Weis Earth Science Museum
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Weis Earth Science Museum (abbreviated as WESM), located at 1478 Midway Rd, on the
University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh, Fox Cities Campus The University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh, Fox Cities Campus (abbreviated as UWO Fox Cities and formerly known as the University of Wisconsin–Fox Valley) is a branch campus of the University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh and a member of the Universiti ...
in
Menasha Menasha () is a city in Winnebago and Calumet counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The population was 18,268 at the 2020 census. Of this, 15,144 were in Winnebago County, and 2,209 were in Calumet County. The city's name comes from the W ...
,
Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...
, USA, was opened in 2002. It focuses on Wisconsin geology and its mining history. As such, it was designated as the Official Mineralogical Museum of Wisconsin by then-Governor Tommy Thompson in 2000, prior to its construction.


Description and history

The museum is organized as theme galleries, interactive displays, and temporary exhibits, as well as research collections and office space. It holds some 10,000 specimens, of which about 1,000 are on display at any given time. Museum staff actively engages in public outreach through school tours. Plans are also being made for visiting schools and for creating digital, virtual fieldtrips. The collections, currently being cataloged in online databases, focus on the following themes as they pertain to Wisconsin and surrounding areas: Minerals, Fossils, Rocks, Sedimentary structures, Geology, Archaeology, Mining, Geologists, Geological sites, Mining history, and History of geological/archaeological studies. The galleries are currently laid out as: Space Rocks (meteors and meteorites), Introduction to the Earth, Wisconsin Through Time, Wisconsin Industry, Water (Water Everywhere), Animals Through Time featuring the Bruce Danz Collection, and the Barlow Gallery of Minerals. Curators and staff engage in a wide range of research topics in geology and paleontology, and they have written many scientific papers and books. The WESM is named for Leonard and Donna Weis, who provided the founding financial gift to establish the museum and to endow the director’s position. Exhibits were designed by founding director Dr. Joanne Kluessendorf in conjunction with Derse Museum Group, Milwaukee. After the passing of Dr. Kluessendorf in 2018, Scott Mikulic was named interim director. In July 2019, Dr. Joseph A. Frederickson was hired as the new permanent director. Dr. Donald G. Mikulic has been a volunteer curator since the WESM’s inception.


Gallery

File:Entrance to gallaries of WESM.jpg, Entrance to galleries File:A walk through time in Wisconsin, WESM.jpg, A walk through time in Wisconsin File:Animals through time - Paleozoic.jpg, Animals through time -
Paleozoic The Paleozoic ( , , ; or Palaeozoic) Era is the first of three Era (geology), geological eras of the Phanerozoic Eon. Beginning 538.8 million years ago (Ma), it succeeds the Neoproterozoic (the last era of the Proterozoic Eon) and ends 251.9 Ma a ...
File:Animals through time - Mesozoic.jpg, Animals through time -
Mesozoic The Mesozoic Era is the Era (geology), era of Earth's Geologic time scale, geological history, lasting from about , comprising the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous Period (geology), Periods. It is characterized by the dominance of archosaurian r ...
File:Animals through time - Cenozoic.jpg, Animals through time -
Cenozoic The Cenozoic Era ( ; ) is Earth's current geological era, representing the last 66million years of Earth's history. It is characterized by the dominance of mammals, insects, birds and angiosperms (flowering plants). It is the latest of three g ...
Image:Eldredgeops norwoodensis.jpg, The
Devonian The Devonian ( ) is a period (geology), geologic period and system (stratigraphy), system of the Paleozoic era (geology), era during the Phanerozoic eon (geology), eon, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the preceding Silurian per ...
trilobite Trilobites (; meaning "three-lobed entities") are extinction, extinct marine arthropods that form the class (biology), class Trilobita. One of the earliest groups of arthropods to appear in the fossil record, trilobites were among the most succ ...
''
Eldredgeops ''Eldredgeops'' is a genus of trilobites in the order Phacopida, family Phacopidae, known from the late Middle and earliest Upper Devonian of Morocco and the USA. Description Like in all sighted Phacopina, the eyes of ''Eldredgeops'' are com ...
? norwoodensis'',
Milwaukee Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...
Image:Hyperoblastus.jpg, Head of the
Devonian The Devonian ( ) is a period (geology), geologic period and system (stratigraphy), system of the Paleozoic era (geology), era during the Phanerozoic eon (geology), eon, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the preceding Silurian per ...
blastoid Blastoids (class Blastoidea) are an extinct type of stemmed echinoderm, often referred to as sea buds. They first appear, along with many other echinoderm classes, in the Ordovician period, and reached their greatest diversity in the Mississi ...
''Hyperoblastus'',
Milwaukee Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...
File:The Trackway Protichnites.jpg, Trackway of one of the earliest land-walkers,
Cambrian The Cambrian ( ) is the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, and the Phanerozoic Eon. The Cambrian lasted 51.95 million years from the end of the preceding Ediacaran period 538.8 Ma (million years ago) to the beginning of the Ordov ...
, central
Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...
.


References


External links

* {{Authority control Mineralogy museums Institutions accredited by the American Alliance of Museums Museums established in 2002 Paleontology in Wisconsin Fossil museums in the United States Geology museums in the United States University museums in Wisconsin