Natural History Museum Open House well Attended

Around 200 people attended the Open House at the Natural History Museum of Wyoming held on Wednesday, August 6. The museum, located in the Mohns Center at Sheridan College, showcases many dinosaur bones, as many other exhibits. There is also a lapidary lap, and a prep lab for cleaning and preparing the bones for display.

Tom Hebert, museum director, felt the open house was a success.

He added that he was really impressed by the number of kids who attended the event.

One of the youngsters who was at the open house was Kash Hancock, who helps cleaning the fossil bones.

Kash explained what dinosaur the vertebra he had finished came from.

Mike Bloodsworth, who is one of the curators of the museum, was at the Open House.

After the open house, there was a meeting of the Gem and Mineral Club, with a special speaker who talked about fossilized sponges, which are found in the Big Horn Mountains.

There are several fish fossils on display, and Bloodsworth said that the formations in the Big Horns do not have fish in them. Fossil Butte, near Kemmer, has a treasure trove of fish fossils.

In addition to dinosaur bones and other fossils, the museum has several cases donated to rocks and minerals, including a display showing how some rocks and minerals that glow in the dark under a black light. They may look like common rocks but exposed to a black light they glow with many bright colors.

Hebert said the attendance at the open house was a great testament to the community, the town of Sheridan as well as Sheridan and Johnson County, “People come out. They always come out in support. They hear about something, they come out.”

The Museum is open from Monday-Saturday from 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. For more information go to https://nhmofwyoming.org/