Museum Collections
The main public display of the AJS Natural History Museum is in the Carhart Science building, room 113, at Wayne State College. The public display showcases the history of life on earth and houses unique specimens such as a whooping crane, a grizzly bear, and a mammoth tusk. Interactive stations with smaller specimens and digital microscopes are accessible to visitors. An augmented reality topographic sandbox and a bird watching station are other highlights. Additional natural history displays are found on the first and second floors of Carhart Science.
Additional facilities include animal and plant collection rooms in Carhart Science, and the Ecology Study Area on the WSC campus.
Animal Collections
Hundreds of bird species found in Great Plains highlight the museum collection. Hundreds of mammal skins and skulls from Nebraska are another significant component of the collection. Local invertebrate, fish, amphibian, and reptile specimens round out the natural history collections. Of particular interest is an extensive collection of regional freshwater mussels that were collected by Jewell Schock.
These animal collections are used by students in WSC biology classes and by researchers studying the fauna of the region.
Charles R. Maier Herbarium
The Maier Herbarium houses around 19,000 dried and pressed plant specimens, primarily from Nebraska. The specimens are used by students in Plant Science and Great Plains Flora. The collections were also used as one source of data for The Flora of Nebraska (2011, School of Natural Resources, UNL).
The herbarium is named for Dr. Charles Maier, who taught botany and other biology courses at Wayne State College from 1968-1999. The herbarium is largely composed of specimens collected by Maier and his students.