Military discounts available.
For more information, contact Drew Triplett at Drew_Triplett@Baylor.edu or by phone 254-710-1069.
Stop by to meet our newest addition to the exhibit, Baby! Don't be fooled by his name because he's anything but small. Baby is the nickname given to this longhorn steer that lived to be more than 25 years old and has horns that span nearly 8 feet! The Strecker Museum held the distinction of being the oldest continuously operating natural history museum in Texas until it closed in September 2003 in preparation for its move to the Mayborn Museum Complex. What began as a teaching collection grew into a museum that was known as the Baylor Museum. It was housed in a number of buildings on the Baylor campus, including the Carroll Science Building, Pat Neff Hall and the Sid Richardson Science Building. Over the years, numerous students as well as the public were introduced to the wonders of natural science at the museum. Self-educated librarian and naturalist John K. Strecker served as curator of the museum from 1903 until his death in 1933; the museum was re-named the Strecker Museum in his honor. The first exhibit in the Mayborn Museum Complex's natural history section is named Strecker's Cabinets of Curiosities. Many of the beloved artifacts from the Strecker Museum's collections, such as the tree cross-section and the humpback whale skull, are on display. The room is patterned after the style of early natural history museums. At that time, museum items were presented purely for visual entertainment and shock value and were not labeled. A wide variety of fascinating objects is on display on the shelves and in the drawers of the Victorian style cabinets. Many of these artifacts were gifts to the museum from Baptist missionaries who were serving around the world. One example is a Venus' Flower Basket sponge, or Euplectella aspergillum, from the Philippine Islands. Traditionally given as a wedding present in many Asian cultures, this type of sponge also became popular during England's Victorian period. The papier mache dog and pig sculptures made from thousands of dollars of Confederate money macerated by the U.S. Department of the Treasury are definitely curiosities. Another interesting example is the box of twenty-four kinds of beetles from the Americas and Africa. Also on display is a jug from the Iron Age, dating to c. 700 B.C.E. that was found on the coast of Cyprus. You can also see a 3,000 lb humpback whale skull measuring 19 feet! These are only a few of the amazing, beautiful, and sometimes strange objects to be discovered in the Cabinets of Curiosities.
Sure to be a hit for all visitors are the Waco at the Crossroads of Texas Natural History Exhibits. From their first step into Cretaceous Sea, with its 28 foot-long model of a Pliosaur, to Texas Lifeways, which includes a WacoIndian grass hut, a Norwegian rock house, a Comanche tipi, and an early log cabin, everyone will come to understand what makes Waco the Crossroads of Texas. Along the Crossroads journey-made up of traditional and walk-in dioramas as well as exploration stations-this interactive experience guides visitors through the natural science and cultural history of Central Texas. Walk-in dioramas include a Limestone Cave, a Texas Forest, and the Waco Mammoth Experience. At the Waco Mammoth exhibit, guests can walk on a see-through floor to look down upon casts of the Columbian mammoth bones displayed exactly as they were unearthed at the Waco Mammoth Site, just 5 miles from the Baylor Campus.
The Governor Bill and Vara Daniel Historic Village was donated to Baylor University in 1985 by the Daniel Family. The structures were relocated from Liberty, Texas to Baylor's campus in 1986, where they now reside along the banks of the Brazos River as part of the Mayborn Museum Complex. Today, the nine wood frame buildings that comprise the Village provide a glimpse into the past, bringing to life a community in the 1890s. Admission to the Mayborn Museum Complex, includes the Historic Village. The Historic Village hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays- Saturdays and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Sundays. While our outdoor exhibit component may be closed on occasion due to inclement weather or other unforeseen circumstances, we still have many indoor exhibits for you to enjoy. Should the Historic Village be closed, we invite you to take a virtual tour of the buildings and their contents by using the interactive kiosk located in the Daniel Family Donor Story Exhibit. Please call ahead to check the status.
Seventeen themed Discovery Rooms occupy two floors of one wing of the museum complex. Providing visitors with hands-on activities, these rooms are designed to invigorate young imaginations and introduce them to the worlds of Vertebrates, Invertebrates, Communication, Health, Water and Bubbles, Energy, Optics, and Sound, among others. Parents as well as children will be thrilled to walk through a model of the human heart, to "communicate" in hieroglyphics, to play a tune on the walk-on piano, and to try their hand at reporting the TV news and weather.
Robots + Us
The Robots + Us traveling exhibit, on display at Baylor University's Mayborn Museum Complex January 26 through April 28, 2013, is a playful look at how biology and engineering are coming together to close the gap
between reality and our robot dreams.
Robots + Us encourages museum visitors of all ages to compare sci-fi fantasies of robots with today's technical realities and to explore why it's so hard to build robots to be like humans. They'll enjoy directing light-sensitive robots through mazes that they create in the Robot Arena; experimenting with walking machines in the Leg Lab to learn how simple changes in anatomy can affect how they walk and handle obstacles; interacting with Lena, a computer-generated character, and discovering the factors that influence her "mood;" and learning to race and outwit the surprisingly "human" Robot Arm.
Robots + Us explores what it means to be human by examining the life-like machines we build. This exhibit features over a dozen interactive components and loads of videos showing robots from movies, popular literature, and robots created in the research labs of our best universities. So, whatever robots your visitors wish to explore, they will find them here. Imagine you way to futuristic fun with Robots + Us!