From the Annals of Museumology  –  In1939, the Texas Memorial Museum opened on the UT -Austin campus. The Texas Centennial Celebration Bill of 1935 had allocated funds for the “gathering and preparing materials for exhibits of natural and civic history … and for furnishing and equipping the Texas Memorial Museum.” The museum was owned by the State until 1959 at which time ownership was transferred to the University. The museum, which was extensively renovated in 2003, still attracts about 65,000 visitors a year even though it has been somewhat upstaged by the larger and flashier Bullock State History Museum.  The “exhibits are based on the 5.7 million collected specimens from research conducted at the Texas Memorial Museum. Exhibits focus on prehistoric life, evolution, rocks and minerals, and Texas wildlife.” One of the highlights is the fossilized Quetzalcoatalus northropi, the Texas Pterosaur, a flying reptile unearthed in West Texas by UT-Austin scientists. With a wingspan of 40 feet, Quetzalcoatalus northropi is the largest flying creature ever found.  As a young boy, I was particularly fascinated by the pterosaur exhibit, the Olmec head and the dinosaur footprints.