The University of Texas at Austin Texas Natural Science Center Texas Natural Science Center

History of the Texas Memorial Museum

On Exhibit

The temporary and permanent exhibits in the Texas Memorial Museum are created from holdings of more than 5 million specimens. They include dinosaurs and fossil animals, gems and minerals, as well as recent wildlife specimens.  These specimens come from geological and paleontological fieldwork conducted by The University of Texas at Austin scientists, and also from public donations.

The mountain lion exhibit on the third floor was part of the 1936 University of Texas Centennial Exposition, which was a festival to commemorate the 100 year anniversary of Texas' Independence from Mexico. The exhibit was placed in the Texas Memorial Museum after construction was completed. Other exhibits change to highlight current research and new acquisitions. The Museum also hosts traveling exhibits on loan from other museums.

Photo of main exhibition hall of the University of Texas Centennial exposition in Gregory Gymnasium, 1936

This is a view of the main exhibition hall of The University of Texas at Austin Centennial Exposition in Gregory Gymnasium, 1936. Many of these exhibits, including the bison and mountain lion dioramas on the third floor, were later placed in the Museum.
 
Newspaper article about the Museum's new Reptile Exhibit

 A live four-foot diamondback rattlesnake began the reptile collection on the third floor in March of 1939.
 
Museum building which contains the Glen Rose Dinosaur Tracks

An important addition to TMM was the dinosaur track way located on the north side of the Museum that houses the imprints of giant dinosaurs that lived 100 million years ago. This acquisition was made in the summer of 1941 from Glen Rose, Texas and sponsored by Works Project Administration (WPA).
 
 


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