University of Nebraska State Museum
University of Nebraska State Museum
4.5
12:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Tuesday
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Wednesday
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Thursday
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Friday
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Saturday
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Sunday
12:00 PM - 5:00 PM
About
One of the Midwest's premier natural history museums, we are home to the world's largest complete mounted mammoth skeleton. Archie, our mascot in bronze out front, is based on this mammoth fossil. Touch his foot for good luck! Poop & Paws is our newest exhibit and explores the clues animals leave behind in nature. Our Cherish Nebraska exhibit encompasses the entire 4th floor and examines Nebraska's past and present with digital interactives, collections displays, hands-on activities and a visible lab to watch our scientists at work. Other exhibits include Bizarre Beasts, Weapons Throughout Time, First Peoples of the Plains, Paleontology, Geology, and the Hall of Nebraska wildlife. Our Marx Discovery Center has tons of activities for kids, including a fossil dig pit, reading nook, discovery tables, dinosaurs, coloring sheets and more.
Duration: 2-3 hours
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4.5
191 reviews
Excellent
121
Very good
56
Average
13
Poor
0
Terrible
1
Susan M
6 contributions
Aug 2021
A must see for anyone who loves natural history. Many of the mammal fossils here are the rarest and the most complete of their kind. Bring the kids. Be prepared to spend some time wandering the exhibits. The best exhibit is the Track and Poop. My husband and I got such a kick out if. Learning about nature never gets old.
Written 7 August 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
BondGirl65
Temple, TX40 contributions
July 2016 • Family
We had some extra time while in Lincoln and decided to spend a couple of hours at the museum primarily due to two exhibits: Bizarre Beasts and Ancient Weapons. Both exhibits proved to be interesting. We were three adults and two ten year olds. Everyone was able to find something they enjoyed looking at and reading about. I don't want to mislead anyone however, this is a museum much like other natural history museums. If you don't like museums this will not change your mind.
As a side note, the building itself is older with nice architectural features which I enjoyed.
What you need to know: free parking in front of the museum is limited, admission fees - adults 6$ and children 3$, there is an activity room with interesting things to do for children.
As a side note, the building itself is older with nice architectural features which I enjoyed.
What you need to know: free parking in front of the museum is limited, admission fees - adults 6$ and children 3$, there is an activity room with interesting things to do for children.
Written 20 July 2016
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
beckyNE
Lincoln12 contributions
If I am having guests come into town I always tell them to visit Morrill Hall (aka University of Nebraska State Museum). The museum has the world's best collection of fossil mammoths. And are they big! The museum is very well done. Children have enough visuals to keep them excited while there is educational background information for the parents to keep engaged. A must see part is the Discovery Center. It's hands on activities allow students to have the full experience.
Written 20 January 2006
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
JoeGartner
New Ulm, MN18 contributions
Apr 2015 • Family
This was my third visit to this museum in my lifetime. The first two times was by car and it was a very enjoyable experience. This time my son and I are on a tour from Minnesota to San Diego. I am pulling a pop-up camper behind my pickup. When I arrived at the UNL Museum there was no parking available anywhere in the vicinity. After about 90 minutes I finally found two parking meters that I could squeeze into. The stress of trying to find parking almost totally ruined my experience. What good is a superb museum to a traveler if the parking is crap? I would not recommend anybody traveling with a trailer and/or rv to even consider stopping here. Since visiting the UNL Museum we have stopped at many museums, parks, and other attractions. They all had very nice parking- no probelms. This is to TripAdvisor- what about including parking in your question below, "Does this attraction have the following?"
Written 14 April 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
NWtravelers2
Beaverton, OR21 contributions
Aug 2015 • Family
This natural history museum is tucked into Morrill Hall on the UNL campus. Aside from the huge wooly mammoth statue outside, there is little advertising. But once inside, we were pleasantly surprised by the collection. With 2 floors and several rooms you can easily spend an hour or two. At $6 (and free for students) it's a good value.
Written 28 August 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
MarinaB5
Lincoln, NE20 contributions
Oct 2011 • Solo
A lot of cool dinosaurs, a room on DNA and viruses, a couple of culture-specific rooms (Native American is one of them). The planetarium is a really cool place (for kids and/or adults) to view science shows in a new perspective. The museum has a lot of sight-seeing to offer and it also has a lot of activities going on throughout the year for special occasions such as Astronomy Day in April. While admission is free for university members, there is a (very small) fee for the public. Nice gift shop too! And an activity room where kids can do things like use tools to dig up dinosaur bones.
Written 19 March 2012
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
walker111
U.S.16 contributions
This museum has some amazing stuff. Ancient elephants and other fossils from Nebraska plus all things natural history and a planetarium. Planetarium show was very cool and I spent a good deal of the dayy wandering this place and seeing how the world used to be.
Written 15 April 2009
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
annbury
New York, NY333 contributions
The Nebraska History Museum is well worth a visit for adults or older children, bringing the state's history dramatically into focus. We most enjoyed the collection that traces the history of Indians in Nebraska, all the way from 8,000 BC to the present. There's lots of material that was new to me, presented in a very interesting and accessible way, and making clear how much was lost. There are also permanent collections on the early history of European settlement in the state, and on the period up to WWI.
Written 19 August 2008
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
jason_schreiner
Hastings, NE13 contributions
Apr 2016 • Family
We have been here for school and as a family, and the kids find something new each time. Always a great tie in to what they are learning in school.
Written 4 October 2016
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Greta A
Allen, TX43 contributions
June 2015 • Family
This was my second time visiting the museum located on UNL campus. They have many, many fossils from the NW of Nebraska, some I didn't know were ever found in the US, like small camels. Their rock exhibit is very good and they have an interactive display showing the progression of evolution of specific animals. Plan to spend at least two hours here.
Written 9 July 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
I don't see any photos online of the giant Baluchatherium replica that was there when I was a kid. It's what drove my love for prehistoric mammals and I've never forgotten it. Is it still there?
Written 30 October 2021
For the museum, $6 for adults, $3 for kids 5 - 18, free for kids younger than 5. There are discounts and family memberships available. The planetarium costs $3 or $4 extra based on age.
Written 2 December 2017
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