{"id":7888,"date":"2020-08-07T15:37:00","date_gmt":"2020-08-07T19:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/?p=7888"},"modified":"2020-08-07T15:44:38","modified_gmt":"2020-08-07T19:44:38","slug":"jaw-dropping-changes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/2020\/08\/07\/jaw-dropping-changes\/","title":{"rendered":"Jaw-Dropping Changes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Georgia Southern Museum Reopening after Major Renovation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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What began as a simple project to repaint the Georgia Southern Museum turned into a two-year undertaking to renovate the entire building. Built in 1937 as the original library, the building was seriously suffering from old age.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018The painters told me they thought there was something going on with the ceiling,\u201d said Museum Director Brent Tharp, Ph.D. \u201cThen architects, engineers and everybody else came in and said the ceiling was falling down. They sealed it off and said nobody\u2019s going in.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This turned out to be an unplanned opportunity to finally fulfill the mission that was established when the Museum was founded in 1982.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cThe mission was always to do natural and cultural history of coastal plain Georgia,\u201d said Tharp. \u201cWe\u2019d always had the permanent gallery with the mosasaur that looked at the natural history side. We covered the other part of the mission through changing exhibits.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, there are two permanent galleries. One side of the rotunda displays the ever-popular mosasaur skeleton and related natural history. The other side exhibits cultural history of Georgia\u2019s Coastal Plain. Visitors will see a more complete natural and cultural history from 75 million years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A new third gallery displays a changing exhibit. The first is \u201cSaints and Sinners: Salvation and Damnation in Latin American Folk Art.\u201d Curated by history professor Michael Van Wagenen, Ph.D, the presentation examines how Europeans, Americans, Africans and their descendants wrestled with existential questions of life, death and afterlife in a uniquely Latin American way. It is also the first bilingual English\/Spanish exhibit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Tharp easily answered the question everyone asks, \u201cWas the mosasaur damaged during construction?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo, he\u2019s such a favorite,\u201d said Tharp. \u201cHe had to move and was taken apart into four different sections. But he\u2019s now back and in a completely new setting with a larger viewing tunnel that allows children, and now adults, to go underneath him and pop up into his stomach. Or you can use new technology with cameras that allow close-up views. So if you really want to see the teeth you can get right up on them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Museum appears brand new, which Tharp says is a long time coming. He is thankful for everyone\u2019s patience during construction and the extended closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe appreciate our members, the school groups, teachers and others being patient for this process,\u201d said Tharp. \u201cBut I think they\u2019re going to be really thrilled with the results. Especially our own students. We can\u2019t wait to get them back in here to study and see what\u2019s been going on at the Georgia Southern Museum.\u201d \u2014 Liz Walker<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Georgia Southern Museum Reopening after Major Renovation What began as a simple project to repaint the Georgia Southern Museum turned into a two-year undertaking to renovate the entire building. Built in 1937 as the original library, the building was seriously suffering from old age. \u2018The painters told me they thought there was something going on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":7981,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[64],"class_list":["post-7888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-summer-2020"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7888"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7888\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}