The Amherst College Museum of Natural History
FAQs
1.) What are your hours/admission fee?
2.) What kinds of exhibits will you feature?
3.) How do I get to the museum? Is there a
campus map available?
4.) Is the museum appropriate for young
children?
5.) Is the museum ADA accessible?
6.) When we visit the museum, where should we park?
Are alternative means of transportation available?
7.) How can I arrange for a guided tour of the
museum for my school/other group?
8.) I am a researcher and would like to do some
work with the museum’s collections. How do I arrange this?
9.) Who are the museum staff?
10.) I am interested in working at the
museum. Can I get a job there?
11.) What is the relationship between the Bassett Planetarium,
the Amherst College Wilder Observatory, and the Museum of Natural History?
12.) Is the Museum of Natural History involved in Museums
10?
13.) Why and when did the museum close?
14.) Why aren’t you still called the Pratt Museum
of Natural History?
15.) What is the museum’s contact information?
1.) What are your hours/admission fee?
Our hours are Tuesday through Sunday, 11 to 4pm. There is no admission charge.
2.) What kinds of exhibits will you feature?
The museum contains three floors of exhibits and over 1700 individual specimens
on display. Highlights include:
The first (entrance floor) features a variety of displays on vertebrate evolution
and extinction, including free standing fossil skeletons of a mammoth, mastodon,
dire wolf, saber-toothed cat, Irish Elk and cave bear. Fossils from Amherst
College expeditions to Patagonian and the American west are exhibited, in additional
to recently extinct birds such as the moa and the ivory billed woodpecker.
The second floor demonstrates the occurrence of geological phenomena in the
Connecticut River Valley including mountain building and glaciation, as well
as local animal and plant fossils, and a small exhibit on human evolution and
teeth.
The ground floor displays the world’s largest collection of dinosaur tracks
(primarily from the Connecticut River Valley), skulls of a Tyrannosaurus rex
and a Triceratops and a diorama with a model showing what some of our local
dinosaur species might have looked like. There is also a cast of a dinosaur
track “book” that visitors can handle.
Both the first and second floors include drawers that can be pulled open to view specimens from the museum’s various collections.
Minerals and meteorites from the local area and around the world are displayed in cases in the corridor that runs between the museum and the Geology Department, with whom we share the Earth Sciences building.No groups are allowed in the hallways during the week to avoid disturbing classes.
3.) How do I get to the museum? Is there a campus map
available?
You may see a simple map of campus showing the museum.
The Museum of Natural History is located on the campus of Amherst College in
the town of Amherst, Massachusetts. Driving directions to the College can be
found at http://www.amherst.edu/about_amh/visit/drive.html
The College does not have public parking during weekdays. Visitors who choose
to drive to the museum can park in the lots or in the garage in the center of
the town of Amherst, and can easily walk to the museum.
From the intersection of routes 9 East and 116 South, walk 3/10 of a mile down
the hill, following route 9 East. Just before the purple and white railroad
bridge, take a right onto (unmarked) East Drive, and walk past the Campus Police
Building. At the stop sign, turn right up (unmarked) Barrett Hill Road. The
Museum is a red brick building with a metal roof. The main entrance is located
approximately half way up Barrett Hill, facing the south. There is a small stone
patio in front of the entrance.
A map of the campus can be found at http://www.amherst.edu/about_amh/visit/map/
Select “Museum of Natural History” from the drop down list on the
left.
4.) Is the museum appropriate for young children?
The Amherst College Museum of Natural History is appropriate for people of all
ages, including young children. However, most items on display in the museum
are not to be handled. Signs and labels are designed for visitors with an understanding
of high school laboratory science. There are some displays in drawers that children
are too small to use.
5.) Is the museum ADA accessible?
All three floors of the museum can be accessed by elevator. No mechanized door
openers are available. The assigned accessible parking spaces are in the small
lot northwest of the Earth Sciences and Museum of Natural History building,
adjacent to the Keefe Health Center.
6.) When we visit the museum, where should we park?
Are alternative means of transportation available?
Amherst College does NOT offer weekday public parking. For
more information, please see https://cms.amherst.edu/aboutamherst/visiting/parking.
There are no restrictions on weekend parking.The closest parking lot is the
Hills Lot.
The museum is easily walkable from downtown Amherst, as well as from the PVTA
bus stop at the Amherst College campus (in front of Converse Hall). Schedule
information for PVTA can be found at http://www.pvta.com/public/maps-and-schedules/
Bicyclists in Hampshire County can also make use of the bike racks installed
on local PVTA buses:
http://www.pvta.com/public/riding/bikes/
A bicycle rack can be found on the north side of the building entrance.
Additionally, the museum is easily accessible from the Norwottuck Rail Trail.
Information (including a map) about this multi-use recreational path can be
found at http://www.mass.gov/dcr/parks/central/nwrt.htm
7.) How can I arrange for a guided tour of the museum
for my school/other group?
Guided tours of the museum can be arranged by email request only. Please follow
the procedures on the education page.
http://www.amherst.edu/museumofnaturalhistory/education
8.) I am a researcher and would like to do some work
with the museum’s collections. How do I arrange this?
Please send an email request to the Collections Manager, Kate Wellspring. As
a courtesy we ask that collections visits be arranged a minimum of two weeks
in advance.
Tekla Harms has been the Director of the museum since 2007 and a Professor of Geology. Her research interests are in understanding the evolution of mountain belts and the interactions of plate boundaries in creating those belts.
Steve Sauter is the museum’s Coordinator of Education
and has been associated with the museum since 2002. He has designed and provides
educational tours of the museum, oversees outreach programs including the museum
website, and is also the Director of the Bassett
Planetarium. He formerly worked at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History,
The Science Centers of Connecticut, and the Pember Museum of Natural History.
He writes nature columns for local newspapers.
Kate Wellspring is the Collections Manager and has been at
the museum since 2003. She is responsible for the care and use of specimens
in the museum’s collections and supervises many day-to-day museum activities.
10.) I am interested in working at the museum. Can I get a job there?
The museum hires Amherst College students as gallery monitors. Please contact
Steve Sauter if you are interested
in this position. Other available positions would be posted on the Amherst College
jobs page http://www.amherst.edu/~hr/jobs/
11.) What is the relationship between the Bassett
Planetarium, the Amherst College Wilder Observatory, and the Museum of Natural
History?
Each of these is independent institutions operated by Amherst College. The Bassett
Planetarium is also available for school groups, with shows conducted by the
planetarium’s director. http://www.amherst.edu/~bassett/
12.) Is the Museum of Natural History involved in Museums
10?
Museums 10 is a partnership of ten area (western Massachusetts) museums including
the Mead Art Museum, Emily Dickinson Museum, Amherst College Museum of Natural
History, University Gallery of UMass Amherst, Historic Deerfield, National Yiddish
Book Center, Smith College Museum of Art, Eric Carl Museum of Picture Book Art,
Mount Holyoke College Art Museum and the Hampshire College Art Gallery. More
information about this consortium, including lodging and contact information
for other museums, can be found at http://www.museums10.org
13.) Why and when did the museum close?
We closed in February of 2004 in order to begin to prepare for our move to our
new building in December of 2005. It took approximately a year and a half to
pack the collections and move our exhibit items, and approximately six months
to unpack the collections and install the exhibits. Our largest specimens, the
dinosaur tracks and skeletal mounts, were moved by a specialized museum moving
company (Research Casting International of Beamsville, Ontario), but the majority
of the museum’s specimens were packed and unpacked by a small team of
museum employees.
14.) Why aren’t you still called the Pratt Museum of
Natural History?
The name “Pratt Museum” was adopted when the College’s natural
history collections moved from various campus buildings into the former “Pratt
Gymnasium” (built in 1884) in the 1940s. Now that this building will be
converted into a dormitory for first year students, the name “Pratt”
will stay with this building, honoring its original donor, Charles M. Pratt
(class of 1879). The new natural history museum is now known as the Amherst
College Museum of Natural History.
15.) What is the museum’s contact information?
Amherst College Museum of Natural History
Box 5000
Amherst College
Amherst, MA 01002-5000
(413) 542-2165