B-U-R-K-E now on campus!

If you’re at Red Square on the UW campus anytime soon, you’ll notice a new installation of panels between Kane Hall and Odegaard Library.

These panels are part of a larger on-campus visual campaign for the Burke Museum that has been developed by the UW’s Visual Communication Design program. A senior in the design program, Jessica, proposed an exciting concept and developed a whole suite of materials to help promote the museum to UW students.

Here's a view of the panels from Red Square, spelling out B-U-R-K-E:

Here's a view of the panels from Memorial Way:


More pieces are being developed, including a brochure, buttons, t-shirts, and banners. Keep your eye out for these exciting new materials!

"Rocking Out" on the Fossil Freeway

If you have visited the exhibit Cruisin’ the Fossil Freeway in recent weekends, you may have encountered UW students hanging out in the gallery, showing off fossils and talking to museum visitors. These students are part of a group called Rocking Out – they focus on presenting hands-on outreach programs in the earth sciences, and they’ve been kind enough to lend their time to the Burke Museum so that visitors have the opportunity to touch real fossils and ask questions about what they see on exhibit.

So what motivates these students to volunteer their time to talk to museum visitors?

Rocking Out member Shelly Donohue describes why she loves volunteering at the museum:

For me, the best part about volunteering in the Cruisin' the Fossil Freeway exhibit is giving kids the opportunity to hold and touch some of the specimens. I am studying science because of educators in my past that took me exploring on field trips, let me hold a snake at the zoo, and energetically answered any question I could think of. These people fed my curiosity and opened me up to how interesting and exciting science can be. When I volunteer, I love giving kids a specimen they can hold, such as a dinosaur vertebra or a fossil shark tooth, and asking them to guess what it is. Some of them get that same excited sparkle in their eyes that I used to get in mine, and it’s great that now I can be the one inspiring curiosity and showing these kids that learning can be fun… or at least to give them bragging rights over their friends about getting to hold a dinosaur bone.

Earth and Space Sciences graduate student Karl Lang discusses his personal favorite fossil – “Jefferson’s Chesapeake Scallop":

This past Thursday was Free First Thursday at the Burke and that evening I was chatting with visitors to the Cruisin' the Fossil Freeway exhibit when I ran into an old friend: Chesapecten jeffersonius. Oh the memories! You see “jeff” and I go way back, at least five million years to the early Pliocene. We originally met in the Yorktown formation, a soft sandy coquina forming large bluffs along the York River in the Virginia coastal plain. Growing up in Virginia, I spent many lazy summer afternoons crawling over these bluffs pulling out handful after handful of Chesapecten jeffersonius.

These shells are the fossilized remnants of a scallop-like creature that dominated the shallow marine seas off the east coast of North America for about five million years in the late Miocene to early Pliocene. The shell is known as an “index fossil” because it is so plentiful over only a short segment of the stratigraphic record, characteristic of a very specific piece of geologic history. Chesapecten jeffersonius has found its way into American history as well. It was the first fossil described in North America by English colonists, and remains the state fossil of Virginia. The Burke museum has a fantastic collection of fossils actively used in research, including this very special scallop. Be sure to stop by the Cruisin' the Fossil Freeway exhibit to say hello and meet the remarkable Chesapecten jeffersonius.

Visit Cruisin’ the Fossil Freeway this Saturday from 10 am – 2 pm to meet the members of Rocking Out and try hands-on activities in the gallery.

Your local museum: coming to a pub near you?

It’s been six months since the first “Burke Museum Trivia Night” at the College Inn Pub and so far it has proven to be a great way to connect the museum to new audiences and inspire a sense of excitement about the natural and cultural world amongst the people who come to the bar to play trivia. Tonight at 8 pm we go at it again, with a fresh batch of questions based on subjects related to the museum’s collections, exhibits, or programs.

Not sure if a natural history-themed trivia night is for you? Here’s a sampling of some of my favorite questions from past Burke Trivia Night events:

* What is the official Washington State flower?
* In 1962, Rachel Carson published Silent Spring, a book that prompted the United States government to ban the use of which pesticide?
* What is the name of the branch of biology that studies fish?
* Which former Seattleite hosted a show on PBS in the 90s teaching kids about science?
* In which country was the coffee plant first discovered?
* One tradition of the Mexican holiday Day of the Dead is to decorate skulls in honor of a deceased loved one. What is the edible substance used to make these skulls?

Still not convinced? Here’s a slide show of pictures from last month’s event – everyone had a great time!

Photos by Andrew Waits.

NOTE: The Burke Museum isn’t the only museum in town heading to the local pub to experiment with new forms of museum outreach: The Museum of History and Industry (MOHAI) has been contributing to quiz nights all over town for the past several months. Other local museums are catering to the twenty and thirty-something crowd by holding late-night events in the museum, such as Seattle Art Museum’s SAM Remix and Pacific Science Center’s Science With A Twist. These programs are all great ways to experience local museums in a new light!

Posted by: Julia Swan, Communications

Q: What will you find at a natural history-themed pub quiz?

A: Over 70 intrepid quiz-takers, ready to prove their knowledge of the natural and cultural world!

Burke Museum Trivia Night is a brand new outreach program that started last Thursday at the College Inn Pub in the University District. We were treated to a hugely successful turnout of UW graduate students and others who came to test their knowledge of the natural and cultural world. Fifteen teams competed for prizes (drink vouchers from the Pub and museum passes from the Burke) and everyone seemed to have a really great time.

I’ve been excited to start this program for a while now, so it was really gratifying to see it come together so seamlessly. The idea came to me this summer as I was brainstorming creative ways to share the collective knowledge of the Burke Museum with people beyond the walls of the exhibit galleries. A regular pub quiz seemed like a good way to expose new audiences to the many, many subjects covered by our museum. I mean, who doesn’t love drinking beer with friends and showing off how much you know about random subjects?

I was lucky to receive instant support for the idea from the Burke’s director, along with generous financial support from the UW Graduate School . Then, I found the perfect venue for Burke Museum Trivia Night—the College Inn Pub. I liked the College Inn Pub because it’s close to campus, has a nice, laid-back atmosphere, and already attracts a lot of grad students who I thought might be interested in coming to a natural history-themed pub quiz.

The quiz consisted of 6 different rounds (the topics for each round will change each month) of 5 questions each plus a bonus round at half-time. All of the questions had to do with subjects that relate directly or indirectly to Burke collections, exhibits, or research. We also featured a picture ID round and a rock ID round, using images and objects from the Burke’s collections. Here are some sample questions from the first Burke Museum Trivia Night:

From the “Mount Saint Helens” round: In what year did Mt. St. Helens erupt?
From the “Antarctica” round: The United States operates three Antarctic bases devoted to research. Name 1 of those stations.
From the “Where in Washington” round: Where in Washington will you find a Washington city whose name means “place of many waters” in the Nez Perce language for its proximity to both the Columbia and Snake Rivers?
From the “Dinosaur Movies” round: Which dinosaur does NOT make an appearance in the first Jurassic Park movie? A: Stegosaurus B: Tyrannosaurus Rex C: Brachiosaurus D: Triceratops
From the “Holidays” round: Which Mexican holiday honors and remembers friends and family members who have passed away?

Think you know the answers to these questions and others like them? Then come to the next Burke Museum Trivia Night on November 5. If you miss that, we’ll be back on the first Thursday of every month.

Oh, and that's me, hosting the first Trivia Night, wearing a moose hat that one of the teams let me wear for the second half of the game. It never hurts to be cheesy!

Posted by: Julia Swan, Communications

Burkemobile hits the road!

Posted by: Tim Stetter, Education

Last week, the Burke Education office conducted our first Burkemobile (yes, Burkemobile!) outreach program at Lincoln Elementary School in Ellensburg. This classroom-based program features three hands-on lessons (ecosystems, fossils, Native Cultures) that bring a unique museum experience to schools and students that normally can't visit us. One of the 5th grade teachers wrote that this was "an amazing day for our students." Next up on the schedule: Gilbert Elementary in Yakima and the Lummi Nation School in Bellingham. We also have multi-day trips in May to Aberdeen and Forks. A special thanks goes to the Burke collections managers and curators who helped prepare specimens for this outreach program!

This photograph shows a model of a wetland ecosystem, created by a team of 5th graders using specimens from the Burke Museum's education collection, including a juvenile Chinook Salmon, pressed Cattail, Monarch butterfly, Muskrat skull, and Great Blue Heron feather.

For more about Burke Education programs, visit our website.

Reaching out to undergrads

Posted by: Steven Zhang

“Have you been to the Burke Museum before?”

This is a typical question I ask undergraduates during campus outreach opportunities. Among the positive responses I receive, once in a while there are a few “No, I haven’t gotten around to it” or “I’ve been meaning to.” Occasionally, some students say they’re not exactly sure where the Burke is located. As a fellow undergraduate working at the Burke, I understand where these responses are coming from. Before my employment at the museum, I had heard of the Burke many times, through flyers, posters, and articles in The Daily. But like many undergraduates, I simply did not take the extra step to check it out. However, it

is enlightening to see that more and more students are making an effort to come to the Burke. Working here for the past two years, I know this success can be attributed to the Burke events that are geared towards reaching out to undergraduates.

One example of these outreach events is the Burke’s After Hours program, which has been quite successful. Once a quarter, the museum re-opens in the evening, providing live music, big screen movies, exhibit tours, and free food to all UW students! This is a great way for students to experience the Burke in an upbeat and contemporary atmosphere. Some highlights from previous After Hours featured a live DJ, Mighty-O Donuts, Blue C Sushi, and filmmakers Alicia Woods and Jonathan Tomhave. Speaking of which, the Burke’s last After Hours of the academic year is on Wed., May 21 at 7pm. The topic is “Prehistoric Drugs, Sex and Vice!” So stop by and enjoy free pizza and chocolate while learning about the “sexy” culture of ancient societies!

- Steven

Photo: Undergraduate students enjoy sushi and socializing at an After Hours @ the Burke event.