News Articles

September 29, 2017

The VMNH paleo team was out again tonight for Roanoke College's Dragon Fest! Good times talking about dinosaurs and other ancient "dragons". Also, check out the Titanoboa display in the library!

September 28, 2017

The museum has reached a new level of zen! Our YMCA neighbor brought its Tai Chi class to the museum's plaza this morning to practice the ancient chinese tradition.

September 28, 2017

VMNH is back at the SOVA Career Choice in Chatham today! The two-day event is expected to draw more than 4,000 middle and high school students in an effort to showcase the many different career choices available to them in southern Virginia. Students are about to learn just how awesome it is to work for Virginia's natural history museum! SOVA Career Choice: Youth Expo

September 27, 2017

Staff from the museum's education department, as well as the research and collections department, are currently in Chatham, Virginia for the SOVA Career Choice! The two-day event is expected to draw more than 4,000 middle and high school students in an effort to showcase the many different career choices available to them in southern Virginia. Students are about to learn just how awesome it is to work for Virginia's natural history museum! SOVA Career Choice: Youth Expo

September 27, 2017

Goodbye and hello! Deinonychus, a life-size cast dinosaur on loan from the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, will return to its home in Raleigh on October 11. If you'd like to view Deinonychus before its run at VMNH ends, be sure to check it out inside the Harvest Foundation Hall of Ancient Life in the coming days! While one friend leaves, another returns! Tenontosaurus, another life-size dinosaur cast skeleton, is coming back to VMNH after spending the last 5 months at the Greenwood Museum in South Carolina. Be sure not to miss it inside the special exhibit "Dinosaurs: Reign of the Giants"! To keep things fresh in its exhibit galleries, VMNH frequently participates in display loans and trades with other ...

September 26, 2017

Hey Tidewater museum fans! VMNH curators will be in Gloucester Point on Wednesday, October 4 to provide a day-long workshop focussing on the capture and curation methods for studying terrestrial vertebrates and invertebrates! The workshop will provide details about how terrestrial vertebrates and invertebrates are captured for scientific study and how they are prepared and curated as museum specimens for long-term preservation.

September 25, 2017

This weekend, VMNH paleontologist Alex Hastings gave a virtual presentation to the on-line science enthusiast group Science Circle to chat about ancient crocodiles. Great opportunity to reach an international audience including Australia & the Netherlands, and the organizer even wore a virtual crocodile suit (off to the left in the screen shot).

September 22, 2017

Be sure to visit Smithsonian Magazine's Museum Day Live! website to download your free admission pass to VMNH tomorrow only!

September 19, 2017

Although the museum's field work at the Solite Quarry is winding down, the results of extensive digging for Triassic fossils continues to yield scientific acclaim. In two recently published scientific papers, two new species of extinct insects were described based on Solite Quarry fossils that now reside inside the VMNH collections in Martinsville. Check out the museum's paleontology blog for details! vmnhpaleontology.wordpress.com/2017/09/19/will-fame-corrupt-our-sweet-bugs-next-door-the-solite-insects/

September 19, 2017

It's no secret that the museum could not achieve its level of success without its extremely dedicated and hard-working volunteers. On Monday, September 18, VMNH staff organized a field trip for volunteers to visit the Science Museum of Western Virginia in Roanoke to learn and explore. Thank you so much to every museum volunteer for your service to VMNH! We hope you had a ton of fun!

September 18, 2017

We are grateful to the Helen S. and Charles G. Patterson, Jr. Charitable Foundation Trust for this generous support of upcoming family festivals at the Virginia Museum of Natural History. We look forward to kicking off this initiative at the Reptile Festival on October 21 (School Group day on October 20)!

September 16, 2017

Dr. Joe Keiper, executive director of VMNH, is currently instructing a forensic entomology course for students at Ohio Northern University. Dr. Keiper is one of the county's leading experts in using insect evidence in helping crime scene investigations.

September 16, 2017

The paleo team is out today at the Eden RiverFest talking fossils local and beyond! Showing off some very local fossils from the Virginia-North Carolina border including fossil reptiles and bugs. We'll be here all day, so come say hello!

September 12, 2017

The Reptile Festival returns to the Virginia Museum of Natural History on Saturday, October 21 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., featuring dozens of snakes and other reptiles! Reptile-themed games and crafts will take place throughout the event! Mark Kilby will return to the festival, featuring some of the most amazing reptiles on the planet, including a king cobra, monocled cobra, timber rattlesnake, gila monster, alligator, alligator snapping turtle, red-footed tortoise and...well, you get the idea! Mark your calendar for the Reptile Festival on Saturday, October 21 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Martinsville! www.vmnh.net/reptile-festival Thank you to our event sponsors: Bassett Furniture Industries, Boxley, and the Patterson ...

September 11, 2017

VMNH paleontologist Dr Alex Hastings spent the weekend training for cave work in western Virginia, fun deep underground!

September 11, 2017

Don't miss Museum Day Live! at VMNH on Saturday, September 23. Tickets are now available for download at http://www.smithsonianmag.com/museumday/museum-day-live-2017/tickets/.

September 11, 2017

Dr. Joe Keiper isn't just the museum's executive director, but one of the country's leading forensic entomologists. Today, he is instructing law enforcement personnel on buried body recovery methods and techniques. In these pictures, law enforcement colleagues set up a mock grave in preparation for Dr. Keiper's class.

September 9, 2017

Museum curators are constantly sharing their expertise. Today, Dr. Kal Ivanov, assistant curator of invertebrate zoology, is instructing students in insect collecting techniques during a forensic entomology course at Ohio Northern University.

September 6, 2017

The first session of our Homeschool Science and Engineering Academy kicked-off today! Younger students were introduced to elements and mixtures during a fun chemistry experiment, while older students had their problem-solving skills put to the test by investigating a pretend crime-scene! If you are a homeschool parent looking for engaging, hands-on educational programming for your student(s), visit www.vmnh.net/homeschool-education to learn more!

September 6, 2017

Exciting things are happening at the VMNH affiliated Rockfish Valley Natural History Center in Nelson County, Virginia!