SAN DIEGO — The San Diego Natural History Museum celebrated its 150th birthday! Saturday was the Big Birthday Block Party with free admission, live music and fun activities.
First-timers and regulars of all ages filled the Balboa Park museum to celebrate. While people stop by for a few hours, what's behind the glass has been there for a long time.
Arie Hammond is the Director of Research, Libraries and Archives. She showed CBS 8 some of her favorite historical items, including Kate Session's notebook, who was known as the "Mother of Balboa Park" for her enthusiasm for botany.
"So instead of being an address book for people, it's actually, for her, was an address book for different plants," Hammond said.
She also showed me the museum's earliest board meeting minutes and the blueprint for the building.
The museum is 150, but what's inside ranges from new fun activities to history lessons to ancient artifacts. While most of the items have been around for decades and even centuries, it's seen for the first time by new people every day.
7-year-old Carter visited the Natural History Museum for the first time Saturday. He told me he wants to come back for "a million years."
Like Carter, Hammond used to come to the museum as a kid.
"I also came here as a kid. I grew up in San Diego, so to me, it's just so special to be here all the time," she said. "I remember climbing the fig tree out back."
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