MSU Museum

MSU Museum
MSU Museum, Spring 2026
MSU Museum is located in Michigan
MSU Museum
Location within Michigan
MSU Museum is located in the United States
MSU Museum
Location within the United States
Established1857 (1857)
LocationMichigan State University, East Lansing, MI, US
Coordinates42°43′53″N 84°28′54″W / 42.7315°N 84.4816°W / 42.7315; -84.4816
TypeInterdisciplinary museum
AccreditationAmerican Alliance of Museums
DirectorDevon Akmon
Curators
  • Stacey Camp
  • Julian C. Chambliss
  • C. Kurt Dewhurst
  • Micah Ling
  • Marsha MacDowell
  • Chan Kin Onn
ArchitectBowd–Munson Company
Websitemuseum.msu.edu

The Michigan State University Museum, more commonly referred to as the MSU Museum, was formed in 1857 at Michigan State University. It is the state of Michigan's first Smithsonian Affiliate. The MSU Museum is an interdisciplinary academic museum that serves the MSU community through research, teaching, exhibitions, and public programming.

Collections

The MSU Museum has over 1 million objects, artifacts, and specimens in its collection.

Cultural collections

The MSU Museum's cultural collections include anthropology, folklife, cultural heritage, and history.

Natural science collections

The MSU Museum's natural science collections include mammalogy, ornithology, herpetology, ichthyology, and vertebrate paleontology.

Archaeology collections

The MSU Museum’s archaeological collection, consisting of well over a million artifacts, emphasizes Michigan archaeology, with a geographic focus on the Lower Peninsula and the pre-contact eastern Upper Peninsula. This includes a robust assemblage from the Saginaw Basin, Traverse Corridor, and eastern Upper Peninsula of Native American artifacts, as well as historical fort site collections from Michigan’s early colonial history. Noteworthy sites from the MSU campus, such as Saint’s Rest, are also included. The archaeology collections are jointly managed and curated by the MSU Department of Anthropology and the MSU Museum.

Exhibitions

The museum hosts a mixture of temporary and semi-permanent exhibitions spread over the three publicly-accessible floors of the museum.

Current exhibitions

  • Blurred Realities - The Main Gallery exhibition on mis- and dis-information, and how technology is changing perceptions of authenticity.
  • The Science of Salt - An exhibition highlighting MSU-based chemistry research.
  • Science on a Sphere – A projection sphere of visualizations of Earth and other locations highlighting a variety of data visualizations an exhibit supported by the Michigan State University Federal Credit Union
  • Digital Double - Examples of how the MSU Museum is digitizing the more than 1 million objects in its collection.
  • Habitat Hall – Various dioramas of North and Central America's environments and animals, and dinosaurs skulls and skeletons.
  • Second floor landing – Exploring biodiversity of things big and small. It includes a skeleton of an African bush elephant as well as an Asian elephant and a skull of a Columbian mammoth.

Past exhibitions

  • Physical Spells [The Wor(l)d in the Atom] by MSUFCU Arts Power Up Artist-in-Residence Violeta Lopez Lopez
  • Techno: The Rise of Detroit's Machine Music
  • Monumentum by MSUFCU Arts Power Up Artist-in-Residence Abel Korinsky
  • Afrofuturism & Quilts: Materializing Black Futures & Black Womxn's Quilt Legacies
  • Food Fight!
  • 1.5 °C – Explore the impact of climate on our planet.
  • We All Live Downwind
  • Gameplay – Experience games developed at MSU's Games for Entertainment and Learning (GEL Lab).

See also

Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum - another museum at Michigan State University.

References

  1. ↑ "About the Museum – MSU Museum". Retrieved January 13, 2023.
  2. ↑ "MSU Museum". www.lansing.org. Retrieved January 25, 2023.
  3. ↑ "Affiliate Directory". Smithsonian Affiliations. Retrieved January 25, 2023.
  4. ↑ "Collections – MSU Museum". museum.msu.edu. Retrieved April 29, 2026.
  5. ↑ "Cultural and Historical Collections – MSU Museum". Retrieved January 13, 2023.
  6. ↑ "Natural Science Collections – MSU Museum". Retrieved January 13, 2023.
  7. ↑ "Blurred Realities – MSU Museum". museum.msu.edu. Retrieved April 29, 2026.
  8. ↑ "The Science of Salt – MSU Museum". museum.msu.edu. Retrieved April 29, 2026.
  9. ↑ "Science On a Sphere – MSU Museum". Retrieved January 25, 2023.
  10. ↑ "The Digital Double – MSU Museum". museum.msu.edu. Retrieved April 29, 2026.
  11. ↑ "Habitat Hall – MSU Museum". Retrieved January 25, 2023.
  12. ↑ "Second Floor Landing – MSU Museum". Retrieved January 25, 2023.
  13. ↑ "Second Floor Landing – MSU Museum". museum.msu.edu. Retrieved April 29, 2026.
  14. ↑ "Physical Spells – MSU Museum". museum.msu.edu. Retrieved April 29, 2026.
  15. ↑ "Art and science collide: MSU welcomes second artist in FRIB residency program". The State News. Retrieved April 29, 2026.
  16. ↑ "Violeta López López". www.violetalopezlopez.com. Retrieved April 29, 2026.
  17. ↑ "Techno: The Rise of Detroit's Machine Music – MSU Museum". museum.msu.edu. Retrieved April 29, 2026.
  18. ↑ DeVito, Lee (January 15, 2025). "Detroit techno exhibit coming to MSU". Detroit Metro Times. Retrieved April 29, 2026.
  19. ↑ Glaub, Aj (April 9, 2025). "Detroit's machine music comes alive in East Lansing". City Pulse. Retrieved April 29, 2026.
  20. ↑ "Monumentum – MSU Museum". museum.msu.edu. Retrieved April 29, 2026.
  21. ↑ "International artist visiting MSU for residency at intersection of art, science and technology". WKAR Public Media. Retrieved April 29, 2026.
  22. ↑ "Afrofuturism & Quilts – MSU Museum". museum.msu.edu. Retrieved April 29, 2026.
  23. ↑ "Food Fight! – MSU Museum". museum.msu.edu. Retrieved April 29, 2026.
  24. ↑ "'Food Fight!' exhibition at the MSU Museum". WLNS News 6. January 25, 2024.
  25. ↑ "1.5 °C – MSU Museum". Retrieved January 25, 2023.
  26. ↑ "We All Live Downwind – MSU Museum". Retrieved January 25, 2023.
  27. ↑ "Gameplay – MSU Museum". Retrieved January 25, 2023.
  28. ↑ Jokisch Polo, Michelle (May 18, 2022). "MSU Museum celebrates the work of the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians". WKAR Public Media. Retrieved January 25, 2023.