ASU museums, galleries to offer special tours
Ever wonder what happens to all the artifacts when the archaeological fieldwork is completed?
Or why it’s important to save plant specimens?
Those questions and more will be answered during the ninth annual open house, “We ♥ ASU Collections,” sponsored by the Arizona State University Museums, Galleries & Collections Committee, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Feb. 21.
During the day, six museums, galleries or collections on ASU’s Tempe campus will offer guided tours, while other museums and galleries will be open for visitors. Admission is free to all venues.
Guests may pick up a map and schedule at an information table at the rear of Old Main, located on Tyler Mall.
The schedule includes:
9 a.m. – School of Life Sciences Herbarium, Life Sciences Center C352, hosted by Leslie Landrum and Elizabeth Makings.
10 a.m. – Center for Meteorite Studies Bateman Physical Sciences Center C wing, Room 139, Michelle Minitti.
11 a.m. – “Origins,” Institute for Humanities Research, Social Science Building, Room 107, Curator Jacqueline Chao.
Noon – See and hear the Symphonic Carillon, Lower Level of Old Main, Judith Smith.
1 p.m. – Archaeological Research Institute, Tempe Center Room 165, Kim Savage. (Next door to passport office.)
2 p.m. – Mars Space Flight Facility, Moeur Building First Floor, Meg Hufford.
3 p.m. – Lunar Reconnaissance Orbital Camera Gallery, Interdisciplinary A Building, North wing, first floor, Wendy Taylor.
Here are a few details of what you will see.
9 a.m., Herbarium: An herbarium is a collection of pressed, dried, and mounted plants. The ASU Vascular Plant Herbarium is the second largest in the arid southwest with more than 280,000 specimens. The strengths of the ASU Herbarium include one of the best cactus collections in the world, especially rich in chromosomal vouchers, and its collections resulting from numerous regional floristic studies done throughout Arizona. Learn about the collecting, drying, mounting and archiving process.
10 a.m., Center for Meteorite Studies: CMS will provide a presentation on the basics of meteorites and fun meteorite facts complete with a hands-on meteorite samples. The presentation will take place in the Center for Meteorite Studies Museum, which contains displays on meteorite types, what meteorites tell us about the Solar System, meteorites with amazing stories and meteorites in Arizona.
11 a.m., Institute for Humanities Research: The Humanities ask, “What does the concept of ‘origins’ teach us about being human?” This exhibition brings together recent artwork by 12 artists that expands the interpretive boundaries of human origins, literally and figuratively, as a means of understanding ourselves and our place in the world around us. Through their work, these artists explore who we think we are, where we have come from, and what makes us human. Featured artists: Ron Broglio, Chris Hables Gray, Nicole Herden, Dodd Holsapple, Mary Hood, Angela Cazel Jahn, Mary Lyverse, Stephen Marc, Laurie Papa Minnick, Benjamin Phillips, Gwyneth Scally, and Kelsey Vance. (Note: This exhibition also is in the Global Institute of Sustainability and Hayden Library.)
Noon, Symphonic Carillon: The carillon is a musical instrument that is played like a piano or pipe organ. It was given to ASU by Student Government in 1966.
1 p.m., Archaeological Research Institute: See the new lobby exhibit, then go behind the scenes for a tour of the prehistoric ceramic collection not generally open to the public. We might even let you try your hand at an ancient technology!
2 p.m., Mars Space Flight Facility: The Moeur Building, also known as the Mars Space Flight Facility, is historical for many reasons. The only adobe structure on campus, this building was part of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and was dedicated to Dr. Benjamin Baker Moeur in 1939. It is currently a NASA Space Flight Facility studying the geology of Mars. You will find an image gallery, models of spacecraft and instruments currently at Mars and much more!
Come and join us for an out of this world experience!
Lunar Reconnaissance Orbital Camera Gallery: NASA has returned to the Moon! Meet scientists and mission planners from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) project. LROC is being controlled and managed from its operations center on ASU's Tempe campus. These efforts are in preparation for a bold new program to resume human exploration of the Moon. See some of the latest images of the surface of the Moon and tour the Mission Operations Center. Learn how you can get involved!
For more information, contact Karrie Porter Brace at Karrie.Porterbrace@asu.edu or (480) 965-4925.