OSU Night at the Museum Showcases Specimens

Oregon State University's annual Night at the Museum event featured interactive presentations drawn from seven natural history collections.

Updated on Nov. 2, 2026 in Botany

Weathered wooden natural-history cabinets with glass drawers slightly open, showing preserved specimens in a quiet museum room. — Oregon State University's annual Night at the Museum event on Oct. 22 let attendees handle specimens from seven natural history collections at Nash and Cordley Halls. AI Illustration. Upload story photo >

Oregon State University held its annual Night at the Museum event on Oct. 22 at Nash and Cordley Halls, featuring preserved specimens from the university's natural history collections. Student volunteers coordinated with curators of at least seven collections to build interactive presentations.

Why it matters

The event aimed to demystify mycophobia, the fear of mushrooms, by letting attendees engage directly with specimens. It also gives the university's collections a public-facing role in Corvallis beyond academic research.

The event drew on at least seven OSU natural history collections, with organizers beginning planning in spring 2026 and holding the event Oct. 22. No attendance figures or year-over-year comparisons were reported.

The players

Oregon State University

A public research university in Corvallis, Oregon, whose natural history collections, including its large arthropod collection, supplied the specimens shown at the event.

The details

Student organizers, club members and volunteers wrote proposals for each station and worked with curators to present specimens ranging from deadly mushrooms and carnivorous plants to tarantulas and hippo skulls. New this year was the OSU Ice Core Lab, which handed attendees pieces of ice core from a portable cooler.

Spring 2026: Organization of the event began.
Oct. 22, 2026: Night at the Museum was held at Nash and Cordley Halls.

Collections Outreach

The event uses the Oregon State University Arthropod collection, the largest insect collection in the Pacific Northwest, and the OSU Herbarium as public-facing teaching tools. It shows how university natural history collections can serve local audiences in Corvallis alongside their research functions.

Corvallis residents can view the university's natural history specimens through public events like Night at the Museum, which brought mushrooms, spiders and plant collections to campus visitors. The event offered a hands-on way to learn about organisms that are usually kept behind collection doors.

The takeaway

Public collection events give people a low-stakes way to handle and learn about specimens, including mushrooms that many people fear. Attending similar exhibits can help reduce unfamiliarity with local flora and fauna.