Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History(73)
- Mar 16
- 2 min read
The campus of Oklahoma University has a lot to offer. Not just classes and degrees, but museums we can all go see. One of the super cool ones is the Sam Noble Museum of Natural History. I'm a sucker for a good natural history museum so I was ready to see some fossils and this museum did not disappoint.
Right off the bat, I got to see a few examples of exactly what I came there for. It was a series of fossilized remains, reproductions, art, and history of how birds came into existence. The Archaeopteryx exhibit (I can't pronounce it either) shows us all how various dinosaurs evolved into what we see flying around today. I'm not going to get into a discussion about creation and evolution, but yes, things evolve. That's how life adapts to its surroundings. Even Charles Darwin said, basically, "God made all these creatures, but they're evolving to survive." There's no place better to learn how it happened, and continues to happen, than a natural history museum. And the staff at the Sam Noble Museum have put together some amazing exhibits.
Through the maze of displays on two floors, the museum hosts a wonderful collections of artifacts and fossils. Some are actual fossils and some are incredible reproductions, but you can easily get the sense of what was lurking on our earth before we showed up. They have exhibits of swimmers, flyers, stompers, carnivors, herbivores, and creatures that lived on plains, in caves, and pretty much everywhere else you can imagine. This museum is such a great place to take the whole family. One ther first floor there is even a space called The Discovery Room. Since you can't touch any of the displays, it's a hands-on room that kids (and me, ha!) can touch a whole lot of things that are museum related without damaging the things that they're trying to preserve for future generation to enjoy.
Be sure to take some time to go find and tour the Sam Noble Museum of Natural History. It's such a great place to explore!
2401 Chautauqua Ave, Norman
405-325-7977
Entry Fee: Adults-$12, Seniors(65+)-$10, Kids(4-17)-$7
Hours: Tue-Sat: 10:00-5:00, Sun: 1:00-5:00
Jonathan Elmore ©2026
