Museum of Natural History - Lincoln, Nebraska - Museum and Planetarium

The Museum of Natural History is located south of 14th and Vine Streets in Morrill Hall on the University of Nebraska campus in Lincoln, Nebraska. Parking is available in front of Morrill Hall and in the parking garage west of Memorial Stadium, whilst downtown hotels and parking are within 10 minutes walking distance. The museum opens 9.30am to 4.30pm Monday to Saturday except Thursdays when it closes at 8pm, and 1.30pm to 4.30pm Sundays.

Exhibits at the museum are located on three levels with the first floor focusing on biodiversity including the Hall of Nebraska Wildlife, which talks about plants and animals in their natural environment. Visitors can also find out about Britain's Charles Darwin and his contribution to the natural sciences, as well as exploring the Dr. Paul and Betty Marx Science Discovery Center. There are restrooms located on all floors as well as an elevator to take visitors to the other floors.

The main floor, focusing on the paleontology of Nebraska, contains the Elephant Room where visitors can observe the skeletons of elephants and one of the world's largest mammoth skeletons. There is a gallery explaining the era of the dinosaurs and some of the ancient sea giants, whilst fossils are on display here too. It is on this floor that visitors can buy souvenirs from the gift shop such as natural history related toys & games, dinosaur and ancient mammal figures, plush animals, rock and mineral items, t-shirts, books and jewelry.

Also located on the main floor of the museum, the Mueller Planetarium is open the same hours as the rest of the museum except that it remains closed on Mondays and some Saturdays when there is a home football match at the University. There are many shows provided here for people of all ages with tickets available from the museum front desk. Shows look at the history of the space age with Sputnik, the Apollo programs, shuttle programs and current experiment to find the existence of water on the moon as well as computer animated video set to Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon.

The third floor is the cultural diversity area exhibiting examples of the work of nomadic peoples of the Great Plains, as well as recent works of art from the Native Americans of the Southwestern United States. Visitors can also see cultural contributions from Africa through their costumes, arts and artifacts. There are more dinosaur exhibits as well as temporary galleries rotated throughout the year.

Morrill Hall can also be rented out for birthday parties on Saturdays at 10am and 1pm or Sundays at 2pm with each party lasting one and a half hours. These are held in the party room on the first floor and include theme based activities in the museum, with the organizers at the hall providing everything including a birthday cake and gift bags. The hall can also be used for weddings, receptions, dinners and meetings after museum opening hours and finishing no later than midnight.