2020-21
UA Museums is a museum system that include five public museums, two research departments, and an Emmy-winning public television show. The museums maintain extensive research collections, with strengths in vertebrate paleontology and archaeology, and develop interdisciplinary research programs across the University that focus on museum-based research. The museums provide public education programs, and present exhibits that reflect the natural history, and culture of Alabama. The University of Alabama Museum facilities are available for rent after hours for special events.
UA's Alabama Museum of Natural History is located in historic Smith Hall, 427 6th Avenue, Tuscaloosa, at the northeast corner of the campus quadrangle. The Grand Gallery, surrounded by ornate Corinthian columns leading to a majestic glass roof, is one of the most beautiful interiors on The University of Alabama campus—perhaps in Alabama. It exhibits the only meteorite known to have struck a human, a 63-foot replica of our state fossil (Basilosauras cetoides), as well as fossils, rocks, and minerals from the Coal Age, Dinosaur Age, and Ice Age. The Museum’s scientific collections are available for academic research in adjacent Mary Harmon Bryant Hall and are accessible by appointment.
Year-round adventures offered include field trips, workshops, presentations, school group activities, and special paleontological or archaeological projects, as well as foreign and domestic nature travel.
The Museum is open Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Admission is free for UA students, staff and faculty. For more information, please visit the website at almnh.museums.ua.edu, phone (205) 348-7550, or email museum.programs@ua.edu.
Produced by UA's Alabama Museum of Natural History, the Emmy award-winning environmental education TV program, Discovering Alabama, airs on Alabama Public Television. The series incorporates a sense of adventure and reflects the geology, geography, and flora and fauna of Alabama and their important ecological relationships as host Dr. Doug Phillips explores Alabama’s forests, rivers, and wildlands on location by backcountry hiking and canoeing. Programs are sold on DVD and companion teacher guides are available for most episodes. For a show list, please visit the website www.aptv.org or www.discoveringalabama.org, phone (205) 348-2039 or email info@discoveringalabama.org.
Described as the Big Apple of the 14th century and America’s largest city north of Mexico 800 years ago, UA's Moundville Archaeological Park is a 326-acre National Historic Landmark with more than 29 preserved prehistoric Indian mounds. The site includes a campground, picnic areas, a boardwalk nature trail, the Nelson B. Jones Conference Center, and the Jones Archaeological Museum. After a $5 million renovation and expansion of the museum, spectacular exhibits feature recreated scenes with life-sized figures and a stunning collection of some of the finest archaeological artifacts ever found in the United States.
The annual Moundville Native American Festival, held the first full week of October, provides a unique and unforgettable educational experience to discover the rich cultures of our region’s Native American communities. Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Seminole descendants return for a “homecoming” at the Moundville site.
A variety of programs for children and adults are offered teaching Native American culture, arts, and technologies. For more information, please visit the website at moundville.museums.ua.edu, phone (205) 371-2234 or (205) 371-2572, or email llrasco@ua.edu.
The park and museum are open daily, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is charged.
Built in 1829 as a dining hall for students, the Gorgas House Museum is the oldest structure on UA’s campus and is one of only a few buildings to survive the burning of the campus by Union troops during the Civil War. It became known as the Gorgas House because in the late 19th century it was the residence of former Confederate General Josiah Gorgas (1818-1883), who served briefly as president of the University, and his wife, Amelia Gayle Gorgas (1826-1913), who served as UA librarian. The house also serves as a memorial to their son, General William Crawford Gorgas (1854-1920). He is famous for implementing measures responsible for eliminating yellow fever, thereby allowing construction of the Panama Canal and for his service as Surgeon General of the U.S. Armed Forces during WWI. The building is now a house museum and education center with collections of antiques and Gorgas family memorabilia.
The Gorgas House Museum is open to visitors Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-12:00 p.m., 1:00 p.m.-4:30 p.m., or by appointment. For more information, please visit the website at gorgashouse.museums.ua.edu, phone (205) 348-5906 or (205) 348-7550, or email gorgashouse@ua.edu.
Located at Tuscaloosa’s historic Queen City Park along the Black Warrior River, the Mildred Westervelt Warner Transportation Museum advances knowledge and appreciation of Tuscaloosa’s local and regional history and natural resources through exhibits, museum educational programs, and educational outreach efforts. The museum tells the story of Tuscaloosa’s history through the development of its transportation systems. The museum is owned by the City of Tuscaloosa and operated by The University of Alabama Museums.
The Warner Transportation Museum is housed in the historic Queen City Pool House on Jack Warner Parkway. The building was constructed in 1943 by architect Don Buel Schuyler, an apprentice of Frank Lloyd Wright. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Warner Transportation Museum is open to visitors Tuesday-Saturday, 10 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. No admission is charged. For more information, please visit the website at transportation.museums.ua.edu, phone (205) 248-4931 or email warnertransportationmuseum@ua.edu.
The Paul R. Jones Museum, located in the heart of downtown Tuscaloosa, presents a year-round schedule of exhibitions of works from the Paul R. Jones Collection of American Art at The University of Alabama as well as guest exhibitions.
The museum honors Mr. Jones’ vision of art, community and continuous learning by hosting lecture series, concerts, workshops, and theatrical performances. The Paul R. Jones Museum is also a classroom for the arts, where students from kindergarten to college experience learning in a new and exciting environment.
The Paul R. Jones Museum is always free and open to visitors Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-5:00 p.m. For more information, please visit the website at paulrjones.museums.ua.edu, phone (205) 345-3038, or email dlwhite@ua.edu.
Source: Alabama Museum of Natural History
