KU News Release

KU Natural History Museum announces new hours of operation

LAWRENCE — The galleries of the University of Kansas Natural History Museum will be closed on Mondays beginning Dec. 22 to reduce operating expenditures.

University classrooms, research collections, laboratories and offices in Dyche Hall, 1345 Jayhawk Blvd., will remain accessible to KU staff and students. The museum will continue to be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday and from noon until 5 p.m. Sundays.

The change will bring the museum’s scheduled hours of operation in line with those of other museums nationwide, which are traditionally closed on Mondays. Locally, the Spencer Museum of Art, Science City and the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Mo., are closed on Mondays.

Closing the galleries on Mondays will save about $10,000 in salary and utility costs. Reducing some activities and programs at the museum is a part of the museum’s response to requests from the Kansas Legislature that the university reduce costs and to the recent drop in value of the museum’s funds at KU Endowment.

The KU Natural History Museum is a part of the Biodiversity Institute, one of eight designated research centers on campus that report to the KU Office of Research and Graduate Studies.

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The University of Kansas is a major comprehensive research and teaching university. University Relations is the central public relations office for KU's Lawrence campus.