Those of you who came to the Houston COA may have gone on field trips to
either or both of the following museums:

Here in Houston we have the Houston Museum of Natural Science.   It houses
the Northwest Gulf of Mexico Survey.  All in all if memory serves me it is
home to some 300,000 to 350,000 lots of shells.  A lot could be one or
hundreds of shells.  Fortunately a few years back it decided to create a
hall of Malacology.  It is not very large but it is a superb quality exhibit
with world records and live cuttlefish.  The Houston collections are not
impossible to see... but you need a focus / purpose for it... and it is a
major institution in the 4th largest city in the US so expect all that goes
with it.

However...  Just an hour south of Houston in The Center for the Arts and
Sciences in Lake Jackson (Brazosport) Texas is The Brazosport Museum of
Natural Science.  It houses the largest of displays that I know of.   At
least 3/4 of the entire museum is devoted to Malacology.  There are about
8,000 shells on display and another 20 to 30 thousand in pull out drawers /
study cabinets below, all of which are accessible to the general public.
This is truly remarkable!  They have quite a few rarities, some which are
dated back to paratype days for rare Gulf of Mexico shells such as
Stenoritis pernobilis,  Morum denisonii,  and Lima bullisii.

Given such I have had the distinct pleasure of donating to and  acquiring
specimens for the museums collections.  I also have loan agreements on a
variety of shells which are in some of the main displays.  It is a joy to
know what you give and donate isn't just put in a storage closet or
basement!  I have also donated many thousand books, periodicals and papers
to the library over the years.  Earlier this year I donated some mastodon
bones.

The museum also has a fantastic butterfly and moth collection, a modest gem
and mineral collection, a fair amount of fossils, a couple of dinosaurs and
the like.  There are also some salt water aquariums with fish, shells and
crabs.  Some of my favorite exhibits are the archaeological ones on the
local Indian tribes (Karankawa) and on the early plantations in the area,
but one of the most spectacular things is the carved elephant tusk and jade
collection.  They are about 100 years old and are simply remarkable artistry
and craftsman ship.  I think they were from a Worlds Fair way back when.

They also used to have a cryovac chamber (cryogenic vacuum chamber)  this
provided a large quantity of freeze dried animals for along with a bit of
taxidermy work for natural setting animal life exhibits, including freeze
dried fish in a reef exhibit.  These exhibits extend into the Nature Center
and Planetarium area as well.

The staff and volunteers are very friendly.  It has that small town
hospitality instead of just institutional restriction and stuffy-ness.
They are always open to donations of shells and literature and will put them
to good use.

The local club "The Sea Shell Searchers of Brazoria County"  meets in the
museum and is an officially sponsored organization from it.  The club will
host a shell show this year from October 20th -22nd.  If your interested in
exhibiting please let me know and I'll get you some information.

If you are in the greater Houston area this museum is a must see attraction!

I hope this has been enjoyable and enlightening.

Cheers,
Leslie Allen Crnkovic
HARF/IMCS