In July 2017, I orchestrated a month-long social media celebration, which included throwback content on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for 30 days. This #30YearsIn30Days campaign focused on 1987-2017 and helped the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History ring in 30 years as the state's natural history museum, in addition to a mural at the Will Rogers World Airport and vintage editions of our members-only newsletter, Tracks.

One of our favorite little dinos is helping us end #30YearsIn30Days — our social media celebration ringing in our 30 years as the state's natural history museum!⠀ ⠀ In 2011, this baby Apatosaurus found its home in our "Clash of the Titans" exhibit in our Hall of Ancient Life. Traditional techniques to reconstruct this little guy would simply have been too time consuming, laborious and error prone, so the museum looked to SEAM (Shape Engineering and Advanced Manufacturing), a technology provided by the University of Oklahoma School of Industrial Engineering.

A post shared by Sam Noble Museum (@samnoblemuseum) on Jul 30, 2017 at 2:55pm PDT

In 2015, we helped create a corn maze shaped as the state fossil, the Saurophaganax! https://t.co/tphX1WnpXV #30YearsIn30Days pic.twitter.com/X9e0hZNHQE
— Sam Noble Museum (@SamNobleMuseum) July 29, 2017

My, how far we've come! Can you believe this first photo was our Pleistocene Plaza in the making? #30YearsIn30Days pic.twitter.com/rTCnJN7rq3
— Sam Noble Museum (@SamNobleMuseum) July 28, 2017

Some Hall of Natural Wonders items are magnified so nature's tiniest critters aren't overlooked. https://t.co/1uxcAIO69c #30YearsIn30Days pic.twitter.com/zLjQD015J0
— Sam Noble Museum (@SamNobleMuseum) July 27, 2017

🥇 2014: Board members Mary Beth Babcock, Lars Noble and @fowwow show off our framed National Medal. https://t.co/olmGoXjD1T #30YearsIn30Days pic.twitter.com/FWGzjf4OqZ
— Sam Noble Museum (@SamNobleMuseum) July 26, 2017

In 2015, we had a once-in-a-lifetime chance to display #Shakespeare's "First Folio!" https://t.co/rgPgwtJBCC #30YearsIn30Days pic.twitter.com/lhu2g4ygBR
— Sam Noble Museum (@SamNobleMuseum) July 25, 2017

2008: Our vertebrate paleontology experts and exhibits team installed the Sauroposeidon replica in our Orientation Gallery. #30YearsIn30Days pic.twitter.com/HMW0TDJ4BO
— Sam Noble Museum (@SamNobleMuseum) July 24, 2017

On June 25, 2012, @okczoo announced the tragic death of Bom Bom the #gorilla — a local icon, beloved friend of many and father of three. His passing came as a devastating blow to zoo-lovers and was covered by nearly every major news outlet in the state — The Oklahoma Gazette, KFOR, KWTV and the Oklahoman, among others. ⠀ ⠀ In 2014, the Oklahoma City Zoo donated Bom Bom’s body to the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History, and the museum decided to preserve Bom Bom and tell his story, which speaks to the heart of wildlife conservation. You now can see Bom Bom in our lobby immediately upon entering the museum. #30YearsIn30Days

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In 2014, our director, Michael Mares, was named a Best in Heritage Laureate. https://t.co/GfGtDKDXlj #30YearsIn30Days pic.twitter.com/8yqKDoLp6L
— Sam Noble Museum (@SamNobleMuseum) July 22, 2017

2007: Natural history artist Debby Kaspari works on the Elasmosaur mural in our fabrication shop. https://t.co/Uum3Nvkr1j #30YearsIn30Days pic.twitter.com/Gg2mdNTQYp
— Sam Noble Museum (@SamNobleMuseum) July 21, 2017

Visitors have a hard time walking into the Hall of the People of Oklahoma without placing their own hands in the handprints that adorn the entry wall. But for the 136 Native Americans from 26 tribes who created this wall, that action symbolizes the passing down of their culture from one generation to the next. . Representatives of the tribes participated in Native American Handprint Day in February 2000 and returned for the official opening of the hall in September 2000 to see if their hands still fit the impressions. . #30YearsIn30Days is our social media celebration of being the state's natural history museum for 30 years. Keep watching now through July 30 for more museum milestones!

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We're having some fun with these ads we kicked around as the Oklahoma Museum of Natural History. Which is your favorite? #30YearsIn30Days pic.twitter.com/vsx8V87ORU
— Sam Noble Museum (@SamNobleMuseum) July 19, 2017

Members of the museum's paleontology team pose for a photo for @MetroLibraryOK's "Read Y'all" campaign in 2005. #30YearsIn30Days pic.twitter.com/RTvmBTl18d
— Sam Noble Museum (@SamNobleMuseum) July 18, 2017

When the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History opened in Spring 2000, it offered visitors a chance to see a display that made them think twice before calling an egomaniac "big headed."⠀ ⠀ That year, museum staff and paleontologists had nearly completed restoration of an enormous 75-million-year-old skull belonging to Pentaceratops sternbergi. The specimen, with five horns instead of three, is a rare cousin of the Triceratops. Its skull is over 10 feet long and stands more than 12 feet off the ground.⠀ ⠀ The Pentaceratops now finds its home in our Hall of Ancient Life. #30YearsIn30Days

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1999: Conoco gives $300K to create our Oklahoma Oil Pioneers Plaza, which explores the history of oil and gas in Oklahoma. #30YearsIn30Days pic.twitter.com/kPTZuNLoR0
— Sam Noble Museum (@SamNobleMuseum) July 16, 2017

Braving the blistering summer heat, Oklahoma Museum of Natural History staff ventured into the attic of a 1930s-era ROTC gun shed in 1997 to sort through old storage. The experience was like delving into an unintentional time capsule.⠀ ⠀ The attic, atop the museum's bird and history collections in OU's Building 3, had been virtually inaccessible for several years — sheathed in a toxic asbestos cocoon. Donning protective face masks, the move team unlocked a disparate collection full of the nostalgia typical of attic treasures.⠀ ⠀ Finds included an elephant skin thought to have been donated in the early 1900s by a circus owner; a headless, poorly mounted alligator skeleton; and a giraffe skeleton, among lots of other oddities. #30YearsIn30Days

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About 90 million years ago, a fish that resembled a giant herring swam a sea that covered part of the North American continent, including parts of Oklahoma and Texas. The fish somehow met its demise near Celina, Texas, and eventually became embedded in the rock that formed around it. The fossilized fish, known as Xiphactinus audax, was excavated in 1930 by an OU crew led by paleontologist J. Willis Stovall. Stovall later became the first director of our museum. Here, you can see Mike Callaghan in 1997 preparing to remove the fossil fish from display high on the wall at the Oklahoma Museum of Natural History and adjusting the framework supporting the 2,100-pound specimen. #30YearsIn30Days

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If you've ever seen our bronze mammoth sculpture in our Pleistocene Plaza, this photo might be a little alarming. This is what the mammoth looked like before he was finished! Here, in 1999, our director, Dr. Michael Mares, stands under the 13-foot-tall mammoth as sculptor Fred Hoppe works on finishing the giant beast for installation inside our museum. #30YearsIn30Days

A post shared by Sam Noble Museum (@samnoblemuseum) on Jul 13, 2017 at 8:55am PDT

Many questioned our use of "Brontosaurus" in these 2002 billboards because this same dinosaur is in our Hall of Ancient Life as an #Apatosaurus. ⠀ ⠀ Here's the story: When this long-necked giant was first described by scientists, it was named "Apatosaurus." Later, another specimen was found and was believed to be a different species. This later specimen was named "#Brontosaurus," and became a familiar and popular dinosaur under this name. ⠀ ⠀ When, at a later date, scientists discovered that the two species were one and the same, scientific protocol required that the official species name revert to the first name given, which was, in this case, "Apatosaurus!" #30YearsIn30Days

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Our director produced the 4-part series "Behind the Rain" to tell the museum's origin story in 2002 #30YearsIn30Days https://t.co/csZM9iRN6C
— Sam Noble Museum (@SamNobleMuseum) July 11, 2017

On May 2, 1997, a crane lowered an Oklahoma eastern red cedar onto the highest point of the museum, in deference to Scandanavian tradition. The occasion marked the"topping out," or installation of the topmost member, of the reinforced concrete and structural steel building. #30YearsIn30Days

A post shared by Sam Noble Museum (@samnoblemuseum) on Jul 10, 2017 at 8:48am PDT

Yep, we are still celebrating our 30 years as the state's natural history museum with #30YearsIn30Days!⠀ ⠀ Ever see a dinosaur bulldozer? We had a little help from one when we broke ground for our new building in 1996. Here, you can see @uofoklahoma President David L. Boren and Lars Noble, grandson of the museum's namesake, breaking ground inside this very special piece of equipment.

A post shared by Sam Noble Museum (@samnoblemuseum) on Jul 9, 2017 at 9:08am PDT

James Garner, a man who's been called "Norman's favorite son," visited the Oklahoma Museum of Natural History in May 1995. #30YearsIn30Days pic.twitter.com/nA3lsJibzR
— Sam Noble Museum (@SamNobleMuseum) July 8, 2017

We're sharing some info about the person who makes us the Sam Noble Museum ... Sam Noble! https://t.co/Az9TDWNzCu #30YearsIn30Days pic.twitter.com/opg1qcPRbA
— Sam Noble Museum (@SamNobleMuseum) July 7, 2017

In the summer of 1997, guests toured the inside of the new building, climbing the curving stairway of the south rotunda and enjoying the view from the second story. The south rotunda is now known as Pleistocene Plaza and houses the museum's famous bronze mammoth sculpture. #30YearsIn30Days⠀ ⠀ Photo courtesy Robert H. Taylor, CCE Electronic Media and Photo Services

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In Atoka County, Oklahoma, a museum vertebrate paleontology team removes the remains of a 100-million-year-old dinosaur. #30YearsIn30Days pic.twitter.com/DjXnjKfM3C
— Sam Noble Museum (@SamNobleMuseum) July 4, 2017

Like sorting pieces of a complex puzzle, exhibit assistant Beth Larson arranges vertebrae for the 90-foot-long Apatosaurus skeleton. The specimen is based on petrified fossils collected from the panhandle of Oklahoma during the 1930s under the direction of J. Willis Stovall, first director of the museum.⠀ ⠀ Now on day three of #30YearsIn30Days — our social media celebration of us gaining state status in July 1987 and becoming the state's natural history museum!

A post shared by Sam Noble Museum (@samnoblemuseum) on Jul 3, 2017 at 8:36am PDT

Day two #30YearsIn30Days — our social media celebration of being named the state's natural history museum 30yrs ago! https://t.co/oV3NA5Wo1F pic.twitter.com/VLm6dILxLH
— Sam Noble Museum (@SamNobleMuseum) July 2, 2017

Kicking off #30YearsIn30Days — a look at 30 years being the state's natural history museum! We became OK Museum of Natural History 7-1-87! pic.twitter.com/yTwH3FJKAZ
— Sam Noble Museum (@SamNobleMuseum) July 1, 2017