[NHCOLL-L:4554] SDSM Museum of Geology New Exhibit and Event

[Heidi Minkler]

Dear Colleagues,

My apologies in advance for cross posting. Please feel free to pass this message on to anyone as needed. 

As many of you know, our new building is currently going up. The contractors have started work on the second floor, and the official completion date is scheduled for August of 2010. We have some new exhibit space planned for the new building, but the current Museum of Geology exhibits will remain in the current exhibit hall. 

We recently received a wonderful donation from the Field Museum of life-size brontothere family sculptures, created by Frederick Blaschke. These wonderful reconstructions will be housed in the new building once it is complete. As we don’t have the space for all three of them, we will be putting the baby brontothere sculpture on display in our current exhibit hall for the public to view. We are planning several events around the baby brontothere to get the community involved. 

First, we are having a “Name the Baby” contest. It is open to K-5 students, and packets were sent out to local schools along with information for teachers. The winner will receive a free t-shirt with the name and cartoon picture on it. 

Second, we are throwing a Baby Shower on October 17, from 2-5. If you are in the area, we encourage you to show up and participate. We will have hands-on activities for children, and will announce the winning name and unveil the baby at 3:00. In conjunction with the Shower we have created a Baby Registry list of items that are needed to help us outfit the new building. This is where you all come in. If you have a few moments please go to http://museum.sdsmt.edu/home/events/ on our new webpage and check out our registry list. If you, or someone you know, has any of the items in good condition that they are willing to part with please let us know. We are accepting in-kind donations as well as cash donations. We greatly appreciate any help that can be provided with this. We are looking forward to a fun-filled event. 

In addition, we are currently updating our website and have added a page for Alumni and Friends. If you or anyone you know is an alum of the paleo program, or has worked closely with SDSM&T, please send us some information offline. We would like the year you graduated and what degree was received, what type of research you did while at Mines, and what you are doing now. 

Thank you and best regards,
Heidi Minkler and Museum Staff
Museum of Geology
501 E. St. Joseph St.
Rapid City, SD 57701
Heidi.Minkler at sdsmt.edu
(605) 394-2467