Museum ready to open after years of preparation

NORMAN, Okla. (AP) -- Make no bones about it, the staff at the Sam Noble Museum of Natural History is ready to rock. <br><br>They've got dinosaur bones, ancient coins and the largest Apatosaurus

Tuesday, April 11th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

NORMAN, Okla. (AP) -- Make no bones about it, the staff at the Sam Noble Museum of Natural History is ready to rock.

They've got dinosaur bones, ancient coins and the largest Apatosaurus and Pentaceratops skeletons on display in the world.

And after years of construction and collecting, they're ready to open the doors on the $37.5 million museum at the University of Oklahoma.

The dedication is Wednesday and the museum will open to the public May 1, said Linda Coldwell, publication and promotions specialist at the museum.

The university won't start charging admission until July 1, she said.

"Everyone is really, really excited about it," Coldwell said. "It's like those last days before the wedding."

The seeds for the museum were sewn with a $5 million bond from the city of Norman, followed in 1992 by a $15 million bond approved by the state. Fund-raising efforts provided the rest of the money, Coldwell said.

In April 1993, the museum site was dedicated and in February 1996 construction finally began.

Now, more than four years after ground was broken, the museums taff is anxiously awaiting the arrival of its first patrons.

Before they could put it all together, though, they had to take it all apart. The 6 million pieces of the collection were packed by hand for the move to the new location, she said.

It took almost three years and four packers working 40 hours per week to move crate after crate, Coldwell said.

"Everything is now under one roof," she said.

It's probably the first time the collection has been under the same roof since 1903, she said. "We just couldn't accommodate them in the past."

The new museum, located just south of the OU campus, is more than 10 times larger than the old museum. The new structure is 195,000 square feet with 50,000 square feet of that space dedicated to exhibits.

It is currently the largest university-based museum in the country, she said.

Besides being a tourist attraction, the new facility will also serve as an educational tool for public schools and universities, she said. It has two classrooms large enough to accommodate 50 students, she said.

Elementary and secondary schools from across the state are encouraged to use the facilities.

The museum expects as many as 500 students a day from schools all across the state to visit the museum when it opens in May, she said.

Universities and individual researchers will also be able to take advantage of the new museum, she said.

Right now, the museum has professionals from all over the country and the world using its facilities and studying its collections, she said.

The museum is also trying to make itself more researcher-friendly by digitally cataloging its inventory and uploading it onto the Internet.

Exhibits are also being planned that would allow anthropology, art history, geology and other professors to use the collections in their courses.

The main attractions of the museum are its five galleries, Coldwell said.

One gallery is a 10,000-square-foot exhibit showcasing Oklahoma's biological heritage. Another is a history of the native people who lived in Oklahoma from 12,000 years ago to the present day.

From Wednesday until the museum opens in May, only staff will be allowed in the building, as last-minute preparations are made.

"It's all going to come together magically," Coldwell said.