Spectrum - Volume 17 Issue 29 April 20, 1995 - Natural History Museum celebrating anniversary

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Natural History Museum celebrating anniversary

Spectrum Volume 17 Issue 29 - April 20, 1995

The Virginia Tech Museum of Natural History, a branch of the Virginia Museum of Natural History is celebrating its fifth anniversary with a number of special events.

There will be a keynote address tonight at 7:30 p.m. by Jack Cranford, curator of mammals for the museum and faculty member in the Department of Biology. Cranford will give a reprise of the program on local bats presented for Bat Days, 1991 and 1992. This lecture is suitable for the entire family.

Earth Day activities will be highlighted on April 22. Earth Day events include the New River Clean-up in conjunction with Montgomery and Giles counties. Please call the museum prior to Saturday to reserve a spot on the New River.

There will be special exhibits through July 1, including Wildflower Etchings and Engravings by Kathryn O'Bryan, naturalist and artist from Blue Ridge.

Through May 15, there will be an exhibit of Mark Catesby books titled The Natural History of Carolina , Florida and the Bahama Islands , published in 1754, from the Bailey-Law Collection, in cooperation with the Special Collections Department of the University Libraries.

On exhibit through April 23 will be Extinct Bird Specimens, including the Carolina Parakeet, Ivory-billed Woodpecker, and Passenger Pigeon.

Also on April 22, there will be a walking natural-history tour across campus with local naturalists. Highlighted will be the geology, birds, insects, and plants of the Virginia Tech Campus. Groups will leave the museum at 15-minute intervals at 10, 10:15, and 10:30 a.m. to meet naturalists on campus. Participants should meet at the museum and wear comfortable walking shoes. Tours will end at the Duck Pond beginning at 11 a.m.

For collections tours, reservations are recommended as space is limited on these tours. Please call the museum at 1-3001 by Friday, April 21. The tours include the following: Museum of Geological Sciences , 2062 Derring, 1:30 to 2:15 p.m., Saturday, April 22. Curator Susan Eriksson will lead the group through some of the best of the 13,000 minerals not on display, including a newly acquired gold specimen from Virginia, the Kirk gemstone collection, and the Jane Hearn mineral collection.

Massey Herbarium,

3017 Derring, 2:15 to 3 p.m., Saturday, April 22. Tom Wieboldt, associate curator of the herbarium, will demonstrate techniques and storage of Virginia's respository for preserved plant material. The tour will also include viewing some of Charles Darwin's specimens from the voyage of the Beagle.

Museum of Natural History, 428 North Main Street, 2 p.m., Sunday, April 23. Llyn Sharp, collections curator, will show the mammal, bird, and insect collections housed in the main museum building. The Virginia Museum of Natural History is located at 428 North Main Street, Blacksburg.