The
LSU Museum of Natural Science was founded in 1936, when its first director,
George H. Lowery, Jr., assembled a few study specimens of birds in a classroom
in Audubon Hall. Since its move to Murphy J. Foster Hall in 1950,
the museum has continued to expand and is currently one of the nation's
largest natural history museums, with holdings of over 2.5 million specimens.
As the only comprehensive research museum in the south-central United States,
the LSU Museum of Natural Science fulfills a variety of scientific and
educational roles, including generation of new knowledge in the fields
of zoology, archaeology, and paleontology through scholarly research based
primarily on natural history collections, collection and preservation
of research specimens as a resource for study of the earth's natural history,
education of graduate and undergraduate students in academic areas that
are most effectively taught in the museum setting, education of the
public by means of exhibits and lecture programs, and assistance
to local citizens, wildlife officials, and forensic specialists through
identification and consultation services.
