Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Heading west on I-70 through western Kansas you can't miss them, the billboards and roadsigns for the Sternberg Museum. On previous journeys west I've driven past and not stopped. Today I will.
The Fort Hays State University Sternberg Museum of Natural History is named for George F. Sternberg. As near as I can tell, we are not related. George was a member of a fossil hunting family of Sternbergs who came to Kansas in 1868. His uncle Charles Hazelius Sternberg was probably the most famous Sternberg of his century.
The rush to dig up dinosaur fossils was in full gear. Newspapers fueled the public's imagination with startling announcements of new finds. Feuds between the ultra-wealthy collectors who funded fossil hunters were branded the 'Bone Wars.' Newly discovered skeletons were proudly displayed in major natural history museums to captivated crowds. But they were only the skeletons of these huge mysterious creatures - until Charles Sternberg discovered the Trachodon Mummy, not just bones but skin and muscle and sinew. It was an immediate sensation!
So here we are at the front lobby of the Sternberg museum. On entering the front door one is dominated by a hugh, menacing mastedon skeleton. Framing the exhibits entranceway in gold letters 14 inches high is STERNBERG MUSEUM of NATURAL HISTORY. I jokingly ask the admissions attendant if being a Sternberg gets me an additional discount. He tells me that he's met a lot of Sternbergs in the years he's been here, but no relatives.
The exhibits are well done, but not exceptional. They seem generally to be aimed at elementary to high school level. The most prized exhibit is the "Fish Within A Fish", a 13 ft Xiphactinus which had inside it a nicely preserved, 6 ft Gillicus Arcuatus. George found it. The Trachodon Mummy is not here, it is in the American Museum of Natural History in New York.
Charles Sternberg was a deeply religious man. He wrote devotional poetry and published a collection of poems 'The Story of the Past: Or, the Romance of Science'. In his old age, he would visit the American Museum of Natural History to view his finds, and one visit to the Trachodon Mummy inspired the following quote:
"My own body will crumble in dust, my soul return to the God who gave it, but the works of His hands, those animals of other days, will give joy and pleasure to generations yet unborn."
Clearly, Charles was speaking also of the work of his own hands, the unearthing and painfully careful disrobing of these most ancient stones buried in stone. Upstairs from the exhibit area is the Discovery Room, a fully appointed paleontology research facility open to the public. Across the hall from the room's entrance door is a huge circular mirror magnifying glass. I gaze at myself in the examining lens of the glass. When my body crumbles to ash and is returned to the earth, what will I leave behind to give joy and pleasure to generations yet unborn? And although the question has no immediately apparent answer, the question itself sends a warm satisfaction radiating through my veins. I may not be the most famous Sternberg of my century, but, in my own estimation, I'm the must interesting!
Wishing you success and strength in your own self-examination,
Stan
