Smith Hall

I stumbled across this, sitting in my unpublished folder. Thought you would appreciate seeing this. This little number dates back from February…

Smith Hall –College of Arts and Sciences

the contents of the 1907 time capsule

Smith Hall was built in 1910 and was named after State Geologist and UA professor Dr. Eugene Allan Smith. Now it is home to most of the geology and archeology department on campus, including a teaching laboratory, a few classrooms, offices, and the Alabama Museum of Natural History. The museum takes up the largest part of the upper floors and exhibits all but litter every classroom, hallway, and even the perimeter of the building itself. The cornerstone – which was set in May 1907 – was a time capsule placed by Alumni President Hill Ferguson (after whom the Ferguson Center on campus is named). The capsule was filled with “documents and souvenirs which would help some yet unborn generation glimpse the glory of the day.” That capsule was opened a few years ago for the building’s 100th anniversary and is now an exhibit in the museum.

The building is designed with a three-story central section with north and south wings of two stories, and has a basement where field research equipment and the museum’s archive is kept. The museum is built in a Beaux-Arts classical style, reminiscent of the grandiose national history museums like the ones located in Chicago, New York, and Washington DC.

an amusing flyer I found inside

I won’t hide my excitement to visit Smith Hall. When I heard that there was a natural history museum on campus free of admission to students, the little explorer inside me got quite excited to check it out. Smith Hall is tucked just at the outside corner of the quad, deep in its own little woods of trees. The façade is not particularly outstanding amongst other buildings on campus, so Smith Hall can slip past the view without a sound, giving it a delightful “hidden gem” quality. Inside, the floors are made of wood, and walking along the hallways one can feel and sense the age of the structure. This is something that I know creeps many people out, but I find it rather charming.
Once inside, however, Smith Hall is no longer like any of the normal buildings with classrooms and hallways. The Natural History Museum completely dominates the architecture and the entrance is much like the entrance to most museums: spacious, grand, and with a little secretary at the desk ready to take admission or to admit students.

Ready to begin my exploration, I asked the lady there behind the desk for some assistance. I wanted to know with whom I could speak who might tell me more about the building and the museum for my “research project.” She sent me straight upstairs where I found one Todd Hester, one of the museum’s curators.

I found myself essentially taken on a tour of the museum, starting with the museum’s namesake…

Dr. Eugene Smith was more than just a good professor and a strong geologist. His nearly forty years of work mapping and surveying the geological landscape of the state of Alabama revolutionized the state economy because it opened the door to the mining opportunities. He was appointed as State Geologist in 1873. When the museum opened in 1910, Dr. Smith and his partner Herbert Smith (no relation) were very active in collecting and trading for samples to build the museum’s collection until Herbert Smith’s death in 1919. After her late husband’s passing, Amelia Wentworth Smith – who had already been working as a collector (with scant public attention, because of the times) – followed immediately in his footsteps and became acting curator and one of the few women to direct a natural history museum in the early twentieth century.
In the exhibit, Dr. Eugene Smith is hailed as something of a hero because of his brilliant and extensive work. There you can see some of his personal effects as well as a recreation of what one of the campsites over the course of his surveying would have looked like.

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The next exhibit that really caught my attention was one of the ones for which the museum is famous: the State Fossil of a Basilosaurus cetoides (which they have nicknamed “Basil” for short) suspended from the ceiling into the great open museum room, as if it were swimming through the air. It is quite the beast, and greets all visitors to the upstairs chambers with a big smile filled with sharp teeth.

I will always be of the opinion that the best entrance to a natural history museum is a gigantic fossil. I used to be quite taken with dinosaurs in my younger days and still harbor a love for them.

The basilosaurus – although at first glance resembling a sort of prehistoric alligator – is actually a closer relative to the killer whale. Unfortunately, my few notes on my new toothed friend end here, but I hope you are interested enough to dig a little deeper!

close-up of the damage the radio took

Among the rocks and other gems (can I get a “ba-bum psh”?), I found the Hodges meteorite: the only meteorite ever to injure a human (look it up to find out why the specific nomination). In 1954, it fell through a house in Sylacauga where it bounced off the radio and struck Ann Elizabeth Hodges in the leg. The radio and the meteorite (roughly the size of a grapefruit) can be found in the museum. Ann Elizabeth Hodges cannot.

Smith Hall and the archeology department have several programs available for children and adults. I was told of summer programs where people can visit and spend time in actually archeological dig sites, helping to find specimens and doing examinations under the direction of archeologists from the area. The museum currently has a Backpack Explorers initiative for kids in kindergarten through 5th grade (although to my fellow college students, I highly recommend trying to at least obtain the Field Guide to help you through your tour of the natural history museum and to make learning fun!).
Please visit the museum’s official website to learn more about some of the awesome programs that happen!

the "other gems" - rocks and minerals under UV light

some of the artistic exhibits on the upper floors

some of the exhibits in the hallways

an outdoor exhibit - petrified wood

An excerpt from the Field Guide for the Backpack Explorer's Adventure (K-5)

I was hoping to find something interesting and not-well-known about the building (as I did with the last two) but the museum was the most interesting thing about Smith Hall. So instead I went to a rather awesome event that was held in the museum that not many people knew about…

For those of you who don’t know, contra is kind of like a directed line dance. It is a great deal of fun and is one of my favorite dancing forms. People mostly form groups rather than partnerships and in a series of tucks, twirls, jumps, spins, and stars—all under the instruction of a “caller”—everyone dances together, making the place a swirl of motion and excitement.

For the Waxwing Contra Dance, they set up a stage and refreshments in the grand museum ballroom and everyone danced beneath the dimmed lights and the suspended skeleton of Basil.

I’ve danced in some rather exciting places—both officially and not—but having a contra dance in the ballroom space of a natural history museum was quite exciting. It had the simple and charming fun of a local folk party in the posh and stimulating intellectual atmosphere so that neither ambiance dominated but both seemed to sip tea and laugh at the same jokes. There were people of all ages and dances of life, and it felt good to brush up on my own moves. I arrived a little late, but felt dressed for the occasion and had a grand time.
I suppose I could go on, but a thousand words and all that. I hope the few photos I was able to take will suffice!

caught this photo at a time when there was no music and when I wasn't dancing!

Me with the band. I'm afraid it's the best shot that I have! Guess which one is me.

Inscribed in the glass above the museum's exit:
"Once more we bid you welcome. Come again next year and see a better museum."
-E. A. Smith

Stats:
Cools – natural history museum, marble steps, exhibits everywhere
Not So’s – old and creepy to the faint of heart, otherwise not much to be found
Close to – Gorgas Library, Ferguson Center, quad
Far From – Rec Center, almost all of the student housing
Beauty – 7.8
Temperature – moderate to chilly
Overall – 9.0



I’m Jonathon, and this is my life.






Sources:
http://tour.ua.edu/tourstops/smith.html
http://amnh.ua.edu/wordpress/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alabama_Museum_of_Natural_History
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylacauga_(meteorite)
local faculty and staff
personal observation