The Las Vegas Natural History Museum was established in 1989 by a small group of citizens who knew the community would benefit from the educational resources it could provide. After very humble beginnings, this private nonprofit museum is now a Smithsonian Affiliate, accredited with the American Alliance of Museums, and is a federal and state repository for fossils and artifacts. Perhaps most importantly though, it is a Museum with a mission to inspire, through educational programs and exhibits, a better understanding and appreciation of the natural world the sciences and ourselves.
Since the Museum opened its doors in 1991, focus on this mission and serving the communities of Southern Nevada created an institution with a lot of heart. Over 2 million people visited to date. Of those, roughly half a million were school children who visited for free via the Museum’s Open Door and Explore scholarship programs. Fossils found in Nevada that had been stored in California for years came home when the Museum’s repository opened.