Topic: COMMUNITY INTEREST
No Admission Required: Thank you Smithsonian Magazine
By Tammy Duffy
In the spirit of the Smithsonian Museums, which offer free admission every day at its museums, Museum Day Live was held today throughout the United States. . This is an annual event hosted by Smithsonian magazine in which participating museums across the country open their doors to anyone presenting a Museum Day Live! Ticket. The ticket allows 2 people to enter for free.. There were over 382 museums in the North East that participated in this event.
I spoke with Susan Greitz, Marketing Coordinator at the NJ State Museum and she said, “It costs nothing for museums to participate in this event. They sign up and the Smithsonian then places you on the list, its free advertising for the museum and a wonderful collaboration. What museum would not want to participate?”
There were some NJ museums that did not participate. One would question their ability to run a museum to ignore such a prestigious opportunity.
The NJ State Museum had glorious events today all of them were FREE! There was a digging Dinosaurs Workshop that was help that allowed visitors to explore Hadrosaurus foulkii and other NJ dinosaurs. The NJ State Museums Curator of Natural History, David Parris, was on hand as well to answer and all questions dinosaur related. He shared with me the wonderful programs that the museum is involved with.
One can learn the field of paleontology by experiencing it. David Parris and his staff teach courses in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in Montana and Wyoming. One gets to experience the natural history of one of the most beautiful regions in the world while searching for fossil-rich rocks and artifacts. They collect Cretaceous aquatic and terrestrial animals (including dinosaurs!), Devonian fishes, and rare Paleogene mammals in the Bighorn Basin. Teachers can take this class yearly to fulfill their yearly continuing education credits by participating. Students, can receive undergraduate or graduate credit from the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology by participating. The great thing about this program is anyone can participate, the general public is encouraged to partic[ate and become dinosaur hunters. The expedition is a serious museum project and is more than just a field trip. The field course is led by David Parris, Curator of Natural History, and Jason Schein, Assistant Curator of Natural History, at the NJ State Museum.
While I was there David Parris showed me the first recorded jawless fish, known as an ostracoderms – i.e. shell-skinned, lived between 500 – 360 million years ago. Ostracoderms had a bony armour, an internal cartilaginous skeleton and a heterocercal tail. Most lacked paired fins. The first recognizable lamprey was recorded in the Carboniferous period ( 325-380 mya).
Did you know that the very first mammal fossil ever found in the world was found right here in NJ? It was a 70 million year old tooth. Geologic Time is divided and subdivided into various categories Eons are divided into Eras; Eras are divided Periods. There are 11 periods and 9 of them have been found in NJ. The town of Gloucester, NJ is just riddled with fossils and fossil finds.
My day at the museum ended with a dance performance entitled, “Traditions of India.” It was performed by students from the Nrithyanjali Institute of Dance . This traditional dance was born in Hindu Temples more than 2,000 years ago, Indian dance is movement, mime, and music in equal measure. Adorned with beautiful costumes, jewelry, and makeup replicating a temple sculpture, Ramya Ramnarayan and her students evoked profound emotions and complex rhythmic patterns that bring their mystic view of the universe to life. This was not just a dance performance but an interactive, education on traditional Indian dance. They performed the ancient dance, Bharata Natyam (Bha: meaning emotion and expression, RA: meaning tune or melody, THA:meaning beat and rhythm, and Natyam: meaning dance and music. This classical Indian dance form that originated in the temples of Tami Nadu. is a pure dance. A dance with two aspects. The dancer uses movements of their body and eyes choreographed with beautiful gestures of the torso and extremities. It’s a poetic story turned into dance Each gesture having a different meaning. Their eyes are the doorway to the communication of their performance.
The NJ State Museum is a museum that everyone needs to take time and visit. There are wonderful exhibitions and educators who are just waiting inside to educate you on what is inside.
