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Animals That Shaped The Plains
May 14 - September 12 in the Stuhr Building

GRAND ISLAND, STUHR MUSEUM – Animals and how they shaped the lives of our pioneer ancestors will be explored during Stuhr Museum’s summer exhibit “Animals That Shaped the Plains,” which opens Friday, May 14th and runs through September 12th.

From hunting to beasts of burden, to pets to veterinary medicine of the past, “Animals That Shaped the Plains” takes a wide view of the vital role animals played in early plains town building. The exhibit will include animal bones you can touch, antique traps from the museum’s collection, a veterinary buggy with artifacts from the early days of the discipline, guns used for hunting and much more.

As with several past summer exhibits, “Animals That Shaped the Plains” will feature many interactive portions, including an animal guessing game, children’s “vet clinic,” a station to identify and make your own animal tracks and “fishing” in the ponds of the Stuhr Building.

Artifacts included in “Animals That Shaped the Plains” include the strange and unusual, such as a “dog powered washing machine” where a dog could get on a treadmill and clean its owner’s clothes. Veterinary tools of the past, and how horses were hitched to wagons might also surprise visitors during this exhibit. Photos from Stuhr Museum’s collection will hang on the walls, showing many of the artifacts in use.

“Animals That Shaped the Plains” runs through September 12 and is on display in the Main Gallery of the Stuhr Building. For more information, call the museum at (308) 385-5316.