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Texas Memorial Museum (Jackson School of Geosciences, UT)

One-line summary: UT's natural-history museum on the east mall — best known for the Texas Pterosaur (Quetzalcoatlus northropi) cast hanging in the Great Hall, the Onion Creek Mosasaur, and the Hall of Geology and Paleontology; closed for years, reopened in 2023 after major renovation and curriculum overhaul.

Texas Memorial Museum (Jackson School of Geosciences, UT)

One-line summary: UT's natural-history museum on the east mall — best known for the Texas Pterosaur (Quetzalcoatlus northropi) cast hanging in the Great Hall, the Onion Creek Mosasaur, and the Hall of Geology and Paleontology; closed for years, reopened in 2023 after major renovation and curriculum overhaul.

Scope note: this template covers steps 1–3 of the adventures pipeline (identify, support Maxine's research, shape goals). The deliverable webpage

  • video at step 6 is Maxine's own work — don't scaffold it here.

Links & Maps

Official:

Maps:

Reference & background:

Must-See / Big Items

  1. Texas Pterosaur cast (Quetzalcoatlus northropi) — wingspan ~36 ft, the largest known flying animal. Original bones found at Big Bend in 1971 by UT grad student Doug Lawson. This is the thing. Stand under it.
  2. Onion Creek Mosasaur — full Tylosaurus skeleton dredged out of Onion Creek south of Austin. Same Cretaceous seaway that made the Edwards Limestone Barton Springs sits in.
  3. Hall of Geology and Paleontology — Texas-specific fossils, from Permian to Pleistocene.
  4. Hall of Biodiversity — Texas specimens; the dioramas are 1930s-era WPA work and are interesting in themselves as material culture.
  5. Texas Megafauna — Columbian mammoth, glyptodont, sabertooth. Pair with Waco Mammoth.
  6. Building itself (1939, WPA-era) — designed by Paul Cret. Limestone, art deco bas-reliefs by Hugo Villa. The building is itself an artifact of how Texas chose to memorialize itself in the New Deal era.

Stretch goals (do if time allows):

  • Walk to the Littlefield Fountain + UT Tower south of the museum.
  • Hit the Harry Ransom Center (file) on the same UT trip — 7-minute walk.

Research angles for Maxine

The research is hers — list questions to investigate and sources to start from, not answers. Pitch above grade level.

Hook into Maxine's current interests: (ask before finalizing — what is she into right now? bend the questions to that.)

Questions worth chasing:

  • Science: How does an animal the mass of a giraffe (~250 kg estimated) get airborne? Read the 2021 Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology monograph series on Quetzalcoatlus — there's an open-access argument about quadrupedal launch. What evidence in the fossil record supports the launch model?
  • History: This museum was built in 1939 with WPA money as a Texas Centennial project (1936). What was the Texas Centennial, what got built, and what's the political story behind which sites were chosen?
  • Writing: Compare the WPA-era exhibit labels (if any remain) to the post-2023 renovation labels. How has natural-history writing changed in 80 years?
  • Math: Estimate the wing loading of Quetzalcoatlus (mass / wing area). Compare to a hang glider, an albatross, a 747. Where does it sit?
  • Art: Photograph one Hugo Villa bas-relief and one diorama. Compare the artistic style.

Starting sources (not exhaustive — she'll find more):

Observable field goals

  • Photograph the Quetzalcoatlus cast and estimate its wingspan against a known reference in the frame.
  • Find one fossil in the Hall of Geology that came from the Austin chalk / Edwards limestone — same rock as Barton Springs.
  • Identify three Hugo Villa bas-reliefs on the building exterior and read what each commemorates.
  • Find at least one exhibit label that frames its content in indigenous (not just Anglo settler) Texas history.

Suggested itinerary

  1. 10:00 a.m. Arrive, park at San Jacinto Garage.
  2. 10:15 a.m. Great Hall — pterosaur and mosasaur. Spend an hour.
  3. 11:30 a.m. Hall of Geology + Hall of Biodiversity.
  4. 12:30 p.m. Lunch on UT Drag (Guadalupe) or at student union.
  5. 1:30 p.m. Walk to Harry Ransom Center or LBJ Library for a paired afternoon.

Family roles:

  • Chris leads: the WPA/Centennial history thread; building-as-artifact angle.
  • Heather leads: biodiversity hall observation.
  • Maxine drives: pterosaur deep-dive; the wing-loading math.
  • Solo vs. both parents: fine with one.

Connections

Combines well with:

Feeds into home projects / future adventures:

  • A pterosaur-biomechanics deep dive.
  • The Cretaceous-Texas-sea project (Austin chalk + Edwards limestone → mosasaurs + Barton Springs salamanders is one continuous geologic story).

Open questions / still to research (Chris's side)

  • Current hours — they've changed a few times since reopening.
  • Whether the Onion Creek Mosasaur is still on display or in storage.
  • Confirm parking rate at San Jacinto Garage; UT charges go up on game days.