Sam Houston State University Natural Science and Art Research Center in Huntsville could be called the attic of Texas. This is where public and private natural history and art collections go live out their days as research projects.
Walk the hallways of the former high school and you’ll pass display cases filled with extraordinary things, from the ancient jawbone of a manatee found along the Texas coast to fish in jars of preservatives. The cases are portholes into broader collections filling cabinets lining the walls of the classrooms turned into laboratories.
“We’ve taken the coolest things in the collections and put them on display in the hallways,” says Dr. William Godwin, the center’s curator.
In the labs, student scientists catalog bugs and butterflies stuck on pins, organize boxes of fossils, and glue together 500-year-old Caddo clay jars found stored in a garage. Many of the collections came from individuals who are getting up in years or have died, leaving families wondering what to do with boxes of rocks or dried plants.
David Adickes, the Houston-based artist, spoke at the center’s grand opening in November 2019. Famous for making the giant Sam Houston statue on the interstate highway south of Huntsville, Adickes was a 1943 graduate of the high school. In 2007 he saved the redbrick building from demolition and turned it into an art studio. Ten years later and in his 90s, Adickes sold the building to the university, but he maintains a gallery in the former auditorium.
SHSU Natural Science and Art Research Center in Huntsville is at 710 University Ave. and is open during business hours when school is in session. For an appointment to visit, call 936/556-2289.
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This article appears in The Halloween Issue.
