The Brigham Young University Museum of Paleontology was started in 1976 around the collection of James A. Jensen. For many years, it was known as the BYU Earth Science Museum, and most of the collection was in storage under the Lavell Edwards Stadium.In October 2009, the museum held a grand opening of its new facilities during BYU homecoming week. With the 5000sqft addition, it now displays most of the collection. The change of name clarifies that the museum actually houses a large collection of dinosaur bones and other fossils.The museum is currently directed by Rodney Scheetz, who was one of Jensen's students at BYU. Its main purpose is to facilitate research, but it is open to the public.SourcesMuseum Information, BYU Museum of Paleontology, Brigham Young UniversityGeological Society of America brochure about the annual meeting at UVU which mentions plans for an excursion to the BYU Museum of Paleontology, including explanations of the museum's collection
"The BYU Museum of Paleontology was built in 1976 to prepare, display, and house the rock and dinosaur fossils collected by Dr. James A. Jensen and his crews. Over decades of field work, Dr. Jensen and crews gathered fossils from locations in Utah, Colorado, Montana, and Wyoming. For years, the vast collections of the unprepared field jackets were stored under the BYU football stadium. Now, with a 5,000 square-foot addition, and years of laboratory preparation, nearly all of the fossils are kept at the museum in the collections room."
