Texas Memorial Museum - Austin, TX - Doorways of the World on Waymarking.com

Designed by Paul Cret (the master architect behind the central core of today's University of Texas at Austin campus buildings) and opened in 1939, the Texas Memorial Museum -- located on the university's grounds -- features a often-overlooked trove of outstanding paleontology, geology, biology, herpetology, ichthyology and entomology artifacts. It was the first science museum in the state of Texas, but has unfortunately lost its prominence over the last three decades as other -- newer -- museums have been erected troughout the state.

The museum was established as part of the Texas Centennial Celebration Bill of 1935 in which funds amounting to $225,000 were allocated for "gathering and preparing materials for exhibits of natural and civic history [...] and for furnishing and equipping the Texas Memorial Museum." That same year, Congress appropriated $3 million for the Texas Centennial Exhibition -- $300,000 of which was designated to help pay for the museum building. UT regents were appointed the museum's board of directors.

Per the museum's website:

While preparing for the 1936 Texas Centennial Celebrations, politicians and other citizens realized that Texas did not have a state museum. It was not the first time this had been noticed, however. Faculty at The University of Texas at Austin sounded the alarm in the 1910s as East Coast institutions took research collections out of Texas due to the lack of facilities in Texas. “If a Texas student or professor of Geology has need to examine a specimen of Dimetrodon, found ONLY in Texas Permian beds, he would have to visit a museum in Chicago, Michigan, or the East,” wrote Professor F.L. Whitney of The University of Texas at Austin in the 1920s.

In the early 1930s, James E. Pearce, The University of Texas at Austin Chair of Anthropology, later named the museum's first director, and A. Garland Adair, department historian for the Texas American Legion, joined forces to establish a state museum. They wanted the museum to contribute to the conservation of the historic treasures of Texas and also to the educational system of the state. With this joint effort, the Texas Memorial Museum (TMM) was born. It was, at first, a state museum, but was transferred to The University of Texas at Austin museum of natural and cultural sciences. Both because it is a museum of The University of Texas at Austin and because it receives some direct state support, it remains committed to being a museum for all of Texas.

Exhibits

All exhibits are based on the 5.7 million collected specimens from research conducted at the university. Exhibits focus on prehistoric life, evolution, rocks and minerals, and Texas wildlife.

Visit the Texas Memorial Museum

Permanent exhibits include fossils and prehistoric life; native Texas wildlife; gems, minerals and meteorites; and biological evolution. Spotlighted in the museum are spectacular specimens found in Texas, including the largest flying creature ever found—the Texas Pterosaur, with a wingspan of nearly 40 feet, and a 30-foot mosasaur that swam the shallow sea that once covered most of the state."
in 1936 The Texas Memorial Museum opened in 1936 in this beautiful building of Texas Shell Limestone designed by noted architect Paul Cret, who designed the University of Texas campus master plan in the 1930s. The Texas Memorial Museum is also Austin's first science museum.

Type of material of the door: Steel Functional door?: Yes Location of this door/way: On public property Is it accessable only by paid admission": No Style: Modern Address or physical location: 2400 Trinity St Austin, TX 78705

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Date Logged Log User Rating   04/14/2019 WalksfarTX visited it 03/31/2018 Raven visited it

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