Event date: SATURDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2004
Event place: Redlands CA

MUSEUM DIRECTOR UNSCRAMBLES EGGS

Robert McKernan, director of the San Bernardino County Museum, will give an informal gallery talk on the museum’s egg collections at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, December 11. The presentation is free with museum general admission.

The presentation is part of the continuing monthly series of gallery talks by museum professional staff to provide visitors with more insight about specific exhibits and collections in the museum.

The county museum has the fifth largest egg collection in the world. Tens of thousands of eggs are housed in environmentally-controlled storage, and hundreds are on exhibit in the Land Bird and Water Bird Halls in the Redlands museum. Using these collections, McKernan will explain the critically important environmental information that scientists can learn from the study of egg shells and the importance of ornithological and natural history collections and how these collections further our knowledge of our natural heritage. He will also discuss the history of egg collecting over the past century and talk about the late Wilson C. Hanna of Colton, who made substantial contributions both to the science of oology and to the development of the museum egg collections.

Robert McKernan has been director of the San Bernardino County Museum since 2001. Prior to that time, he served as interim director and as Curator of Biological Sciences. McKernan, before employment at the museum, worked as an ornithologist at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.

The San Bernardino County Museum is at the California Street exit from Interstate 10 in Redlands. The museum is open Tuesdays through Sundays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. General admission is $6 (adult), $5 (senior or student) and $4 (child aged 5-12). Children under 5 and members of the Museum Association are admitted free. Parking is free, and the facility is handicapped-accessible. For more information, visit www.sbcountymuseum.org or call (909) 307-2669 / TDD/TTY: (909) 792-1462.