# Springfield Science Museum

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{{Short description|Science museum in Springfield, Massachusetts}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox museum
| image       = Springfield Science Museum - DSC03500.JPG
| former_name = Springfield Ethnological and Natural History Museum
| established = December 1859
| location    = [Springfield, Massachusetts](/source/Springfield%2C_Massachusetts), United States
| coordinates = {{Coord|42|06|16|N|72|35|09|W|type:landmark_region:US-MA|display=inline,title}}
| type        = [Science museum](/source/Science_museum)
| director    = Jenny Powers
| president   = Kay Simpson
| website     = {{URL|https://springfieldmuseums.org}}
}}

The '''Springfield Science Museum''' is located in [Springfield, Massachusetts](/source/Springfield%2C_Massachusetts), in the United States. Founded in 1859, the museum has operated in its current building since 1899. The building has undergone two expansions, in 1934<ref name=":5">{{Cite news |date=October 14, 1934 |title=Reconstructed Museum, Closed For 15 Months, Opens Next Sunday |pages=47, 56 |work=Springfield Republican}}</ref> and 1970.<ref name=":4" /> It is also home to the country's oldest operating projection planetarium, Seymour Planetarium.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Rowan |first=Patrick |date=2022-11-02 |title=Patrick Rowan's Skywatch: Springfield Science Museum celebrates Chicopee's Korkosz brothers' 'starball' |url=https://www.masslive.com/living/2022/11/patrick-rowans-skywatch-springfield-science-museum-celebrates-chicopees-korkosz-brothers-starball.html |access-date=2023-08-29 |website=masslive |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Sanderson |first=Richard |date=2023-04-21 |title=Historic 'starball' gets a digital partner inside Springfield's Seymour Planetarium (Commentary) |url=https://www.masslive.com/opinion/2023/04/historic-starball-gets-a-digital-partner-inside-springfields-seymour-planetarium-commentary.html |access-date=2023-11-01 |website=masslive |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sanderson |first=Richard |date=September 2013 |title=When ingenuity was king: Seymour Planetarium celebrates 75th anniversary |url=https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.ips-planetarium.org/resource/resmgr/planetarian/201309.pdf |journal=Planetarian |volume=42 |issue=3 |pages=24}}</ref>

== History ==
The Springfield Science Museum was founded in December 1859 at Springfield's City Hall,<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |title=Springfield Science Museum |url=https://springfieldmuseums.org/about/springfield-science-museum/ |access-date=2023-08-29 |website=Springfield Museums |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":6">{{Cite news |date=February 26, 1899 |title=In and About Springfield - The Museum in Its Three Homes |pages=10 |work=Springfield Sunday Republican}}</ref> originally as a natural history museum and curiosities collection.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Tuthill |first=Paul |date=2019-05-06 |title=Plans Announced To Update, Refurbish Springfield Science Museum |url=https://www.wamc.org/new-england-news/2019-05-06/plans-announced-to-update-refurbish-springfield-science-museum |access-date=2023-08-29 |website=WAMC |language=en}}</ref> It was moved to the [City Library](/source/Springfield_City_Library_(Massachusetts)) in 1871, when the library gained its own building separate from City Hall.<ref name=":6" /> Early exhibits included geological displays of rocks and minerals, and Revolutionary War relics.<ref name=":6" /><ref>{{Cite news |date=September 12, 1895 |title=Local Notices |pages=8 |work=Springfield Daily Republican |url=}}</ref> In the early 1890s the museum was moved once again, this time to the Art museum.<ref name=":6" /> The museum's collections began being moved to its own building in February 1899,<ref name=":6" /> and it opened as the Springfield Ethnological and Natural History Museum on October 16, 1899.<ref name=":4" /><ref>{{Cite news |date=October 15, 1899 |title=Opening of Science Building. Exhibits All Ready and to be Shown To-Morrow |pages=11 |work=Springfield Sunday Republican}}</ref>

In 1928, the museum received Miss Oita, one of 58 [Japanese friendship dolls](/source/Friendship_dolls), which has remained in the museum's collection up to the present day.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Miss Oita |url=https://springfieldmuseums.org/collections/item/miss-oita/ |access-date=2023-11-01 |website=Springfield Museums |language=en-US}}</ref>

Exhibits present in the 1930s, which are still present in the current building, include the Native American Hall, with a diorama of two [Native American](/source/Native_Americans_in_the_United_States) men and one woman engaged in tool-making and cooking,<ref name=":5" /><ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-11-25 |title=Issues of tribal membership and curator experience in complaint over Springfield museum exhibit |url=https://www.mainepublic.org/2022-11-25/issues-of-tribal-membership-and-curator-experience-in-complaint-over-springfield-museum-exhibit |access-date=2023-08-29 |website=Maine Public |language=en}}</ref> and Habitat Hall, which features dioramas of taxidermied animals in their natural habitats.<ref name=":5" /> A Bird Hall also existed, with various local specimens and a case of extinct species (including the [passenger pigeon](/source/passenger_pigeon), [heath hen](/source/heath_hen), and [Carolina parakeet](/source/Carolina_parakeet)).<ref name=":5" /> Another since-removed area was the Hall of Ethnology, which showcased Native American baskets and tools, traditional [Greenlandic](/source/Greenlandic_Inuit) clothing, musical instruments from around the world, and dolls from around the world.<ref name=":5" />

Although not ready at the time of the museum's 1934 re-opening, the building did leave space for a planetarium, which would ultimately open in November 1937.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Conway |first=Matt |date=2023-05-02 |title=Science Museum unveils remodeled Seymour Planetarium |url=https://www.thereminder.com/dining/features/science-museum-unveils-remodeled-seymour-planetari/ |access-date=2023-08-29 |website=Reminder Publications |language=en}}</ref> The museum turned to [Chicopee](/source/Chicopee%2C_Massachusetts) locals Frank and Stanley Korkosz to create the planetarium's "star ball", as they were unable to afford equipment from [Zeiss](/source/Carl_Zeiss_AG).<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":0" />

In 1979 or 1980, the museum received a taxidermied [polar bear](/source/polar_bear), Snowball, who had lived at the [Forest Park Zoo](/source/The_Zoo_In_Forest_Park) for 29 years.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Polar Bear |url=https://springfieldmuseums.org/collections/item/polar-bear/ |access-date=2023-11-01 |website=Springfield Museums |language=en-US}}</ref>

In 1986, a Massachusetts man stole "Indian artifacts" from the museum, as well as from five other Massachusetts museums; the artifacts were recovered in February 1987.<ref>{{Cite news |date=May 17, 1988 |title=Man confesses to museum theft |pages=13 |work=Record-Journal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8R5IAAAAIBAJ&dq=%22springfield+science+museum%22&pg=PA7&article_id=4050,5011491}}</ref>

Temporary exhibits hosted by the museum have covered a variety of topics, from [natural gas](/source/natural_gas) (1993),<ref>{{Cite news |date=September 19, 1993 |title=Natural gas |pages=H-6 |work=The Telegraph |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o45KAAAAIBAJ&dq=%22springfield+science+museum%22&pg=PA31&article_id=3438,4194158}}</ref> to extinction (1998),<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 26, 1998 |title=Story of Extinction |pages=C7 |work=The Day |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fchGAAAAIBAJ&dq=%22springfield+science+museum%22&pg=PA13&article_id=6584,5329256}}</ref> to the history of [bicycle](/source/bicycle)s (2002).<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 24, 2002 |title=Rolling out History |pages=7C |work=The Robesonian |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XohFAAAAIBAJ&dq=%22springfield+science+museum%22&pg=PA12&article_id=5155,6687585}}</ref>

== Exhibits ==
thumb|Part of the African Hall
The African Hall features multiple taxidermied [Savanna](/source/Savanna) species, including a chimpanzee who lived at the [Forest Park Zoo](/source/The_Zoo_In_Forest_Park) until 1967, and a giraffe, acquired in 1985, that died at a park in [Oklahoma](/source/Oklahoma).<ref>{{Cite news |date=October 3, 1985 |title=Stuffed Giraffe Taken to Museum |pages=25 |work=The Lewiston Journal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oMJGAAAAIBAJ&dq=%22springfield+science+museum%22&pg=PA13&article_id=1802,392035}}</ref>

The Dinosaur Hall includes a lifesize ''[Tyrannosaurus rex](/source/Tyrannosaurus)'' model, which was installed in April 1975.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kelly |first=Ray |date=2015-03-18 |title=T. rex celebrates 40th at Springfield Science Museum |url=https://www.masslive.com/entertainment/2015/03/t_rex_celebrates_40th_at_sprin.html |access-date=2023-08-29 |website=masslive |language=en}}</ref> The hall also includes a cast of ''[Stegosaurus](/source/Stegosaurus),'' and both a legbone of ''[Alamosaurus](/source/Alamosaurus)'' and fragment of a [tyrannosaurid](/source/Tyrannosauridae) believed to represent a new species, both collected in a 1920s [Amherst College](/source/Amherst_College) expedition led by [Fred Brewster Loomis](/source/Frederic_Brewster_Loomis).<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Sullivan |first1=Robert M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bMJQDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA61 |title=Fossil Record 5: Bulletin 74 |last2=Lucas |first2=Spencer G. |date=2016-01-01 |publisher=New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science |pages=61–66 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2014-12-10 |title=Possible New Tyrannosaur Species Uncovered |url=https://springfieldmuseums.org/press-release/possible-new-tyrannosaur-species-uncovered/ |access-date=2022-02-19 |website=Springfield Museums |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Roman |first=Elizabeth |date=December 4, 2014 |title=Move over T. rex; Springfield Science Museum displays bone belonging to new dinosaur species |work=Masslive |url=https://www.masslive.com/news/2014/12/new_dinasour_speciesm_discover.html |access-date=February 19, 2022}}</ref>

The museum's [planetarium](/source/planetarium), Seymour Planetarium, which opened in November 1937,<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> was one of a few of the era not built by [Zeiss](/source/Carl_Zeiss_AG).<ref>{{cite web |title=Science » The Museums |url=http://www.springfieldmuseums.org/the_museums/science/ |access-date=20 December 2014 |publisher=Springfield Museums}}</ref> It was remodeled and officially reopened in April 2023.<ref name=":0" />

The [museum](/source/museum) has its own [observatory](/source/observatory) with a {{convert|20|in|cm|adj=on}} telescope that is periodically open to the public.<ref>[http://www.reflector.org/observatory.php The Springfield Stars Club]. Reflector.org. Retrieved on 2013-08-21.</ref>

== Repatriation ==
In 1985, a [Southington](/source/Southington%2C_Connecticut) council member requested that the museum return the [Luman Andrews](/source/Luman_Andrews_House) collection, a collection of Native American objects collected by a Southington resident, to the Connecticut town from which he originated. The collection had originally been donated to the museum in 1921.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Galayda |first=Laureen |date=June 13, 1985 |title=Effort started to return Indian object collection |pages=45 |work=Record-Journal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QP9HAAAAIBAJ&dq=%22springfield+science+museum%22&pg=PA23&article_id=1926,2720852 |access-date=August 29, 2023}}</ref> The collection was loaned to Southington for a year and opened there in September 1985.<ref>{{Cite news |date=September 27, 1985 |title=Indian artifacts returning to town |pages=31 |work=Record-Journal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pwdIAAAAIBAJ&dq=%22springfield+science+museum%22&pg=PA16&article_id=5489,5541524 |access-date=August 29, 2023}}</ref>

The museum announced their intentions to [repatriate](/source/Repatriation_(cultural_property)) two [Seneca](/source/Seneca_people) masks in 1997,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=McManamon |first=Francis P. |date=September 3, 1997 |title=Notice of Intent to Repatriate Cultural Items from New York in the Possession of the Springfield Science Museum, Springfield, MA |url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-1997-09-03/html/97-23366.htm |journal=Federal Register |volume=62 |issue=170 |access-date=2023-11-01}}</ref> and [Klamath](/source/Klamath_people) jewelry<ref>{{Cite journal |date=July 11, 2002 |title=Notice of Intent to Repatriate Cultural Items in the Possession of the Springfield Science Museum, Springfield, MA |url=https://casetext.com/federal-register/notice-of-intent-to-repatriate-cultural-items-in-the-possession-of-the-springfield-science-museum-springfield-ma-1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231101042927/https://casetext.com/federal-register/notice-of-intent-to-repatriate-cultural-items-in-the-possession-of-the-springfield-science-museum-springfield-ma-1 |url-status=dead |archive-date=November 1, 2023 |journal=Federal Register |via=Casetext}}</ref> and a [Navajo](/source/Navajo) pouch In 2002.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Stearns |first=Robert |date=June 18, 2002 |title=Notice of Intent to Repatriate a Cultural Item in the Possession of the Springfield Science Museum, Springfield, MA |url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2002-06-18/pdf/02-15292.pdf |journal=Federal Register |volume=67 |issue=117}}</ref> The museum repatriated one set of human remains to Hawaii in 1997.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ayau |first=Edward Halealoha |date=2021-05-01 |title=Sailing to the Edge of the Hawaiian Universe |url=https://kawaiola.news/i-mana-i-ka-oiwi/sailing-to-the-edge-of-the-hawaiian-universe/ |access-date=2023-11-01 |website=Ka Wai Ola |language=en-US}}</ref>

In 2013, the museum's curator found a mid-19th century [Tlingit](/source/Tlingit) war helmet in the museum's collection, making it one of fewer than a hundred known examples.<ref name=":2">{{Cite news |last=Wallis |first=David |date=2014-03-19 |title=Golden Age of Discovery ... Down in the Basements |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/20/arts/artsspecial/golden-age-of-discovery-down-in-the-basements.html |access-date=2023-08-29 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite web |last=Tuthill |first=Paul |date=2013-12-18 |title=Rare Artifact, Misidentified, Found In Museum Storage |url=https://www.wamc.org/new-england-news/2013-12-18/rare-artifact-misidentified-found-in-museum-storage |access-date=2023-08-29 |publisher=[WAMC](/source/WAMC) |language=en}}</ref> The helmet had been given to the museum sometime in 1899, but was miscatalogued as an "Aleution hat".<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" /> The Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska announced at the time they intended to request repatriation of the helmet.<ref name=":2" />

According to [NAGPRA](/source/Native_American_Graves_Protection_and_Repatriation_Act), the museum had 148 Native American remains in the 1990s.<ref name=":7" /> A 2004 report from the museum reported that 84 remains were made available for return.<ref name=":7" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Hutt |first=Sherry |date=August 12, 2004 |title=Notice of Inventory Completion: Springfield Science Museum, Springfield, MA; Correction |url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2004-09-14/pdf/04-20652.pdf |website=Federal Register}}</ref> 2007 marked the most recent year of [repatriation](/source/Repatriation_and_reburial_of_human_remains), at which point 78% of all reported remains had been made available for return to tribes.<ref name=":7">{{Cite web |last1=Suozzo |first1=Andrea |last2=Ngu |first2=Ash |date=2023-01-11 |title=Springfield Science Museum — The Repatriation Project |url=https://projects.propublica.org/repatriation-nagpra-database/institution/springfield-science-museum/ |access-date=2023-08-29 |publisher=ProPublica |language=en}}</ref> In 2023, the museum reported having repatriated 25 additional remains, although these are not documented by NAGPRA.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-05-24 |title=Dozens of Native remains from western Mass. still in museums, despite decades-old repatriation law |url=https://www.nepm.org/regional-news/2023-05-24/dozens-of-native-remains-from-western-mass-still-in-museums-despite-decades-old-repatriation-law |access-date=2023-08-29 |publisher=New England Public Media |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":8">{{Cite web |last=Jochem |first=Greta |date=2023-10-22 |title=Why are thousands of Native American human remains still held in Mass. collections? |url=https://www.masslive.com/springfield/2023/10/why-are-thousands-of-native-american-human-remains-still-held-in-mass-collections.html |access-date=2023-11-01 |website=masslive.com |language=en}}</ref> At one point, the museum had more than 600 objects associated with funerals; as of January 2023, 562 had been made available for return.<ref name=":7" /> As of October 2023, the museum self-reported having 31 human remains and 109 associated funerary objects.<ref name=":8" />

== See also ==
* [Quadrangle (Springfield, Massachusetts)](/source/Quadrangle_(Springfield%2C_Massachusetts))

== References ==
<references />

Category:1859 establishments in Massachusetts
Category:1890s architecture in the United States
Category:1899 establishments in Massachusetts
Category:19th century in Springfield, Massachusetts
Category:Buildings and structures completed in 1899
Category:Museums established in 1859
Category:Museums in Springfield, Massachusetts
Category:Science museums in Massachusetts

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Springfield Science Museum](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Springfield_Science_Museum) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Springfield_Science_Museum?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.