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The museum, named after Fritiof Fryxell, has become one of the largest and finest collections of rocks, minerals and fossils in the Midwest. Begun in the late 1880's with a modest natural history collection, the museum now boasts over 1,500 rock, mineral, and fossil specimens. On display is a complete skeleton of a Tylosaurus "sea serpent", skulls of Parasaurolophus, Ankylosaurus, Apatosaurus, Allosaurus and Tyrannosaurus rex and a 2 billion year old fossil! Of particular interest is the display of the complete 22-foot long skeleton of Cryolophosaurus, a large crested carnivorous dinosaur discovered in Antarctica in 1991 by Augustana paleontologist Dr. William Hammer.
Used originally and primarily as a teaching resource for Augustana geology students, it now serves a large and varied audience including students of biology, geology, community school groups and other tour groups. The museum also attracts those who are curious about early life, the development of life-forms or the formation of rocks and minerals. We host school field trips to the museum for K-12 students. To increase earth science awareness and introduce geology concepts, we provide various 30 minute long hands-on programs (depending on the age level of the visiting group). Students participate in the hands-on program with the host directing exploration of rocks, minerals, and fossils through simple observation and physical property tests and a game where students work together to match natural resources (i.e. ores, minerals, and fossil fuel) to their human-made products. We provide viewing of a 20 minute long educational film on fossil formation and then a guided tour of the museum. Come take a walk through Earth's history as told by its rocks, minerals and fossils! To promote earth science
awareness, the idea of "geology discovery kits"
was conceived of and developed by the Fryxell Geology Museum, to support
teachers of all levels in the extended Quad City region. Our discovery
kits are easy to use, hands-on, teacher-directed geology exploration
kits. The discovery kits are loaned to local
Located in the Swenson Hall of Geosciences (near the Admissions Office) the Fryxell Geology Museum can be reached by turning west off 38th Street, at the eastern campus entrance. Directions and a campus map are available here. Call (309) 794-7318 for information. The Fryxell Geology Museum is located on the Augustana College campus in Rock Island, Illinois. It is open to the public, free of charge, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday, and on weekend afternoons from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. during the academic school year. School field trips are generally scheduled between the hours of 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Monday through Friday. Summer hours are limited. Please call (309) 794-7318 for specific times and dates. For more historical information, you may visit the website on the History of the Collections and Professor Fryxell.
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K-12 teachers, free of charge on a weekly basis. The kit is filled
with rock, mineral and fossil samples and tools and materials for mineral
property testing. Educational games and experiments are include, as
well as complete explanations for the teacher at the elementary or high
school level. The exercises, games and experiments have been
designed not only to expose kids to earth science first-hand, but also to
foster observational skills and logical thinking that are crucial to any
area of study.