The University of Nebraska State Museum was established in 1871 and has steadily grown into one of the leading research and educational science museums in the nation to be associated with a university. The Museum collects and interprets the natural, geological and anthropological history of the state and of the Great Plains, and holds the collections in trust for all Nebraskans. The Museum is comprised of the world-famous "Elephant Hall", a research collection containing over 13 million specimens, the Mueller Planetarium, the Encounter Center, Trailside Museum at Fort Robinson, the Ashfall Fossil Beds State Historical Park and the Larsen Tractor Museum.

The Friends were organized in 1983 as a non-profit organization to support the Museum. The organization is guided by a Board of Directors and relies on volunteers to assist the Board in meeting the mission of the Friends. Since its inception, the Friends have donated their dollars, time and talents to refurbish, revitalize, educate, expand and fund numerous projects to help enrich the lives of all who are exposed to the Museum. The Friends are dedicated to safeguarding all that the past has so abundantly provided and cultivating interest in all the future may hold.

Representative Projects

• Restoration of Elephant Hall, featuring the breathtaking Ice Age Mural by artist Mark Marcuson
• Rehabilitation and refurbishment of Morrill Hall, to provide the necessary climate control for preservation of the fossil exhibits
• Support of the Encounter Center, a hands-on discovery room, and "On the Road," a program which takes museum exhibits throughout Nebraska
• Revitalization of the Museum's Hall of Nebraska Wildlife
• The Bronze Mammoth Project

These and many more Friends' activities help to preserve our treasured past for the future. Everybody needs more friends, especially the priceless collections "on-display" in the University of Nebraska State Museum including such extinct species such as: Sabertooth cats, mammoths and mastodons, rhinos, sharks, and insects.

Can the Friends count on you to join the herd?