Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History

About

The Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History on the University of Oklahoma campus in Norman is the largest university-based natural history museum in the United States. Opened in 1899 and in its current 198,000-square-foot facility since 2000, the museum holds more than 10 million specimens and objects across zoology, botany, geology, paleontology, and anthropology—making it among the top 10 natural history collections in the country. The museum's Hall of Ancient Life features what is certified as the world's largest complete dinosaur skeleton: a 96-foot-long Apatosaurus (formerly known as Brontosaurus) whose bones were discovered in Oklahoma's panhandle. The hall also houses a Pentaceratops skull—one of the largest dinosaur skulls ever found—along with marine reptiles, early mammals, and an exceptional series of fossils documenting the Carboniferous-era tropical forests that once covered what is now Oklahoma. The Hall of People of Oklahoma chronicles more than 11,000 years of human habitation in the region, from Paleoindian hunters who followed mammoths across the Great Plains to the complex Indigenous cultures of the Woodland and Mississippian periods and the tribal nations relocated to Indian Territory in the 19th century. The museum's anthropology collections are particularly strong in Plains Indian material culture, and many exhibits are developed in collaboration with tribal nations whose ancestors are represented. The natural history galleries cover Oklahoma's biodiversity across fish, invertebrates, birds, mammals, and plants, with a strong research focus on Great Plains ecology. University of Oklahoma students and researchers actively use the collections for ongoing scientific work. Public programs include school field trips, family days, and holiday break science events. OU students receive free admission.

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