Tash Mahnokaren

Staff Writer

Featured in the May edition of “National Geographic Magazine,” the Idaho Museum of Natural History has continued to see success through its unique features.

The museum began about 80 years ago as the housing grounds for the various artifacts found by a group of faculty members during their travels. It became an official museum in the late 1950s when it hired the most famous archaeologist in the country, Earl Swanson, to put the museum together. In the 1980s the museum took on the role as the official state museum by legislative mandate.

Today the museum boasts a generous collection of artifacts to satisfy interests in paleontology, earth sciences, geology, life sciences and Native American culture.

“We have collections of about 500,000 items stored in the basement,” said Herbert Maschner, director of the Idaho Museum of Natural History. “We have a full gallery that is open to the public, rotating exhibits and educational programs.”

Patience, fundraising skills and logistical motivation remain at the forefront of running the museum.

“There are rules and regulations about taking care of the collections,” said Maschner.

A substantial number of students make up various areas of museum staff.

Among the events hosted by the museum is Science Trek, where 140 students come spend the night on the museum floor.

The museum also holds private events where donors come and participate in museum activities.

“I also go and do a lot of developmental activities in relation to asking corporations, foundations or individuals for large donations,” said Maschner.

The Idaho Museum of Natural History is home to the Idaho Virtualization Lab. It is regarded by Maschner as one of the most important 3D scanning and virtualization facilities in the world.

These scans are said to be as reliable as looking at a specimen in reality, the tactile experience excluded.

“The individual spacing between points is at a quarter of a millimeter,” said Robert Schlader, manager of the virtualization lab. “And for stuff that we want to get higher definition on, we can capture down to 25 microns.”

In hopes of making these scans accessible to the world, the Idaho Virtualization Lab faculty is working on what is known as The Democratization of Science Project.

“[We are] putting entire museum collections online so anybody anywhere in the world, whether it be Africa or Asia, a kid, adult or scientist, can get online and do their own studies and write their own papers,” said Maschner.

According to Schlader, some of the best specimens and fossil collections come from private collections.

Through its one-page spread in National Geographic, the Idaho Virtualization Lab faculty hopes to make its work known to a wide base of individuals, some of whom might come forward with interesting artifacts to have scanned.

“Hopefully it will draw more people to us, asking us what we do and wanting to contract with us,” said Schlader.

The Idaho Museum of Natural History is open Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $5 for adults and $1 for children K-12.