The co-creator of Middle Tennessee’s only museum of natural history was the guest on a recent “MTSU On the Record” radio program.

Host Gina Logue’s interview with Alan Brown, a lecturer in MTSU’s Department of Geosciences, first aired Sept. 11 on WMOT-FM Roots Radio 89.5 and online at www.wmot.org. You can listen to their conversation above.

Brown and the late Lewis Frank Elrod, a local gem collector and historian, created Earth Experience: The Middle Tennessee Museum of Natural History as a place where the public could view, learn about and, in some cases, touch fossils, gems, minerals and archaeological relics.

Alan Brown, a geosciences lecturer at MTSU, poses with a full-sized replica of a T. rex dinosaur at the Earth Experience natural history museum in Murfreesboro. Brown is the guest on the Sept. 11 and 16 editions of “MTSU On the Record.” (MTSU file photo by Andy Heidt)

The museum, located at 816 Old Salem Road in Murfreesboro, welcomes both MTSU students who want to augment their academic education with real-world experience and retired faculty and staff who want to help them.

“At any given time, I usually have, I would say, between three and six MTSU students volunteering at the museum,” Brown said. “We’ve got three retired MTSU employees who are volunteering at the museum. I’ve had three different students intern at the museum over the summer either through the geosciences department or the Public History Program.”

You can read a story about the museum’s collection, which includes a massive 38-foot-long replica of a Tyrannosaurus rex dinosaur, here.

The museum will host a fundraiser, “NaturALE Beerfest,” from 2 to 6 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 21, with local craft brewers on hand to tout their wares. Food trucks, live entertainment and designated driver tickets will be available. Admission tickets are $30 in advance at Ticketleap or $35 at the door. Since the museum is a nonprofit organization, all proceeds are tax-deductible.

For more information about the Earth Experience museum, go to www.theearthexperience.org or contact Brown at 615-898-5075 or alan.brown@mtsu.edu.

To hear previous “MTSU On the Record” programs, visit the searchable “Audio Clips” archives at www.mtsunews.com.

For more information about “MTSU On the Record,” contact Logue at 615-898-5081 or WMOT-FM at 615-898-2800.