Better than cable:

Dinos After Dark

If you've read Night at the Museum or seen the movies by the same name, you may have wondered what really goes on in museums after they close.

Actually, that's usually when I find myself there!  I volunteer at the Houston Museum of Natural Science, but because I teach on weekdays, mostly I am either helping out in the field or at the museum after dark.  I love poking around the museum when it's closed and we have the gorgeous Paleontology Hall to ourselves.

A few times a year, a small crew (usually 3-4 of us) assembles to dust the dinosaurs.

You might have visions of cute feather dusters, but Dave steers a lift to get up close to the fossils, and John wields a wand, attached by an air line to a compressor, to spray pressurized air that knocks the dust off the old bones.

My jobs include making sure the electrical cords and air line are not smashed by the wheels of the lift, vacuuming the petrified wood, dusting the wall mounts ever so carefully with a makeup brush, and occasionally vacuuming the tops of the walls that divide the space and guide your journey
through the hall.

Staring into the skeletal face of a dinosaur




or stepping into the ammonite garden to brush dust from the giant ammonites (my favorite fossil--doesn't everyone have a favorite fossil?) creates a more intimate relationship with the past than the casual visitor gets.  It feels as if I'm checking in with old friends.





The shadows are more dramatic at night, and the quiet shifts the hall to more of a meditative sanctuary than a field trip destination.

This time, though, we were not entirely alone. First, we were joined by painters, freshening up the white of the walls and exhibit bases.  Seeing the dinos in their booties, like respectful workmen on new carpet, made me giggle.

Next, we were joined by a school group from Louisiana who were spending the night at the museum.  Clipboards in hand, they were on a scavenger hunt mission in the hall.  On the heels of Screen-Free Week, I was overjoyed to hear one young man remark, "Dude, this is better than cable T.V.!  Seriously.  Look at all these dinosaurs!"