Upcoming Events at Museum of the Earth

Ever wonder what it would be like to spend the night inside a real museum? Now is your chance! On Friday, November 2nd at 7 p.m., you and your family can have the chance to see what really happens when the sun sets, and the lights go out at Museum of the Earth. Spend the night sleeping next to the Hyde Park Mastodon, or fall asleep underneath Right Whale #2030. There will be games, movies, and lots of fun to be had for kids of all ages. Snacks and breakfast will be provided and coffee available all night for parents!

So bring the whole family for this amazing night of fun at Museum of the Earth.

Members: $30, Children and $20, Adults
Non-Members: $40, Children and $30, adults

Ages 5-12 Welcome and we do ask that 1 adult be preset for every 3 children.

Register today by calling: 607.273.6623 x33

We hope to see you there!

Weekend Events at Museum of the Earth

Saturday, October 20 from 11:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m.
Dinosaurs in Popular Culture Family Opening

Join us with a host of family friendly Dino-Mite activities at the Museum of the Earth! There will be dino-games, dino-crafts, and lots of dino-mite activities for dino-lovers young and old. Come help us celebrate the opening of this exhibit, and be one of the first to see it on display!

Saturday, October 20 from 7:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m.
Dinosaurs in Popular Culture Evening Opening

Bring your friends to the Museum for wine and tapas and stroll through this new Dino-Mite exhibit. This event is free for all, and will be a wonderful time.

A Message from Warren Allmon, Director

The Fall

The fall is a busy time in every academic calendar, and here in Ithaca (where education is our main industry) it seems that the entire city, town, and county accelerate into the fast lane every autumn. When I arrived at PRI almost exactly 15 years ago, however, the fall was nothing special for us. We were largely invisible to the local schools and colleges. But as PRI (and the Museum of the Earth) have become more and more involved in education at all levels, the leaves are not the only things that change for us in the fall here on West Hill.

In the Museum we shift from a focus on individual and family visitors (which are highest for us in July and August) to school classes, whose yellow busses are now an almost daily sight in our parking lots. We see 5,000-10,000 K-12 students each year during such class visits, about half of whom come in September-November. We also welcome a rising number of students from Cornell and Ithaca College who increasingly come to the Museum as part of their class work, either with their professors or on independent assignments.

Beyond the Museum, three PRI staff members teach regular undergraduate classes at Cornell and Ithaca College and so Director of Collections Greg Dietl is in his first semester of teaching a seminar in Cornell's Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences (EAS) on paleoecology. Director of Education Rob Ross is teaching his History of Life course at IC. And I am teaching one third of Evolution of the Earth System in EAS at Cornell, as well as advising my two PhD students.

It's kind of reassuring to finally be an integral part of this vital ebb and flow in our local culture.

-Warren Allmon, Director