| Michigan State University maintains a rich array of valuable collections for research, teaching, and public service. These collections are used by MSU faculty, students, and visiting scholars from around the world.
The collection holding units on campus are diverse and broad and serve a range of scholarly disciplines. These resources and the many other departmental collections provide excellent resources for student instruction and research.
Each collection in the following list links to a Web site providing information such as the history of the collection, a description of holdings, uses in teaching and research, exhibitions, what new directions are being employed for collection development, and national accreditation or ranking. Please consult the campus map to help locate a particular collection.
The Talbert and Leota Abrams Planetarium, located on the beautiful Michigan State University campus, serves as an astronomy and space science education resource center for central Michigan. The planetarium is an outreach unit of the Department of Physics and Astronomy, and as such, we support astronomy teaching on campus as well as offer a variety of planetarium shows to the public--preschool through senior citizens.
This beautiful display garden is an outdoor laboratory for the study and appreciation of plants. It is one of the principal centers of plant interest within the arboretum-like campus of Michigan State University. More than 5,000 different kinds of plants can be found on this five acre site.
The Michigan State University Herbarium represents a worldwide collection of all groups of plants, as well as lichenized and non-lichenized fungi. Current holdings number over 530,000 specimens.
Visit the Botany Greenhouse and escape to exotic locations overflowing with unusual plants. The Botany Greenhouse features a wide range of diverse plant habitats that include a desert room, subtropical house, and rain forest exhibit. Specifically designed for self-guided exploration, greenhouse visitors may stroll past a waterfall, observe showy orchids in bloom, learn the importance of biodiversity, or just take in lush plants and exotic flowers.
In addition to subtropical and tropical specimens, the collection maintains a full complement of arid plants. Prominent components include new and old world succulents, cycads, bromeliads, ferns, insectivorous plants, and economically important tropical plants. The collection of orchids is perhaps the most comprehensive of any at a U.S. university.
The Campus Woody Plant Collection is a documented assortment of live trees, shrubs, and woody vines integrated into the campus landscape. An estimated 19,000 specimens representing more than 7,800 different species and varieties have been introduced to the campus-arboretum. The diverse woody plant collection is designed not only for use in teaching, research, and exhibits, but also to serve an aesthetic function by complementing the campus landscape, buildings, and other university facilities.
The Entomology Museum contains adult and immature insects, spiders, ticks, mites, and other arthropods. It emphasizes Michigan and the Great Lakes region, but holds many specimens from other parts of the world. Today, the major portion of the collection consists of more than 2 million pinned adults, approximately 1,000 vials of immature insects, and 10,000 vials of spiders. Major strengths are the Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths), Coleoptera (beetles), Diptera (flies), Hymenoptera (native bees and wasps), spiders, and Collembola (springtails).
Hidden Lake Garden, nestled in the scenic Irish Hills of southeast Michigan, is an endowed public garden owned by Michigan State University which features both natural and developed landscapes. Thousands of labeled trees, shrubs and flowers, appealing to a great variety of interests, are on display in indoor and outdoor collections. Hidden Lake Gardens is located 2 miles west of Tipton (7 miles west of Tecumseh) on Michigan Route 50.
At the Horticultural Demonstration Gardens, visitors, home gardeners, and students experience first hand the blooms of thousands of annuals, the color and texture of herbaceous perennials, and the fragrance of roses set off by trees, shrubs, and striking architectural elements. Though planned to meet the teaching needs of the Department of Horticulture, the gardens also provide ideas and inspiration to gardeners and a place of repose for all who enjoy the pleasures of plants.
The major portion of the collection is devoted to historic costumes: about 900 pieces of men's and women's outerwear including clothing for special occasions as well as everyday dress. The collection of historic textiles includes oriental carpets, quilts, coverlets, samplers, and other household textiles, and various fragments of apparel textiles. The collection of decorative arts includes glassware, porcelain, china, pottery, and stoneware. Textile and apparel construction tools and equipment also are included in the collection.
Kresge Art Museum, founded in 1959, houses Michigan State University's collection of over 5,500 works of art. Portions of the collection are on continuous display, offering a rich diversity of style, technique and media. Objects on view span 5,000 years of human history and include representative examples of works of art from ancient Cycladic figures to contemporary mixed media installations.
The Clarence E. Lewis Landscape Arboretum isdesigned as an instructional arboretum for students interested in landscape development. The site has its beginnings as the old campus nursery and as a result many remaining specimen trees lend a mature appearance to much of the arboretum. The arboretum continues to grow, providing learning opportunities for students, industry professionals, gardeners, and community members.
Imagine a special garden created for children and the young at heart. This is the Michigan 4-H Children's Garden, a place where plants, children, and imaginations grow. As one of the horticultural gardens on the campus of Michigan State University, this garden features over 56 individual theme areas that create a place of wonder, enchantment and delight for people of any age.
During 1996, the Department of Entomology focused on the creation of a facility specifically designed for kindergarten through 6th grade to introduce children to the fascinating world of insects. The Bug House does entertaining educational demonstrations that include examining insects by structure and function, value, behavior, and diversity.
MSU Butterfly House
The Butterfly House was started in late summer of 1991 as a cooperative facility between the Departments of Entomology and Botany and Plant Pathology. Students, staff and visitors can observe both local and exotic living butterflies in a confined, but free-light environment. Educational and life history displays involving butterflies and other insects are a part of the Butterfly House.
The MSU Libraries' collections are housed in the Main Library and in fourteen specialized branch libraries. The Libraries' collections support teaching and graduate-level research in the sciences, social sciences, humanities, fine arts, and applied and interdisciplinary fields. The Main Library's 'general' collection includes extensive holdings in history, the social sciences, languages and literature, area studies, medicine, agriculture, and general sciences.
Founded in 1857, the Michigan State University Museum was one of the first museums on a college campus in the Midwest. It is one of the oldest university museums in the country.
The University Archives & Historical Collections of Michigan State University collects, preserves, and makes accessible for research the historical records of the University as well as manuscript collections including faculty and alumni papers, organizational records, and historical document collections.
The G. Robert Vincent Voice Library is the largest academic voice library in the nation. It is located on the fourth floor of the West wing of the Library. It houses taped utterances (speeches, performances, lectures, interviews, broadcasts, etc.) by over 50,000 persons from all walks of life recorded over 100 years.
Last Updated: 02/27/2006 |
