(EUGENE)-Just in time for Oregon’s birthday (Statehood Day is Feb. 14), the University of Oregon Museum of Natural and Cultural History in Eugene will unveil a million-dollar set of exhibits that allows visitors to walk through 15,000 years of Northwest cultural history and 100 million years of geologic history, “Oregon-Where Past Is Present.”
Admission is free for all three days of the grand-reopening weekend, Feb. 11-13. The renovated main exhibit hall showcases built-to-scale replicas of Oregon’s four geographical regions: the Great Basin, the Columbia Plateau, the Coast and the Western Valleys.
The museum was closed for 13 months in order to complete the renovation, which was funded entirely by private gifts. The project also included creation of a new changing exhibits gallery, which will open in March with “Lewis, Clark and Company-Explorers, Ambassadors and Naturalists.”
The museum renovations were overseen by Balzhiser and Hubbard with Bill Shaw as the design architect. Presentation Design Group (PDG) of Eugene designed and built the new gallery spaces. PDG and museum staff members worked closely with representatives of tribal organizations throughout the state to create the new main exhibit hall.
Founded by renowned UO archaeologist Luther Cressman in 1936, the museum is the repository for all anthropological artifacts and specimens found on Oregon state lands, including the 10,000-year-old sagebrush sandals popularized as “Oregon’s oldest running shoes” and the world-famous fossil collection gathered by Oregon pioneer and geologist Thomas Condon.
SCHEDULE FOR THE GRAND RE-OPENING WEEKEND:
Each day, visitors may enter drawings for gift certificates and museum memberships, and browse the new museum store, “Past and Presents.”
On Friday, Feb. 11, the museum will be open for extended hours until 7 p.m. UO President Dave Frohnmayer and Museum Director Mel Aikens will welcome visitors into the museum at noon for a ceremonial ribbon cutting by children representing the university’s child care centers. Robert Voelker-Morris, coordinator of the Don Hunter Archival Project, will present Don Hunter’s video, “The Sandal and the Cave,” at 5:30 p.m. in the museum’s new education room.
On Saturday, Feb. 12, hands-on science and craft activities for families will run from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the new “Scientific at the Core” exhibit space.
On Sunday, Feb. 13, “The Sandal and the Cave” will be presented at noon and again at 2:30 p.m. in the education room.
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE PERMANENT EXHIBIT: “OREGON-WHERE PAST IS PRESENT”
The new permanent exhibition was more than five years in the making. Among the many exhibit highlights are four murals painted by Don Prechtel, an Oregon artist renowned for paintings of the Western frontier and Native American culture; a replica of a 500-year-old Native American cedar plank house built by Grand Ronde tribal member Don Day and other tribal members using traditional techniques with wood tools and mallets; and a Paiute wikiup (a pole-framed hut with mat covering) made by Minerva Soucie of the Burns Paiute community using traditional materials gathered in southeastern Oregon.
SCHEDULE AND LOCATION:
Museum hours for opening weekend will be 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Regular public hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays. The museum borders the east side of campus at 1680 East 15th Ave., near the Knight Law Center.
COSTS:
Admission to the UO Museum of Natural and Cultural History regularly is $3 for adults, $2 for seniors and youths ages 17 and under; and $8 for families (2 adults and up to four youths). UO faculty and staff members and students, and museum members are free. One-year memberships cost $40 for individuals and $50 for families (two adults and up to four children).
For more information, call (541) 346-3024.
For the complete schedule of events, visit http://natural-history.uoregon.edu/.
Contact: Melody Ward Leslie, (541) 346-2060, mleslie@uoregon.edu
Sources: Judi Pruitt, (541) 346-1671, judip@uoregon.edu and Melinda Diane Young, (541) 346-5083, myoung6@uoregon.edu.
Links:
UO Museum of Natural and Cultural History: http://natural-history.uoregon.edu/
Presentation Design Group: http://www.pdgdesign.net
Don Prechtel, muralist: http://www.prechtelfineart.com/donmain.html
