In 1899 the Oklahoma Territorial Legislature created a natural history museum to preserve Oklahoma’s rich heritage, and more than 100 years later the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History was built to protect its priceless collections. Museum Director Michael A. Mares and University President David L. Boren presided over the groundbreaking in 1996 and the dedication in 2000, when the 195,000 square-foot facility became one of the largest university-based natural history museums in the world. Professor Albert Heald Van Vleet, a member of the original university faculty, developed the first natural history collections, which were lost when the first administration building burned in 1903. The collections expanded greatly in the 1930’s under Dr. J. Willis Stovall, a vertebrate paleontologist who collected some of the most significant dinosaur fossils ever found and served as director from 1943 until his death in 1953. The museum now holds more than six million artifacts and specimens, including the largest Apatosaurus and Pentaceratops in the world and Native American materials such as the Cooper Skull, the oldest painted object ever found in North America. The building is named after Samuel Russell Noble in honor of his service to the University as a benefactor and member of the OU Board of Regents from 1987 to 1991. Noble, a philanthropist dedicated to the enrichment of Oklahoma and its people, served as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation Inc., established by his father Lloyd in 1945. A large donation from the Noble Foundation and from the friends, family, and business associates of Sam Noble helped make a new museum possible, and the Friends of the Museum built strong support for a bond election for a new building. The City of Norman voted overwhelmingly to fund the project in 1991. Dr. Mares worked as director for 17 years to protect the collections, expand the museum’s visibility, increase its staff and budget, and build public support for a new building. The museum features five major exhibit halls: the Siegfried Family Hall of Ancient Life on prehistoric life in Oklahoma; the McCasland Foundation Hall of the People of Oklahoma on 28,000 years of human history in the state and its native people; the Noble Drilling Corporation Hall of Natural Wonders on Oklahoma’s landscapes, flora, and fauna; the Merkel Family Foundation Gallery of World Cultures with artifacts from more than 125 nations; and the Fred and Enid Brown Native American Arts and Special Exhibitions Gallery on the art of America’s native people and traveling exhibits. The Richard and Josephine Andree Discovery Room adds hands-on activities for adults and children, and the museum stands on 60 acres of native plants that showcase Oklahoma’s many habitats.