Museum of Natural and Cultural History
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Museum of Natural and Cultural History
@uomnch.bsky.social
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Oregon's science and culture museum. Located on the University of Oregon campus in Eugene, Oregon. State repository for archaeological and paleontological artifacts.
@mnch_uo on Instagram and @uo_mnch on TikTok.
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Museum of Natural and Cultural History @uomnch.bsky.social · Nov 15
We've put together a starter pack of official museum accounts on Bluesky! Who are we missing? go.bsky.app/Ko2Bvky
uomnch.bsky.social
Elizabeth Kallenbach has been named as a "Trailblazer" by the Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology! Her research expands the ability to identify fibers, providing a more complete understanding of the plants people in the Great Basin and Oregon have used for more than 14,000 years.🧪🏺🏛️
Elizabeth smiles at the camera. She's wearing blue vinyl gloves and holding up a woven basket.  A screenshot of the Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology. The article title is visible and reads "Elizabeth Kallenbach -Trailblazer" 
February 10, 2026 at 8:28 PM
uomnch.bsky.social
Close to Eugene? Join us next Thursday, February 12 at 6pm for a talk about how studying Oregon's tiny fossil rodents helps us prepare for the impacts of climate change. #fossilfriday 🧪🏛️
A stock photo of a cute little mouse peering over green grass. Text reads "The Past is the Key to the Future: Oregon's Fossil Rodents and the Impacts of Environmental Change; Thursday, February 12, 6:00 p.m. Humans’ impact on the environment is reshaping climates and landscapes. To understand these changes and guess at our future, we must look back to the deep past. Join paleontologist Samantha Hopkins as she explores how changes recorded in Oregon’s rich fossil record help us understand the ecological impacts of environmental change.    Included with regular admission; free for MNCH members and UO ID card holders. Show your Oregon Trail or other EBT card for an admission discount. "
February 6, 2026 at 10:54 PM
uomnch.bsky.social
Publication alert! New research from MNCH and University of Nevada, Reno analyzes the oldest-known sewn hide and fine bone needles, helping us better understand the complex lives of humans in Oregon's high desert 12,000 years ago. Read the paper here: shorturl.at/HX3E0 🧪🏺🏛️
February 5, 2026 at 11:46 PM
uomnch.bsky.social
It's up through the end of March (Sunday, March 29, is its final day). Hope you can make it!
February 4, 2026 at 11:41 PM
uomnch.bsky.social
Workers immigrating from China built many of the industries we consider quintessentially Oregonian: hop farming, seafood canning, gold mining, railroads. Our exhibit Roots and Resilience tells some of their story. Check out the online exhibit here: shorturl.at/vWxK8
A wooden box folds out into a bronze scale.  A case full of tea cups and bowl fragments.  A case with rusted pointy tools and a label reading "railroad spikes: Buck Rock Tunnel, Jackson County, 1880s"
February 4, 2026 at 10:16 AM
uomnch.bsky.social
The local newspaper of the time, Grant County News, mentioned Louisa as building a croquet course, hosting parties, and making homemade ice cream. The stripes on this portrait, painted by Jeremy Okai Davis, are a reference to Neapolitan ice cream. /🧵🏛️🎨
A painted portrait of the historical photo from the last post. It's Louisa Sewell, a young Black woman, seated and holding a Black child in the classic Madonna and child pose. The background is a vibrant rust orange with patterns of "pixelated" dots. Louisa's dress is a deep-hued blue with white flowers. On the right of the canvas are three stripes: pink, white, and brown.
February 4, 2026 at 12:19 AM
uomnch.bsky.social
Meet Louisa Sewell: One of Oregon's Black pioneers featured in ReEnvisioned: Contemporary Portraits of our Black Ancestors. Louisa moved to Canyon City in Grant County to live with her husband Columbus, a wealthy miner and businessman in 1868. #history #blackhistorymonth🧵
An old photograph of a young black woman sitting and holding a child. The pose is reminiscent of the classical Madonna and child pose. Louisa, the mother, is wearing a fitted dress with a flower pattern. Photo credit: Grant County Historical Museum.
February 4, 2026 at 12:13 AM
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Our opening night was incredible! Thank you to everyone that came out. 🎉 ReEnvisioned is now open! Come see the stories that are often left out of Oregon's history. These ten portraits will reshape how we remember Oregon's past.🖤✨

#universityoforegon #art #museum #oregonhistory #blackhistory
February 2, 2026 at 9:22 PM
uomnch.bsky.social
@uocas.bsky.social masters student and paleontologist Andy takes us behind the scenes to break down the tools she uses to work on Wally #paleosky #fossilfriday ⚒️🧰 🐋✨ 🧪🏛️
January 30, 2026 at 6:54 PM
uomnch.bsky.social
There are 17 Black Oregonian pioneers represented in ReEnvisioned: Contemporary Portraits of Our Black Ancestors. Join Mariah Rocker from @oregonblackpioneers.org on January 29 to meet the people behind the portraits. 🏛️
A graphic with a picture of Mariah Rocker and text reading "Black Pioneers Revealed: The Stories behind the ReEnvisioned Exhibit with Mariah Rocker from Oregon Black Pioneers. Thursday, January 29. 6:00 p.m." 
January 26, 2026 at 7:06 PM
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check out this starter pack we put together, too:
go.bsky.app/Ko2Bvky
January 22, 2026 at 6:58 PM
uomnch.bsky.social
And here's what I was actually supposed to be doing today! Happy #MuseumSelfieDay from a staff that provided me with a lot of squirrel content!
Lauren takes a selfie with a shelving unit full of animal skulls and horns.  Robyn takes a landscape selfie in front of the mammoth sculptures on a beautiful sunny day. Emerald takes a selfie with Chris and Marlene in a laboratory. Jon, wearing a hard hat and high visibility gear, takes a selfie in the forest. Andrew stares at a squirrel skull resting on his fist. 
January 21, 2026 at 11:34 PM
uomnch.bsky.social
Alright, thanks for reading my #SquirrelAppreciationDay photodump. Thanks to Andrew (archaeologist) for the modern skull photoshoot and Sam (paleontologist) for the fossil skull photoshoot and for finding a real acorn for scale.

Lastly, thanks to the campus squirrels. Stop taking my lunch.
A squirrel sits on a tree branch in the museum courtyard. Its fluffy red tail hangs down, ostensibly for balance but really for cuteness. It's eating something with its cute grabby hands...probably my lunch.
January 21, 2026 at 9:11 PM
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This tiny tiny tooth fossil is from a flying squirrel from about 17 million years ago, collected near Paulina, Oregon! All these fossils are evidence of woodlands & forests in the areas these squirrels lived in.
An acorn. Next to it sits a little pedestal with an individual fossil squirrel tooth on top. The tooth is the size of the stem of the acorn (very very small). This tooth is from a flying squirrel from 16 million years ago. 
January 21, 2026 at 9:05 PM
uomnch.bsky.social
OH this is a skull & a right lower jaw, sorry, I forgot to mention that!

The earliest members of the squirrel family (37 million years agoish) lived in and were dependent on trees. Ground squirrels (prairie dogs, marmots, etc.) didn't evolve until about 20 million years ago.
A top-down view of the skull & lower right jawbone, again.
January 21, 2026 at 9:01 PM
uomnch.bsky.social
IT'S FOSSIL SQUIRREL TIME.

This is the type specimen of Protosciurus, a genus of tree squirrels. It was collected by Thomas Condon (one of the @uoregon.bsky.social's first three professors) in 1870 and is 28 million yearsish old. It was found in the John Day Formation.
A blue background with an acorn. About twice the size of the acorn is a fossil skull, the type specimen of Protosciurus condoni - the top is separated from the lower jaw, but they are arranged close together. Tiny little teeth stick out from the lower jaw.  A top-down view of the fossil skull and jaw. The skull is turned upside down, exposing 8 tiny dark grey teeth. The jawbone has four teeth exposed. 
January 21, 2026 at 8:56 PM
uomnch.bsky.social
Meanwhile, dead modern squirrels are inside our comparative collection. Our deputy director of archaeological science Andrew Boehm really answered my call for "squirrel pictures."

Peep that drawer full of squirrel bones and then peep that there are two more behind it. 👀
Andrew Boehm grins and holds a drawer with 19 small boxes in it, all full of various squirrel bones. My favorite label is "unidentified squirrel mandibles," which is also my new band name. Archaeologist Andrew Boehm has a clean squirrel skull perched on his fist, staring at him. He stares back.  Andrew now holds the squirrel skull so it looks at the camera, staring deeply into my soul. He smiles as if it's not creepy.
January 21, 2026 at 8:50 PM
uomnch.bsky.social
Our campus squirrels at @uoregon.bsky.social love our Native Plants Courtyard. And my lunch.

I think these are either Eastern fox squirrels or Eastern gray squirrels (ODFW identifies 4 native and 2 invasive species of tree squirrels in Oregon) but please, squirrel experts, jump in here.
The background is one of the museum courtyard porticos with a Chabre gargoyle of a raven. In the foreground, a grey squirrel struts toward the camera, its fluffy tail perked up in interest.  A perfectly shaped angel of a squirrel struts down a tree like a model down a catwalk. One of the museum's interpretive signs is visible in front of the tree, reading "Red Alder." Part of the museum courtyard. The baby mammoth sculpture in the background, the foreground is green grass and a grey squirrel sits demurely on its hind legs, looking at the sculpture.
January 21, 2026 at 8:42 PM
uomnch.bsky.social
Listen y'all, I love squirrels so much and I dragged our entire staff into this #SquirrelAppreciationDay project so I have way too many pictures and thoughts for one post. 🧵incoming. 🏛️🧪
A sunny day in the museum courtyard. In the foreground is a curious squirrel perched on the armrest of a bench looking at the camera. The mother mammoth sculpture looms over it, and the squirrel's luscious fluffy tail follows the curve of the mammoth's trunk. 
January 21, 2026 at 8:35 PM
uomnch.bsky.social
Get ready for a brand new exhibit opening coming this weekend! Enjoy a quiet little sneak peek as our team works behind the scenes ✨🎧 Join us this Friday for the opening to come see it for yourself!

📍 Galleria
📅 Friday, January 16
⏰ 6:00 to 7:30 pm
January 13, 2026 at 7:23 PM
uomnch.bsky.social
@uoregon.bsky.social master's student and paleontologist Andy returns to show us more about preparing Wally for display! 🐋✨#paleosky #fossilfriday 🧪🏛️
January 9, 2026 at 10:48 PM
Reposted by Museum of Natural and Cultural History
opb.org
Recent investigations have linked Chinese Americans with more than 30 historic ranches in Eastern Oregon.

Read the full story here https://www.opb.org/article/2026/01/07/eastern-oregon-chinese-cowboys-trail/ 
January 7, 2026 at 9:00 PM
uomnch.bsky.social
Transgressors closes Sunday, January 4! This exhibit, originally presented at Chachalu Tribal Museum and Cultural Center, showcases nine artists exploring the past, present, and future of Indigenous queer identity and is curated by Anthony Hudson and Felix Furby. #indigenousart #pnw
A close up of the black fabric introduction panel. The title "Transgressors" crosses the top of the panel in bright pink font, with a rainbow ribbon winding around it. Underneath the title is text reading "transgressor. noun. 1: someone or something that transgresses, going beyond a boundary or limit."  A wide view of the Transgressors exhibit. Black pillars with pictures of the artists and short bios are sprinkled throughout the space. Colorful woven corn by Geo Neptune and an illuminated box with art by Steph Littlebird are visible.  In the center of the frame is a black rectangle with pink text reading "What does a future with us in it look like? Everyone is encouraged to draw or write to add to the wall. Use this wall as a communal wish." The rectangle is surrounded by pieces of white paper, some with colorful drawings, some with text reflections. At least 15 pieces of paper are visible.
January 1, 2026 at 8:00 PM
Reposted by Museum of Natural and Cultural History
smilodonichthys.bsky.social
Wally! I remember him from when we had him at Bill Sullivan's old place 😊 so glad he's being worked on again! NARG has meetings the first Wednesday of every month at the Tualatin Heritage Center in Tualatin, OR, from 6-9pm. Meetings are open to the public. There's a lecture & we share our fossils
December 29, 2025 at 10:37 PM
uomnch.bsky.social
Meet Wally the Whale, a fossilized whale skull currently being prepared for display. @uoregon.bsky.social student and paleontologist Andy Quintanilla is hard at work putting Wally back together again. #paleosky 🧪🏛️
December 29, 2025 at 5:37 PM