Museum of Natural and Cultural History - University of Oregon

The University of Oregon's Museum of Natural and Cultural History protects significant collections, enhances knowledge, and encourages stewardship of human and natural history through research, preservation, and education. The Museum of Natural and Cultural History (MNCH) is Oregon's primary repository for anthropological and paleontological collections. Officially created in 1935-36, as the Oregon State Museum of Anthropology and UO Museum of Natural History, the museum is celebrating its 75th birthday in 2010-11. It has its roots in 1876, however, when Thomas Condon joined the University of Oregon (UO) as one of its first three professors. Hired as a professor of natural history, Condon brought an extensive fossil collection to the UO, later known as the Condon Museum or Condon Collection. Today, as the premier natural and cultural history museum in the State of Oregon, the MNCH houses nearly 1 million ethnographic and archaeological objects and almost 100,000 fossils and biological specimens from Oregon, the Pacific Northwest, and around the world. With over 50 employees, the museum is a center of interdisciplinary research, preservation, and education.