact Charlotte Harter at charlotte.harter@vmnh.virginia.gov or 276-634-4164 by this Friday. We hope to see you there! For more information, please visit www.vmnh.net/teacher-appreciation-night.

April 26, 2016

The museum is hosting the distance learning program "Unsolved Mysteries" for Kate Collins Middle School in Waynesboro today. Educator Sydney Brown is standing in front of the Carmel Church display inside the Uncovering Virginia exhibit explaining to students why a rock quarry just north of Richmond is one of the richest marine fossil beds in the country. One of the unsolved mysteries is why so many whale, shark, dolphin and many other marine fossils ended up being buried alongside and atop each other in one very concentrated area.

April 25, 2016

Hey Teachers! What's better than margaritas on Cinco de Mayo? That would be FREE margaritas on Cinco de Mayo...

April 25, 2016

The Maryland Archaeological Conservation Laboratory (MAC Lab), located at Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum is hosting a two-day workshop June 9-10 focused on artifact identification and field conservation strategies for archaeologists. The workshop, which is proudly co-sponsored by VMNH, is open to practicing professionals and graduate students in the field of archaeology. Registration is on a first come, first served basis; Maximum 20 participants. Cost: $120 per participant. To register or obtain additional information, please click to learn more!

April 22, 2016

Earth Day with the students!

April 22, 2016

Earth Day Festival is tomorrow!! Be sure come on out to Frank Wilson Park behind the museum for a day full of warm weather, sunshine, games, crafts and live music! It's the perfect way to spend the day with the family!

April 22, 2016

Students line-up to take part in a recycling activity at the museum during our annual Earth Day Student Day event, which provides students with hands-on educational experiences to become better stewards of our planet's environment. Nearly 200 students from Carver Elementary, Drewry Mason Elementary and Rich Acres Elementary, as well as homeschool students, will take part in the activities this morning and this afternoon. Don't forget that the FREE Earth Day Festival will be held tomorrow at J. Frank Wilson Park behind the museum from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.! The event will feature a large variety of games and crafts, as well live music by Kim and Jimbo Cary! Come out and enjoy the beautiful weather with your family tomorrow, ...

April 19, 2016

Looking for a fun way to spend a warm, sunny Saturday in April with your family? Look no further than the FREE Earth Day Festival hosted by the Virginia Museum of Natural History and Martinsville Parks & Recreation this Saturday! The event features a variety of games, crafts, and activities, including live music by Kim and Jimbo Cary and their all-natural instruments. Join us Saturday, April 23 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at J. Frank Wilson Memorial Park behind the museum!

April 14, 2016

Dr. Elizabeth Moore, the museum's curator of archaeology, is now a member of the Society for American Archaeology's (SAA) Committee for Museums, Collections, and Curations. This committee raises awareness and supports archaeological collections. At the annual SAA conference last week, she had her first meeting with the committee, where she was assigned to the sub-committee responsible for making a list of all of the archaeological collections in the US. On top of this recognition, Dr. Moore and Dr. Bernard K. Means were selected to serve as the new SAA State Educational Coordinators for Virginia. Dr. Means is a research associate for the museum, and runs the VCU Virtual Curation Laboratory. Drs. Moore and Means recently ...

April 14, 2016

Don't miss tonight's 2nd Thursday Science Talk from 6 to 7 p.m.: Tiffany Haworth, Executive Director of the Dan River Basin Association, will present "How do we protect what we have?" The museum's 2nd Thursday Science Talks series includes FREE admission made possible by generous donations of all sizes to the VMNH Discovery Fund (www.vmnh.net/discovery-fund). We look forward to seeing you at tonight's event!

April 12, 2016

Dr. Alex Hastings, VMNH Assistant Curator of Paleontology, recently presented "Life after Mass Extinction" at the Wayne Theatre in Waynesboro, VA. VMNH scientists, educators and administrators present a variety of fascinating programs to groups statewide and beyond. For information about booking a presentation, please email information@vmnh.virginia.gov. Thank you for your support!

April 12, 2016

Whenever the museum gets donations or items return that were out on loan, the specimens have to go through disinfestation. This ensures that no bugs get into the collections and damage specimens. The museum uses an anoxic chamber, or a "bubble", to disinfest the specimen. This system pumps carbon dioxide into the bubble and pumps oxygen out, then sits for at least 21 days in the carbon dioxide. This ensures that insects that could infest the collections are dead. The bubble works much faster and is much safer on specimens than other techniques, like freezing. Currently, in the bubble, there are taxidermy mounts that are part of the Speck collection, which was recently donated to the museum. There are also items from the ...

April 11, 2016

Thanks to everyone who helped make this year's "Grapes & Grains" fundraiser a huge success! We hope everyone had as much fun participating in the event as we had hosting it. We want to sincerely thank everyone who attended, as well as the countless individuals and businesses who helped make the event so successful!

April 11, 2016

The Virginia Museum of Natural History is proud to partner with the Integrative Centers for Science and Medicine on a variety of programs providing science education to area children.

April 8, 2016

Thank you to our friends at Everything Outdoors for transforming the museum plaza in conjunction with the Grapes & Grains gala on April 9...we can't wait to post pictures of the completed project! Be sure to check out Everything Outdoors, LLC at https://www.facebook.com/EverythingOutdoorsLlc/

April 5, 2016

The archaeology department is currently sorting soil from a dig site in the Great Neck area of Virginia Beach. The material they're looking at is from pits that date back to about 200-500 AD. Lucy Treado, a research technician for the museum, is processing the soil with a flotation method that sorts out the contents of the soil based on weight. So far, they've seen lots of shells and fish bones that were food for the people living there, but there's also a lot of plant material that can't be identified with the naked eye. The museum is planning on sending the vegetation to an archaeobotanist, a person who specializes in the relationship between plants and humans. Dr. Elizabeth Moore, curator of archaeology, hopes that ...

April 4, 2016

Big news in the VMNH leafcutter ant colony! The queen ant is clearly visible, offering a rare site to visitors. Amazing facts – a queen can lay up to 30,000 eggs each day, and a single queen can produce more than 150 million ants in her lifetime. The colony's survival is dependent on the queen – if she dies, the colony soon perishes. This colony has grown significantly since it arrived at VMNH in April 2014. Be sure to stop by while the queen is still visible! Learn more about the VMNH leafcutter ant colony at https://youtu.be/3ra6x18mJX4

April 4, 2016

The Virginia Museum of Natural History recently received a $5,000 donation from Memorial Hospital of Martinsville & Henry County. This Corporate Partnership will support the upcoming VMNH Dinosaur Excavation in Wyoming in summer 2016 where museum scientists and colleagues from Lynchburg College will unearth a variety of dinosaur fossils, expanding our knowledge of the natural world. The Hospital's gift will also support upcoming museum events and programs benefiting science education throughout the Commonwealth. Pictured (left to right) are: Ryan Barber, VMNH Deputy Director; Michael Ehrat, CEO of Memorial Hospital; and Dr. Joe Keiper, VMNH Executive Director.

April 1, 2016

Thank you to our Grapes & Grains 2016 Sponsors! Support for this event directly benefits vital museum programs in Research, Education and Exhibits. Thank you for your support!