BHI president announces museum expansion

The Museum at Black Hills Institute of Geological Research (BHI) is growing, with the purchase of the Harney Peak Inn property next door, allowing it to expand to five times its current size.

Along with the expansion comes a new name and a new vision. The museum will not only house one of the largest private collections of fossils in the world, it will continue to be a research museum where scientists from all over the world can come to study the one of a kind fossils the museum has in its collection. BHI President Peter Larson envisions new exhibits as well that will attract visitors to Hill City and the museum.

Larson has spent his entire life collecting and displaying fossils. During the Oct. 11 expansion announcement, Larson explained that he began to collect fossils in 1956 and in 1959 he and his siblings began their first museum. In 1974 he and a fellow South Dakota School of Mines and Technology graduate began Black Hills Minerals. Some time later his brother Neal and Robert Farrar joined the company and incorporated under the names of Black Hills Institute of Geological Research. 

“That entity started our business of doing business with museums and creating  exhibits for museums,” Larson said. The business does work with museums all over the world. 

“We’ve got things in Australia, New Zealand, India, all over the far east, of course Japan, Korea, and Peru. You name a country and there’s a good chance there are things from Black Hills Institute coming from Hill City, South Dakota, that are on exhibit in museums where kids can see them.”

The museum opened in 1992; however that year the Institute also lost Sue, a Tyrannosaurus Rex that was seized during an FBI raid.

“It’s only because of the people here, the people in Hill City, the people around the State of South Dakota and many people from around the world that supported us and allowed us to get through some really rough times, and without that support we would not be here today,” Larson said.

In speaking with the large crowd that came to hear the announcement, Larson reflected, “things like this  are not the product of one person’s work. It   literally takes a village like Hill City to build a museum.”

Net year will be BHI’s 50th year in business. 

“A lot of the people here have been so supportive of us over the years,” Larson said. “Without all of those people we couldn’t have done this.”

Larson said he was “indebted” to Harney Peak Inn owners Dan McNamara and Angela Crisman for the sale of the property.

“This place right here is going to become something very special,” Larson said as he unveiled an image of the  expanded museum. “The area that we’re standing in is going to be brand new exhibits and it’s gonna make  Hill City even more of a destination for kids who wanna look at dinosaurs, kids who want to ask questions about dinosaurs, kids who can learn about evolution, kids who can learn about the age of the earth, kids who can learn about what it takes to try to preserve our planet.”

Larson thanked the community, his neighbors, his partners and employees for helping to make “our dreams come true.”

Larson recently won the Association of South Dakota Museums Excellence in Leadership award for his passion for museums.

Southern Hills Publishing will help BHI celebrate their 50th anniversary with a commemorative magazine to be published in 2024.

“We’re really excited we’re partnering with the Institute, Pete and everybody to put together a special magazine for the 50th anniversary of the Institute,” said Jason Ferguson, general manager at SHP.

The magazine will be full of stories, photos, a timeline and more. 30,000-40,000 copies will be distributed. 

“It’s going to be everywhere,” Ferguson said, who thanked the Institute for their partnership on the project.

More information on the Black Hills Institute of Geological Research and the Black Hills Museum of Natural Science can be found at blackhillscience.com.