Moving into Morrill

After the opening of Morrill Hall, much work was done by student workers and assistant curators alike to move the extensive collections and specimens into the new building. This work mostly took place over the summer of 1928. Although the building was built and the collections were, for the most part, moved, they could not begin mounting the specimens. Miss Dolan, the artist charged with painting the murals of Morrill Hall, proved to take more time than her estimated eight weeks. Without the murals complete, the collections could not be prepared and mounted for exhibition, much to the exasperation of the public and the university.

Morrill Hall was originally presumed to be much larger, but a compromise in visions was made; instead, the building was constructed in a way that would make any future additions simple, should funding improve at a later date. The present Morrill Hall consisted of 4 floors, the first of which was designed to be exhibition space for the museum. Above would be the museum offices, the geology department, and on the fourth floor the fine arts department. The main attraction, Elephant Hall, was a great success with the public. Many professional organizations began requesting the hall for luncheons, to the surprise of Barbour and other museum staff.

The move into Morrill was cause for much celebration for Barbour and C.H. Morrill, the realization of their shared vision. C.H. Morrill's children took an active interest in their father's causes and continued to provide support for the museum.

Tough times: the 1930s

The 1930s were hard times on the University of Nebraska campus, and the museum was left lacking: in funds, in staff, and in space. Following some very generous donations by Mr. Frick, the museum was able to fund several expeditions to northwestern Nebraska to collect fossil specimens. Finding funding for these expeditions through the university would have been nigh impossible at the time. The expeditions were very successful, and resulted in many new collections and specimens for the museum.

However, following the death of one of the museum's most devoted workers, the university did not have money to hire another on at the same salary, and instead split half of the amount between 3 upper class students to keep costs down. No salary increases of any kind were permitted for employees, and Barbour took some of more minor expenses out of his own pocket to maintain the museum. Again, Mr. Frick's donations kept Morrill Hall floating.

Still, the museum continued to draw crowds of both tourists and locals. The rural community surrounding Lincoln found the museum to be a great amusement, actually forcing the museum staff to remain open over weekends during the summer because of the public demand. The museum ran with a skeleton staff, with a lone security guard, but no thefts were attempted. The increased attendance of pupils from the School of the Blind led Barbour to begin work on "touch cases", so that the students could touch and feel artifacts when they visited. Morrill Hall kept some of the cases, but also made use of duplicates or discolored specimens by allowing the school to keep them for educational purposes. This was one of the first instances of interactive learning at Morrill Hall.

Changing Hands: the 1940s

As the university entered the 1940s, Morrill Hall continued to benefit from Mr. Childs Frick's generous donations. Field expeditions appeared to be very successful, with the addition of many specimens and even the discovery of a new giant camel species. The funding of fieldwork was a boon to the museum's reputation for research in the field of vertebrate paleology, and resulted in an increase in international visitors to the museum in the later 1930s, which Barbour took pains to point out to the chancellor and board of regents.

In 1942 Barbour retired from his position as director of the museum. This was well-noted by the public. Barbour had long been the face and champion of the museum, and his absence left a noticable gap. In his place, Bertrand Schultz took on the role of director of the Nebraska State Natural History Museum. Schultz was a respected choice for a replacement, due to his relationship with Barbour and his familiarity with Nebraska paleontology and geology. Schultz had been a student at Nebraska, and had been associated with the museum for 14 years previously. During this time the museum strove to maintain the reputation it had enjoyed under Barbour's leadership. Schultz continued Barbour's fieldwork and research in areas of paleontology and geology.

Reaching for the Stars: The 1950s

In 1950, university of Nebraska administration thought to cut 10,000 dollars from the museum budget, forcing it to all but close up shop and run on a skeleton crew, sharing a janitor with several other buildings. Before this time, the museum had not been recording attendence or number of visitors. However, a caretaker at the front desk had been keeping records of visitors for years. He produced these records for the administration, and the museum's budget was saved. Museum attendence was recorded religiously thereafter.

In spite of the close shave, the museum continued to recieve a healthy flow of visitors. In 1957 construction on the Ralph-Mueller Theater of the stars began. This was exciting for the people of the state of Nebraska, for a trip to a planetarium would have been out of reach for most. In 1958 the planetarium was completed, and Morrill Hall became a popular attraction for the public. Tickets for "Sky Shows" were sold for 25 cents a piece. The university ROTC began using the planetarium to teach celestial navigation, and many children's organizations and schools visited as field trips. Later incorporation of music and light shows increased the planetarium's popularity. Nebraskans enjoyed the unique opportunity to view the nightime sky in detail.