Mayborn Museum offers wide range of exhibits

By MINDY POEHL | Central Texas Edition

Cheryl Taylor, assistant director of marketing at the Mayborn Museum Complex, stands atop a mammoth's cast remains. Twenty-three mammoths were found five miles from Baylor University. -- Photo by Mindy Poehl

April 21, 2005 -Last May, an impressive crown jewel opened on the campus of Baylor University. The Mayborn Museum Complex is an innovative learning tool for both the young and old.

Located beside the flowing Brazos River, the museum combines three separate museum components and unites them under one roof. The three museums brought together were the Strecker Museum, the Ollie Mae Moen Discovery Center and the Governor Bill and Vara Daniel Historic Village.

The Strecker Museum was known as the oldest operating natural history museum in Texas. The Ollie Mae Moen Discovery Center has been changed into two stories of exhibits, including 16 themed Discovery Rooms that provide visitors with thought provoking, hands-on learning activities. And, the Gov. Bill and Vara Daniel Historic Village remains the same outdoor exhibit. It consists of a reconstructed village from the late 19th and early 20th century.

"Museums used to not have a focus. They just had different artifacts from different time periods," said Cheryl Taylor, assistant director of marketing at the Mayborn Museum Complex. "Central Texas is our main focus. Our visitors learn and discover with a hands-on approach. We want people young and old to engage, explore and enjoy."

The natural history and cultural history of Central Texas exhibits are located on the right side of the museum. This is where some older artifacts, like a large oak tree slice, from the Strecker Museum can be found. The Waco at the Crossroads of Texas exhibit educates visitors about the history of Waco.

"We call it the Crossroads of Texas because Waco has limestone in one direction, blacklands in one direction and forests in another direction," Taylor said. "Central Texas was a natural migratory route along the Brazos river and the white rock escarpment."

Three walk-in, 3-dimensional displays are accurately and enticingly constructed, including a limestone cave, a Texas forest and a mammoth room.

"There is a mammoth site five miles from here," Taylor explained. "Baylor students discovered bones near the Bosque River and since then the remains of mammoths have been excavated."

The first remains were found in 1978 and they were from a Colombian mammoth. Twenty-three mammoths have been excavated.

"This part is always sad to me," Taylor said. "It is thought that they died from a flash flood and got trapped in a low area. The bull and the matriarch's remains were wrapped around the baby as if they were trying to carry it away."

After the crossroads exhibit, visitors can escape into an exhibit called Texas Lifeways. This exhibit features four different habitats, throughout time, that people in the Waco area used to live in. It features a tall Waco Indian grass hut "that the women put up," Taylor said. It also includes a pioneer log cabin, part of a Norwegian rock house and a Comanche tepee.

The museum guests can take a stroll outside as they see Texas wildflowers and rural Texas villages from the late 19th century, which completes the Texas Lifeways exhibit.

Now, it is time to Discover. Sixteen different discovery rooms are located on the left side of the museum.

"People have been to the Ollie Mae Moen Discovery Center and there's no comparison, now," Taylor said. "We've got these wonderful discovery rooms."

The brightly colored discovery rooms allow imaginations to flow. They introduce guests to everything from communications, sound and optics to Native Americans, transportation and recycling, as well as invertebrates and vertebrates.

"Kids are fascinated by these rooms," Taylor said. "They can make bubbles, play dress up, dance on a huge piano, direct a weather forecast, bang on old typewriters and play with animals."

On May 22-Aug. 14 the museum will house it's first traveling exhibit called the Duval Collection.

"It's a wonderful collection from the Houston Museum of Natural Science that features gems and minerals," Taylor said.

It contains breathtaking pieces, including the world's largest "gem quality" turquoise nugget and a stunning cluster of transparent quartz crystals weighing more than 2,200 pounds.

"We will have a birth stones expert and visitors can identify rocks and bring rocks in to be identified," Taylor explained. "The Blue Topaz is the state rock of Texas, so we'll have those on hand, too. We're excited about it."

The Duval Collection will help the museum celebrate its one year anniversary.

"We're almost at our one year mark. It's been an exciting year and it's a thrill for us to see the excitement from visitors and hear the positive feedback," Taylor said. "It's great to hear people say, 'It's the coolest thing to hit Waco and it's great for the community.'"

For more information on the Mayborn Museum Complex, call 254-710-2517 of visit www.MaybornMuseum.com.