Exploring the Wonders of the University of Kansas Natural History Museum

The University of Kansas Natural History Museum, housed in the historic Dyche Hall, offers a captivating journey through the realms of biodiversity, paleontology, and evolutionary history. With its diverse exhibits and ongoing research, the museum serves as a vital educational resource and a center for scientific discovery.

A Landmark Building: Dyche Hall

The museum's galleries reside within Dyche Hall, a distinctive Romanesque structure on the University of Kansas campus in Lawrence. Dyche Hall's architectural significance earned it a place on the National Register of Historic Places on July 14, 1974. The building was listed for its connection with Lewis Lindsay Dyche and for its distinctive Romanesque style of architecture. Constructed between 1901 and 1903, the building's exterior showcases local Oread Limestone, while Cottonwood Limestone was used for the window facings, columns, arches, and grotesques.

The Panorama of North American Wildlife: A Glimpse into the Past

Among the museum's more than 350 exhibits, the Panorama of North American Wildlife stands out as a highlight. This exhibit, partially displayed at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, spurred the funding and construction of Dyche Hall. The Panorama uniquely displayed mounted groups of North American mammals in their natural surroundings, a revolutionary concept at the time. Lewis Lindsay Dyche created this exhibit on the cusp of growing scientific awareness of ecological systems and the need to conserve natural resources for the better good. Dyche Hall was designed to house the Panorama in the "apse" of the entrance gallery.

At a time when most natural history displays placed animals alone, the naturalist and explorer Lewis Lindsay Dyche created a wildlife display of wolves and moose in battle. Part art and part science, this one-of-a-kind display at the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893 brought Kansas world-wide attention. Dyche Hall was built just a few years later to house the Panorama and KU's growing scientific collections.

The exhibit has grown over the years to include more different environs and species. The museum is in the process of stabilizing the environment in the Panorama, which prepares them for the next phase of renovation, including repairing and conserving the mounts, landforms and painted murals. This will be a complex project as they figure out how to access specimens and murals while working around fragile, historic parts of the display. It is both their responsibility and privilege to be good stewards of this iconic exhibit.

Biodiversity Institute: A Hub for Research and Discovery

Complementing the museum's exhibits, the Biodiversity Institute houses over 10 million specimens of plants, animals, fossils, and archaeological artifacts. As a global leader in collection-based studies, the institute focuses on systematics, evolution, phylogenetics, paleobiology, past cultures, and biodiversity modeling. The institute also plays a crucial role in providing digital access to biodiversity data through biodiversity informatics, using these data to forecast environmental phenomena. The Biodiversity Institute’s natural history research collections are ranked among the 30 largest globally, with 13 million biological specimens and archaeological artifacts. More than 150 research scientists and students in the institute study biological species, ecosystems, evolution and past human cultures in Kansas and around the world. They use this information to model and forecast environmental phenomena that are critical to human well-being, including threatened and endangered species, the potential spread of diseases and pest species, the effect of climate change on Earth’s biodiversity, habitats and more.

Victor Gonzalez Betancourt was named curator in bee biodiversity and evolution.

Exhibits and Collections: A Diverse Array of Knowledge

The KU Natural History Museum offers a wide range of exhibits catering to diverse interests:

Bugtown: An area dedicated to the world of insects, showcasing the planet's most numerous inhabitants. The room that houses this exhibit has a two seat theater, where you can catch a short run feature on bugs in media. It was amazing to see just how many movies have had insects as a theme. Many are the sci-fi shows from the 1950’s and 60’s. While the area is certainly designed to appeal to a younger crowd, it doesn’t stop us from enjoying it.
Fossils: Displays featuring fossils discovered throughout central and western Kansas, offering insights into prehistoric life. It is no stretch to imagine the bulk of the Midwest as a prehistoric ocean. The amount of fossils discovered throughout central and western Kansas are amazing. We love trying to imagine the look of these creatures when they were alive. Something that is new since our last visit, are the stickers that suggest ways to increase interactive participation with the exhibits. We saw some kids that were happy to attempt to act out the suggested moves on each sticker.

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Microbes and Viruses: Exhibits providing detailed information on microbial specimens, both beneficial and harmful, encountered in daily life. In this area we found displays that offered information on the microbial specimens that we may encounter during our lifetime. While some may be invasive and dangerous (think HIV), others are imperative for a healthy life (microbes are packed in our stomachs). This set of exhibits were extremely detailed and informative, so be sure to save some time.
Germ Culture Displays: Showcasing cultures from germs gathered off various objects, highlighting the presence of microbes in everyday environments. In this unique display, they showcase a variety of petri dishes that contain cultures from germs gathered off various objects. Now most wouldn’t be surprised to see a multitude of germs on places that are touched by a multitude of people. Things like door handles or countertops are breeding grounds for these germy soups. What was alarming were the cultures collected in more personal places like; inside purses, shoes, and even beards.
Panoramic Wildlife Displays: We still enjoy examining the display cases on each visit, and seem to discover little specimens that we may have overlooked on previous stops. It is amazing to think that the work was done over a century ago, and they still retain their lifelike presentation. One addition to this area is the same type of stickers that we found in the fossil exhibits.

Grotesques: Art and History Carved in Stone

Back at the turn of the 20th Century, an artist named Joseph Roblado carved a dozen “grotesques” out of slabs of Kansas limestone. These statues were used to decorate Dyche Hall. They have stood the weather and climate changes through the years (except for four that were removed for a building addition). As they have weathered, their details have eroded with time. A decision was made to take them down (to preserve what details remain), and have an artist carve replicas to replace them.

Accessibility and Future Improvements

Thanks to a generous $1 million gift from Tom and Jann Rudkin, the museum is enhancing its accessibility with a new entrance from Jayhawk Boulevard to Dyche Hall. Jann and Tom met at KU, and both graduated in 1973. Jann’s B.A. degrees were in anthropology and chemistry, and Tom’s B.A. was in mathematics. Tom’s career as a software development engineer and manager spanned Intel, Bell Northern Research, VisiCorp, Control Data, Forethought and Microsoft. While at Forethought, he was one of two developers who wrote the initial version of PowerPoint for Macintosh, released in 1987. He was awarded a Distinguished Alumni Award in 2006 by KU’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and a Distinguished Service Award in 2025 by the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

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Remaining funds after construction will support the partial restoration of the Panorama exhibit, including taxidermy specimens and other items on display. The new construction will be in keeping with preserving the unique aesthetic and will be located along the southeast front of the building, leading to the main Panorama entrance. Local limestone is being sourced from quarries to maintain the look and grandeur of the building.

“Thank you, Jann and Tom; we are in awe of your gift,” said Nico Franz, professor and director for the Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum. “It is incredibly generous, adding a new dimension to your amazing legacy of KU and museum support. It is also strategic and timely. The new entrance aligns with our mission to provide suitable access to all communities of biodiversity learners and museum visitors that we strive to reach. It builds momentum for us to be bold and further improve the iconic Panorama exhibit.”

Tom recalls first visiting the museum as a young boy, during a family road trip from Wichita to Iowa. “I can remember stopping through Lawrence and visiting the museum in eighth or ninth grade and thinking what a wonderful place it was,” Tom said.

Jann was a self-employed information designer and now serves on the KU Biodiversity Institute Board of Advisors, which advocates on behalf of the Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum to university, national and international audiences. Now retired, Tom and Jann split their time between Lawrence and the San Francisco Bay Area. They are longtime supporters of KU and are museum enthusiasts in general. Their honeymoon even included driving to Chicago to go museum hopping.

“This museum is a cultural institution,” Jann said. “This will allow everyone regardless of mobility to experience the museum the way it was meant to be experienced. This is not just a ramp; it is a new beautiful entryway that will draw people in and showcase what a unique building it is.”

Tom and Jann were partially inspired by their nephew’s use of a powerchair due to spinal muscular atrophy. They have witnessed the challenges posed by those who visit buildings without equal access, especially buildings as historic as Dyche Hall.

“We want to make the building welcoming because it is an interesting place to visit,” Tom said.

Spring Programming and Events

The KU Natural History Museum offers a full lineup of science-themed public events this spring for both youth and adults. Programs will cover a range of topics, including STEM activities related to legendary scientists and their discoveries, as well as public presentations on digitizing natural history collections and paleontology fieldwork in Turkey.

Vertebrate Paleontology: New Leadership

The KU Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum has named Christina Lutz as the vertebrate paleontology lead preparator and lab manager. In her role, Lutz will support the research and educational mission of the Vertebrate Paleontology division by preparing fossil material collected from the field and creating high-quality molds and casts of vertebrate fossils for use in research, teaching and public exhibits.

A Legacy of Education and Discovery

The University of Kansas Natural History Museum stands as a testament to the power of education and the importance of preserving our natural heritage. From its iconic Panorama to its cutting-edge research at the Biodiversity Institute, the museum continues to inspire and inform visitors of all ages.

Visiting the Museum

The museum's galleries are in Dyche Hall on the university's main campus in Lawrence, Kansas. Admission is a suggested contribution of $7 per adult and $4 per child. KU students and members are free.

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