University of Nebraska State Museum

Nebraska turns out to be one of the richest places on Earth for fossil elephants, and generations of university scientists have collected mammoth and mastodon remains from across the state. Those finds fill Elephant Hall, where the mounted skeletons of these Ice Age giants stand in a row, giving visitors a sense of scale that no picture can match.

The undisputed star is Archie, a Columbian mammoth unearthed in Nebraska, so large that he counts among the biggest mammoth skeletons ever mounted for display. Standing beneath his tusks and towering shoulders is a humbling reminder that herds of these animals once roamed the very grasslands outside the museum's doors, only a geological blink ago.

The museum tells the story of Nebraska across staggering spans of time. Long before the prairie, the state lay beneath a warm inland sea, home to swimming reptiles and strange fish, and its fossils record that vanished ocean world. Later the land rose and dried into plains roamed by ancient rhinoceroses, camels, three-toed horses, and other creatures now known only from their bones.

Those discoveries connect to fossil sites across the state, from the ashfall beds where a herd of rhinos was buried by a distant volcano to the badlands of the panhandle. Morrill Hall gathers that scattered story under one roof, showing how the ground beneath Nebraska holds one of the finest fossil records in the country.

Beyond the fossils, the museum's galleries turn to the living natural world, with displays of Nebraska's birds, mammals, rocks, and minerals, and exhibits on the state's peoples and cultures, including the Native nations whose homelands the state comprises. Hands-on discovery areas invite children to touch, build, and explore, turning learning into play.

A planetarium carries visitors from the deep past of the fossil halls to the deep space overhead, with programs on the night sky and the universe. Together the exhibits make Morrill Hall a place that spans everything from ancient oceans to the stars, all rooted in the science and collections of the state university.

Because the museum is indoors and climate controlled, it is a reliable destination in any weather, a cool escape on a hot Lincoln afternoon or a warm one on a cold winter day. Its downtown campus setting makes it easy to combine with other city attractions.

Special exhibits, planetarium shows, and family programs keep the museum fresh through the year, so return visits reward. Whatever the season, the elephants stand waiting, as they have for the many generations of Nebraskans who grew up walking through their hall.

The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.