The last three evenings have been spent doing a dinosaur cleaning. Three times a year staff and volunteers give up a few of their evenings to dust the mounts in the Hall of Paleontology. We clean the mounts using a variety of tools ranging from low tech dust clothes and soft brushes to pretty fancy vacuums […]
by Gail Peterkin, HMNS Volunteer “Donate your body to science — volunteer at the Houston Museum of Natural Science!” Or so the tagline goes. Apparently, some volunteers have interpreted the phrase quite literally, and a number of volunteers have spent many years, if not decades, as HMNS volunteers. HMNS currently has 610 active volunteers at […]
by “Jurassic” James Washington III With the exception of our feathered friends, dinosaurs are all but gone today. So what are the ways to connect to these long lost creatures? Well as a child I had three options — museums, media and models. Going to the Houston Museum of Natural Science and standing in the […]
After a 2 year absence, “Dipsy” the Diplodocus is back at HMNS! Making it’s debut back in 1975, Dipsy was the first dinosaur to call HMNS home. In 2013, our Diplodocus was de-installed from its original place in the Glassell Hall and sent off for a much needed spa retreat in Utah. While there, the […]
For those of you who have been going to HMNS for years, you may have noticed that we’ve been missing a rather large lady from our Hall of Paleontology. Our Diplodocus, “Dipsy”, was Houston’s first dinosaur unveiled in 1975 and she was de-installed in September 2013. This was her first trip from home for a […]
Editor’s Note: Sometimes, you ask us questions on Facebook or Twitter that require a bit more than just a pithy response. So .. we wrangle the experts to get to the heart of the matter for you. You’re welcome. Q: A write-up on another Diplodocus says that the forelimbs and hands on all the Carnegie […]
There’s no sweeter story than that of a boy and his … dinosaur? In February of 1973, 24-year-old John Barber was just out of art school in Virginia, having barely missed the draft and with no idea what to do with himself. He was visiting an aunt and uncle in Houston when he paid a […]
Here’s the poster (as I see it) for the latest episode in the long-running Indiana Jones franchise, with Harrison Ford playing Diplodocus playing Indiana Jones. Before you object to its realism, Harrison is not too old; our Dipsy will be, after all, 148 million, 345 thousand and 77 years old on a Thursday in November. […]
