ASU Mayer Museum — Attraction in San Angelo

Growing up in San Angelo, I was initially captivated by the Mayer Museum's grand opening in May or June of 2021. The promise of fresh rooms, new fossil displays, and an array of activities for my kids seemed exciting, especially during my summer workdays.

Over time, my enthusiasm waned, and after around 20 visits, my frustration grew. The staff's inability to address simple queries left me increasingly exasperated. Rather than being helpful, they masked their lack of assistance with a veneer of politeness, all while subtly pressuring visitors to donate money. Otherwise, they appeared disinterested, engrossed in personal activities like playing the Sims 4, watching explicit content, and blaring music on their laptops as patrons ascended the stairs.

Rather than expressing gratitude for its visitors, the museum seemed more like a vanity project for portfolio-building or resume-padding, lacking genuine appreciation for its audience by the directors and donors who manage it. The execution and information presentation of the Buffalo Soldiers exhibit exemplified a glaring misstep. I questioned the value of what I was learning there when I could have explored similar themes at Fort Concho or SAMFA with its art offerings. The exhibit seemed to contain little more than ostentatious vases with inscriptions and depictions of melancholy conveyed through buttock images.

For an institution with substantial financial resources—a building reportedly costing $25 million—the museum was astonishingly deficient in terms of services, exhibits, and guided tours. Reflecting on my experiences, I recall a distressing incident where an elderly woman harassed my daughter, claiming the massive dinosaur bore her name. The lady's unstable demeanor left my daughter and me feeling unsafe along with fear of seeing her again. Coming to find out, she was the namesake for the museum from one of the employees later.

I wholeheartedly advise against visiting this museum. The staff's passive-aggressiveness, coupled with an elusive curator, contributes to a tense and unwelcoming atmosphere. The exhibits are plagued by inaccuracies, outdated information, and malfunctioning components, epitomized by the mishandling of the Michael Conaway display.

I've even heard from my teacher friends that school tours have become less interactive as they stick kids next to their glorified gift shop selling garbage that has nothing to do with anything there. Even saying that the exhibits feel forced as they go through a timeline that hurts exploration and the questions that the kids have.

You can't even take a picture behind the shark mouth anymore. It turned into a business,...

Not a kid friendly museum anymore!! I homeschool my children and we tend to make it out here every month. There aren’t many things to do in Angelo and my kiddos love the dinosaurs. With that being said from the moment we walked in I knew we were not welcome. It was fairly busy and there were 2 tours going on. The kiosks to my knowledge have been kid friendly and everytime my child would come to ask me a question the man working would exit his kiosk thing, I had to voice my concerns twice and let him know my child it learning on that. Mind you my children are well behaved and stay by my side (in the same room no running around) the entire time this man followed us from room to room not letting us out of his sight. Then yelled at my child for standing at an art exhibit because he wanted a picture. This completely ruined our experience and after attending at least every month for almost two years and donating every-time we will not...

The Mayer Museum on the Angelo State University Campus opened it's doors earlier this month and we visited on Saturday, May 29, 2021.

We were greeted by a knowledgeable docent who was happy to share his knowledge about dinosaurs and the history of San Angelo. As more visitors arrived we lost our personal docent

The museum is not large however it is very nice and we found it to be interesting. The displays include dinosaurs, fossils, minerals, a very interesting history of San Angelo, political history of the county, artworks by ASU professors, and a collection of birds and animals (they are not alive). They have a very nice children's area with hands on projects for children to explore.

No children were in our party but if there had been I'm sure we would have spent more than an hour and a half enjoying the exhibitors.

There is a very nice sitting area outside the building looking out towards the...