Morrill Hall’s second floor, including its iconic Elephant Hall, will undergo its largest renovation in the museum’s 99-year history.
On April 24, the University of Nebraska Board of Regents approved a $15.9 million, donor-funded project that will protect and extend the life of the museum’s most significant fossil specimens, conserve the historic Elizabeth Honor Dolan murals and position Morrill Hall to be a resource for scientific learning and natural history education for another century.
“Ever since I started as director, it has been my dream to renovate Elephant Hall,” said Susan Weller, the museum’s director. “This project will bring the newest research to Nebraskans, celebrate Nebraska’s world-renowned fossils and provide expanded learning opportunities for students and future generations.”
Nearly a third of the project’s budget will be dedicated to the conservation and digitization of fossils currently in Morrill Hall exhibitions. Many have been on display since the museum’s opening in 1927. The renovation process will preserve fragile specimens and replace display framework using modern exhibition standards, which will extend the specimens’ lifespan and enable easier access for researchers.
Nebraska artist Dolan’s murals will also be conserved and digitized. An analysis by an art conservation team found the murals to be in good shape for their age. The conservation process will remove layers of dirt, including some coal dust buildup from the era of coal heating in Morrill Hall, and provide touch-up and repair as needed. The digitization of the murals will allow the museum to share Dolan’s work with researchers and artists across the globe.
Updates to Elephant Halland adjacent galleries will share newer research on the history of mammoths and mammals in the Great Plains. The renovated exhibitions will still display Archie the mammoth and many of the other mammoth and mastodon fossils current visitors are familiar with and will allow for the inclusion of additional fossils from the museum’s research collection.
“Morrill Hall is a place you have to visit if you want to understand where mammals came from and how they got everywhere on the planet,” said Ashley Poust, vertebrate paleontology curator for the museum. “Rearranging the side galleries of Elephant Hallto tell the story of the origins of mammals in North America and the origins of the grasslands will position this entire floor as a walk through time that takes you from the origins of our continent to the Nebraska of today.”
The project will feature the grandeur of elephants, mammoths and their relatives, including their behaviors and environments in which they evolved. The new exhibitions will include the most recent research and be constructed in a way that they can be updated regularly.
Fundraising is 80% complete, with the Hubbard Family Foundation and Dr. Anne Hubbard providing the lead gifts. The Lancaster County Visitors Improvement Fund also recently awarded $1 million to the project. The museum continues to invite donations and hopes to complete its campaign by the end of the year. Current plans call for construction work to begin in summer 2027 and conclude by January 2029.
