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Burpee Museum, Rockford, IL - 2003-2004
Once Jane arrived at Burpee Museum, three different projects kicked off:
The Research Project:
Michael Henderson, Curator of Earth Sciences, began
examining Jane's bones. It would be Mike's job to become intimately familiar
with every one of Jane's bones so that he could figure out what kind of dinosaur
Jane is. This is much harder than it sounds, especially given the fact that Mike's
specialty is the study of invertebrate animals. Jane is his first dinosaur.
The Preparation Project:
Headed up by Scott Williams, Burpee's Collections Manager,
a team of fossil preparators began chipping away at rocks that contained Jane's bones.
It would end up talking more than 18 months and 10,000 man-hours to complete the work.
Like Mike, Scott was also a novice when it came to working with dinosaurs. But by
assembling a team comprised of eager amateurs and Field Museum veterans who worked on
Sue, he managed to get the job done.
The Exhibit Project:
Led by another Field Museum veteran, Barbara Ceiga, a
team of Burpee staff began translating the story of Jane into an exhibit experience that
would excite, engage and educate visitors of all ages.
Throughout 2003 and 2004, museum staff and volunteers spend thousands of hours gingerly picking
Jane's bones out of the rock. They clean, catalog and make casts of each and every bone. They
bring in contractors who specialize in making the custom steel armature to display the skeleton.
They apply for grants, solicit donations and hold fundraisers to pay for the restorationof the skeleton
and a new exhibit. They plan to unveil Jane's mounted skeleton on June 29, 2005.
Families and school groups flock to the museum to see Jane's story unfold. They stand within
touching distance of Jane's bones, watch the fossil preparators at work and ask questions. A
special exhibit tells the story of Jane's discovery, along with videos on a touch screen.
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Fossil preparator, Connie Van Beek, uses a
microjack to clean away the rocky matrix
from Jane's pelvis.
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Burpee Museum Curator of Earth Sciences,
Michael Henderson (left), works with volunteer
Richard Hertzing (right) to remove the rocky
matrix from Jane's bones.
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Up to 6" in length, Jane's teeth are
an impressive sight.
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Burpee Museum Collections Manager, Scott
Williams, works on the field jacket containing
Jane's pelvis.
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Jane's partial skull emerges from the rocky
matrix encasing it.
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