🏛️ WE HAVE TO STAND UP FOR OUR NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUMS.Another natural history museum is facing an uncertain future.According to a September 22, 2026 report from the Hays Post, an employee of the Sternberg Museum of Natural History in Hays, Kansas, announced that the museum would close at the end of the year. However, Fort Hays State University has not officially announced a closure, and university officials say the institution is facing difficult decisions following a $2.4 million reduction from the Kansas Legislature.And regardless of what ultimately happens with Sternberg, I think this is something the entire natural-history community needs to pay attention to.Because we’ve seen this happening again and again.Natural history museums are incredibly important places. They preserve fossils, specimens, scientific collections, and the history of life on Earth—but they’re also places where people discover science for the first time.A kid walks into a dinosaur hall and becomes fascinated with paleontology.A family visits a natural history museum and learns about evolution, geology, biology, and the history of our planet.A student sees a real fossil and decides they want to become a scientist.Those experiences matter.And we cannot take our museums for granted.Earlier this month, the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University announced that its public museum would close at the end of September after nearly two centuries of public operation. The Academy’s collections and research will continue, but the loss of the public museum is still a tremendous change.So this episode is a rallying cry.🦖 GO VISIT YOUR NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUMS.🦴 Buy a ticket.🏛️ Become a member.💰 Donate if you can.🎁 Support the gift shop.👨👩👧 Bring your family.📚 Tell your friends.📱 Share their posts.And if there’s a small local museum near you that you’ve been meaning to visit…GO.Don’t wait until the museum announces that it’s closing to realize how important it was.And if you’re in Kansas or anywhere near Hays, keep an eye on the situation at Sternberg Museum of Natural History and support the museum and its community however you can.This isn’t about blaming the people who work at these museums. In many cases, museum staff are the people working hardest to preserve collections, conduct research, educate the public, and keep these institutions alive.It’s about recognizing that museums need support.And as someone who dreams of creating a natural history and paleontology museum of my own someday, these stories hit especially close to home.I want to see MORE natural history museums.I want to see MORE dinosaur museums.I want to see MORE people getting excited about fossils, geology, biology, and the history of life.I don’t want to watch these institutions disappear.So please:Stand up for your museums.Support them.Visit them.Talk about them.And make sure the next generation has the opportunity to walk through those doors and discover the prehistoric world for themselves.🦖 WE CANNOT TAKE OUR MUSEUMS FOR GRANTED.🔬 Sources & Further Reading📰 Hays Post — “Sternberg Museum future in question”Read the Hays Post article🏛️ Academy of Natural Sciences / Drexel UniversityAcademy of Natural Sciences🎙️ Prehistoric Life PodcastExploring the past. Discovering the science. Bringing prehistoric life to you.If you care about dinosaurs, fossils, natural history, science, and museums, subscribe to Prehistoric Life and share this episode with someone who needs to hear it.🦕 LET’S GET PREHISTORIC!#Paleontology #NaturalHistory #NaturalHistoryMuseum #MuseumsMatter #SaveOurMuseums #SternbergMuseum #Dinosaurs #Fossils #Science #Museum #Kansas #PaleontologyCommunity #PrehistoricLife #PrehistoricLifePodcast
Sternberg Museum Is in Danger | We Can’t Let Natural History Museums Disappear
