Prehistoric Museum Launches Lab Renovation Fundraising Campaign

The Prehistoric Museum is running a campaign through the month of December to help raise funds for renovations to the fossil preparation lab at the museum in Price.

The lab is used by staff, students and volunteers from the community to prepare fossils collected by museum crews for exhibit, research and long-term care in its collections facility. Over its six-decade history, the Prehistoric Museum and collaborators have named eight new species of dinosaurs from eastern Utah, with those unique fossils being prepared in the museum’s lab.

The prep lab is used to train students in paleontology from Utah State University and beyond, and recently hosted its first volunteer from Carbon County 4-H. The fossil prep lab is also a popular feature of the exhibits, as visitors get to watch science in action.

The space currently lacks some of the basic features of other fossil preparation labs — these would greatly improve safety and enhance the utilization of the limited space. Depending on funding, the lab will be renovated in three phases, and plans for those renovations are available on the AggieFunded page for the campaign. Even small donations will help purchase individual components to these phased improvements and will collectively build towards a safer, more usable space.

Donations can be made at the link below or by following the QR code on the image associated with this release. And for those interested in donating their time, the fossil preparation lab and collections are always looking for new volunteers. Questions can be directed to Curator of Paleontology Joshua Lively at josh.lively@usu.edu or 435-613-5752.