Education

The Nevada State Museum and University of Nevada, Reno conducted archaeological excavations at Fort Churchill State Park in the mid-1970s. Museum staff and research associates are re-examining these collections reflecting U.S. Army and other military units’ occupation of the fort between 1860 and 1869. Dr. Gene Hattori discusses the research. (Map of old Fort […]

Join us as we celebrate Earth Day at the Nevada State Museum! Contribute to our bee hotel, a nesting place for our solitary bee friends, and learn about other ways you can help native pollinators. The second session of this event takes place from 12 to 1:30 p.m. Registration required. Children 17 and under […]

Join us as we celebrate Earth Day at the Nevada State Museum! Contribute to our bee hotel, a nesting place for our solitary bee friends, and learn about other ways you can help native pollinators. The first session of this event takes place from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Registration required. Children 17 and under […]

While the Smithsonian Institution has collected and exhibited the United States First Ladies Inaugural Ball gown collection, Nevada also has a similar collection. Learn about our early day First Ladies, their gowns, their stories and their lives. This lecture starts chronologically with Nevada’s first governor and his wife, continuing through the decades up to […]

Local authors and historians David and Gayle Woodruff take a reflective look back at Lake Tahoe and Reno’s involvement in the Olympics over the years. Reno boosters first conceptualized the idea of a Winter Olympiad in Western Nevada… but Alex Cushing and the State of California brought the 1960 Winter Olympics to the Lake […]

While it’s cold outside, come inside the Museum and learn why reptiles are cold-blooded! Featured will be Nevada’s state reptile, the Desert Tortoise! Cold Blooded Critters 4-H Club will be on site, too, with some live reptiles to pique your curiosity! Also examine snake and lizard skins in the lab and sculpt and paint […]

U.S. Highway 50 through Nevada has become celebrated as “America’s Loneliest Road.” How did it get this way, and why does it hold such fascination for today’s travelers? The story of U.S. 50 begins with the Overland Trail and the Lincoln Highway, the first transcontinental road. Conceived in 1913, the Lincoln followed the trail […]

Explore the world of conifer trees, evergreens that produce cones and are dressed in green needles instead of leaves. Get introduced to Nevada’s two state trees, the Bristlecone and Pinyon Pine. Learn how American Indians processed and used pine nuts for food, and discover which animals enjoy eating them, too. Participants can make a […]

Unravel myths about bats and learn why they should be protected. Learn to recognize common Nevada bats that eat insects and use echolocation. Distinguish them from Old World bats that are larger, eat different foods, and don’t necessarily use echolocation to find their way. Make a batty craft, write a poem, and explore bat […]

The story of John A. “Snowshoe” Thompson is not one of simply the extraordinary physical endurance needed to carry the mail on “snow-shoes” (now “skis”) over the desolate high Sierra, but one of compassion and earning the respect of his fellow man through integrity and honesty. Between 1856 and 1876, the “Mailman of the […]