August Meeting

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Meeting Notes

The Friends August members’ meeting was held on Thursday, August 18. Thank you to all the members and guests who attended and heard a great presentation by Rosa Prasser from the Southern Nevada Conservancy. Rosa is a Program Manager and Interpretive Naturalist for the Conservancy and discussed with us the geographic and natural history of the Spring Mountains, and specifically Mt. Charleston. Her discussion of the area started 400 million years ago and covered all natural and animal developments over that period. Not only was Rosa’s presentation interesting, but she stimulated a lot of questions and discussion from the attendees. Did you know that the animal diversity between Las Vegas (Mojave Desert) and the top of Mt. Charleston is the same as the diversity between the Mexican border and the Canadian border. There are 29 animals that are endemic to Mt. Charleston (live only there) including the Mt. Charleston blue butterfly. Rosa also did a great job explaining the 7 life zones on the mountain. We thank Rosa for a great discussion! Thank you!!

Key points from the business meeting were:

  1. The “Museum in a Box” (rebranded from traveling trunks) program started this school year very successfully with over 200 bookings in the first week. WE anticipate that we will easily reach our goal of over 20,000 students using our materials.
  2. The museum will be offering Adult Chair Yoga and Kids Yoga classes from September 1 to October 20. Positions are limited so register soon!
  3. The Friends checking account is $11,862 with $5,004 in savings.
  4. AmazonSmile donations continue to grow. If you are an Amazon shopper, please designate the Friends for your donation. It costs you nothing, the donation comes from Amazon.
  5. The Pinot’s Palette outing generated $252.
  6. In December, book fairs will be held at Barnes & Noble sites: Henderson on December 3; Charleston and Rainbow sites on December 10. B&N is a great location to buy books and gifts for Christmas. Mark your calendars!
  7. August 15 kicked off our summer fundraising campaign. Our goal is to raise $10,000 to purchase a large manuscript scanner for the museum library. At meeting time, donations already totaled $1,550 – FANTASTIC!! Thank you to all donors!
  8. From November 12-20, the Friends will host an online silent auction to raise money for the “MUSEUM IN A BOX’ program. Normally, these costs are covered by a grant, but the program has become so popular that we have increased our shipments by 50% increasing our costs beyond the grant levels.
  9. We were awarded a $17,500 grant by Clark County. This is our largest grant to date. This grant is to cover all of our basic costs in our original plan for the “Museum in a Box” program.
  10. The Friends next meeting will be on September 15 at 2:30 pm at the museum. Our speaker will be Hollis Gillespie, the director of the museum.

Initial Announcement

AUGUST 18! Mark the date down! It’s the next meeting of the Friends of Nevada State Museum Las Vegas. Our speaker will be Rosa Prasser from the Southern Nevada Conservancy. Rosa is a Program Manager and Interpretive Naturalist for the Conservancy and is ready to tell us all about the Spring Mountains. A teaser for Rosa’s discussion with us is “As people go about their days in the Las Vegas Valley, the silhouette of the Spring Mountains looms in the background. This mountain range, pushed up from the valley floor thousands of years ago, hosts immense diversity in a place also known as the island in the sky.”

Come join us for pictorial and verbal discussion, and go away better educated than ever about the natural history of our area.

The Friends meeting is held in the Nevada State Museum on the third Thursday of the month (August 18). The meeting starts at 2:30 pm, but doors open at 2 pm for signup and fellowship. The museum and store are open after the meeting for Friends browsing. Museum staff are also available for questions and input.

JOIN US!!