Alf Museum
The Alf is the perfect example of Webb’s philosophy of learning by doing. Nowhere else in the world do students work hand-in-hand with professional scientists in the field and in the lab. It’s truly unique!
History of the Alf Museum at Webb
The Raymond M. Alf Museum of Paleontology, located on the campus of The Webb Schools, is the only nationally accredited museum in the USA on a high school campus. Also, the Alf Museum provides a unique research program for Webb students where they study fossils they find on collecting trips and publish the results of their research in collaboration with museum staff, a unique program for secondary school students only offered at Webb.
The museum got its start when Raymond Alf, a teacher who came to Webb in 1929 after establishing himself as a national collegiate track champion, took an interest in paleontology as a hobby. In 1936 on a trip to collect fossils in the Mojave Desert, Alf and his student Bill Webb ’39 found a mammal skull. They brought it to renowned paleontologist Chester Stock at California Institute of Technology, who identified it as a new 15 million-year-old species of fossil peccary or pig. This discovery inspired Alf to undertake a life-long quest to elucidate the history of life on Earth through the study of fossils, which he called “the documents of life.”
By the 1960s, the need to establish a permanent museum at Webb was evident as fossils found on Alf’s peccary trips filled all available storage spaces. A particular need was to find a suitable area to display the large number of fossil trackways, which were widely recognized as one of the most scientifically significant track collections in the world. Funds were raised mainly through gifts from parents and alumni to construct the current museum, which was dedicated in 1968 to the museum’s founder and first director, Dr. Raymond Alf.
By the 1960s, the need to establish a permanent museum at Webb was evident as fossils found on Alf’s peccary trips filled all available storage spaces. A particular need was to find a suitable area to display the large number of fossil trackways, which were widely recognized as one of the most scientifically significant track collections in the world. Funds were raised mainly through gifts from parents and alumni to construct the current museum, which was dedicated in 1968 to the museum’s founder and first director, Dr. Raymond Alf.
In the early 1990s, under the leadership of the museum’s third director, Don Lofgren, a major drive was to upgrade the museum's programs and operations to conform to national professional standards. This work was completed in 1998, and the museum gained national accreditation from the American Association of Museums, an honor less than 5 percent of the museums in the USA can claim.
Alf’s tradition of taking Webb students into the field to collect fossils was expanded by the establishment of an advanced research science curriculum, where students studied the fossils they collected. Students now work with museum staff to co-author research articles that are published in regional and international scientific journals, with more than 50 student-co-authored papers published to date. With the addition of fully equipped research and fossil preparation labs, the museum’s ability to support the research work of Webb students and museum staff is unsurpassed.
Did you Know...
- that Webb has the only Paleontology museum on a high school campus in the world?
- that Webb students frequently go on digs with paleontologists and discover fossils?
- that Webb students work alongside professional fossil preparators in our fossil prep lab?
- that over 50 Webb students have contributed to and published scientific papers in the field of paleontology?
- that Webb offers classes in paleontology and museum research?
- that a Webb student discovered our most famous dinosaur skeleton, a baby T Rex?
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