Collections at Michigan State University
From research to public engagement, collections at MSU serve the academic and outreach missions of the university in endless ways. Discover collections on campus and ways to integrate them into the classroom.
From research to public engagement, collections at MSU serve the academic and outreach missions of the university in endless ways. Discover collections on campus and ways to integrate them into the classroom.
Collections are organized into three main groups: core, thematic, and virtual collections. Their core collections depict plant diversity and share stories about our relationships with plants with detailed interpretive signs for each plant. Their thematic collections represent regional and global plant diversity, including natural habitats. Their virtual collections, accessible via the Virtual Garden Map, expand on the classification and interpretation of plants throughout the entire garden space.
Michigan State University's campus is adorned with over 20,000 trees, some hundreds of years old and some planted each year. Every tree on campus is databased and mapped, each pruning and planting carefully logged, and each tree is nurtured and cherished. The result is a remarkably diverse collection of trees from all over the world that is among the world's best scientific and teaching collections of trees.
The MSU Broad Art Museum’s collection of over 10,000 works represents an inclusive array of artistic productions from the ancient to the present. This living collection continues to grow and diversify, with an emphasis on collecting the art of our time. The Center for Object Research and Engagement (The CORE) is the museum's active, educational space where nearly 300 works from the permanent collection can be experienced at any given time.
Since 1857, the MSU Museum has collected objects and specimens. Their collections include Natural Science Collections, which contains more than 117,000 specimens of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fishes, and vertebrate fossils, Archaeological Collections 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, and Cultural Collections with over 125,000 objects, interviews, field notes, and photographs that serve as primary source materials for multi, cross-, and interdisciplinary studies.
Instructors are encouraged to use the Beal Botanical Garden for teaching, class demonstrations, and hands-on research projects. Garden staff members are available to present on a variety of topics including native plants, using plants to attract pollinators, invasive plants, campus trees, and more. The team is happy to work with you to develop a presentation that is relevant to your course. Our picnic tables, seating about 30, can also be reserved for your class. Contact wjbeal@msu.edu to schedule your visit. If needed, additional classroom space can be reserved at the Main Library, adjacent to the garden.
Art is made for questions. Connect with gallery experiences at the MSU Broad Art Museum designed to encourage active conversations that explore systems of power, the nature of information, and human expression. Schedule your course for a guided experience or book self-guided materials for students to complete, in class or on their own, in small groups. Contact Kristin McCool at mccoolkr@msu.edu for more information.
Is your department or academic unit interested in learning more about how to integrate a museum visit or object-based learning (OBL) into course curriculum? Contact the museum to discuss the possibility of a workshop designed for you and your colleagues.
The MSU Museum has embarked on an ambitious 18-month renovation starting July 2024. The museum will continue to serve students and faculty through various outreach programs, off-site exhibitions, and educational initiatives during the temporary building closure for renovations. To contact the museum's education team to schedule an engagement with your classroom during their closure, please complete this form.
Are you interested in using Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) technology for instruction in your MSU classes or other learning environments on campus? The RFID Mobile Lab offers an exciting opportunity for you, your students, and colleagues to have access to RFID technology for instruction and experimentation. Learn more about the RFID Mobile Lab.
Beal Botanical Garden is an outdoor laboratory and classroom for the study of plant biology, biodiversity, sustainability, and conservation, and can support your research in a multitude of ways. They can provide plant material for research projects, assist you in locating plant material from other sources, facilitate permit requests for plant material or for performing research across the MSU Campus and Campus Natural Areas, and support undergraduate researchers in the Beal Scholars Program. In some cases, they can also highlight your research in the garden or in our outreach and education programs. We welcome the opportunity to discuss potential demonstration or experimental research in the Garden. Learn more about research at the Beal Botanical Garden or fill out a research permit to use a collection sample for research.
The MSU Broad Art Museum’s collection of over 10,000 works represents an inclusive array of artistic productions from the ancient to the present. This living collection continues to grow and diversify, with an emphasis on collecting the art of our time, and has been used for undergraduate, graduate, and faculty research alike. The museum has curated sections of the collection to address key topical themes and research areas, but you can also create a My Collections account to save works of interest for your research in the database. Explore the collection online or contact bamart@msu.edu to set up in person access to works of art.
The MSU Museum actively champions faculty success by nurturing research collaborations, fortifying teaching and learning endeavors, facilitating professional advancement, and offering opportunities for exhibitions and programming that effectively communicate research to wider audiences. Researchers can access the MSU Museum's collections databases online.
The MSU Museum also partners with faculty members applying for federal grants to develop broader impacts projects that make the outcomes of research available and accessible to wide audiences through the use and integration of museum resources. Learn more about Broader Impacts project development.
Science on a Sphere at the MSU Museum also offers exciting opportunities for innovative research. Developed by scientists in the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Science on a Sphere allows for the animated visualization of complex datasets in three dimensions, projected on a rotating globe. Learn more about Science on a Sphere.