Rice Northwest Museum of Rocks and Minerals

Rice Northwest Museum information and history

The Rice Museum has become nationally recognized as the finest rock and mineral museum in the Pacific Northwest and one of the best in the Nation. The Museum is listed in the National Registry for Historic Places (one of the first ranch style homes in Oregon with that distinction) and recognized for its unique architectural style, as well as its use of natural stone on the interior and exterior, and the extraordinary woodwork throughout, all of native Oregon woods. The facility can be rented for private events such as weddings and receptions, birthday parties, banquets, and family reunions, as well as corporate meetings and business events, fundraisers, and many other occasions. Schools throughout Oregon and Washington regularly include a field trip to the Rice NW Museum as a supplement to their Earth Science studies.

Rocks and Minerals are an important part of the earth we share as well as the environment and economy we enjoy. The Rice Northwest Museum of Rocks and Minerals was founded by Richard L. and Helen M. Rice in 1996 for the express purpose of passing on to present and future generations the opportunity to obtain knowledge and pleasure from these beautiful wonders of nature. The museum collection and reference materials are available for viewing, study and research to all who are interested in the Earth Sciences.

The Rice Northwest Museum of Rocks and Minerals is located in Hillsboro, Oregon, about 20 minutes west of downtown Portland. The Rice NW Museum is home to the "Alma Rose" Rhodochrosite from the Sweet Home Mine in Alma, Colorado. The museum also boasts the largest opal-filled thunderegg in the world, crystallized gold bigger than your hand, dinosaur eggs and fossils, an extensive meteorite collection, and hundreds of other attractions. The Rice Museum has become nationally recognized. It is the finest rocks and minerals museum in the Pacific Northwest, and one of the best in the nation.

The museum facility (Richard and Helen Rice Residence) is listed on the National Historic Registry and recognized for its unique architectural style, as well as its use of natural stone on the interior and exterior, and the extraordinary woodwork throughout, all of native Oregon woods. The facility can be rented for private events such as weddings, birthday parties, banquets, and family reunions, as well as corporate meetings and business events. Schools throughout Oregon and Washington regularly include the Rice NW Museum in their annual field trip lineup, and parents are encouraged to come tour the facility along with their children's school group. Helen and Richard Rice's passion for rocks and minerals started with a handful of Oregon beach agates in 1938. To house their growing collection, they built the present facility as their home and private museum in 1952, with beautiful lighted cases to display their specimens. In 1996 the Rices, along with oldest daughter Sharleen Harvey, incorporated their museum as a non-profit 501(c)3 corporation. In 1997 the family donated the buildings and wooded acreage to the museum, which is now administered by a Board of Directors.

In 2006 the Rice Museum became a historical landmark as the first "ranch type" house in Oregon to be accepted to the National Registry of Historic Places. Thanks to contributions by many other collectors, the museum collections continue to grow and are displayed in galleries throughout the facility. The Rice Museum has become nationally recognized as the finest rocks and minerals museum in the Pacific Northwest, and one of the best in the nation. For over 50 years the collection and reference materials have been used and continue to be available for viewing, study, and research to all who are interested in the earth sciences.