The Putnam Museum and Science Center will officially launch its premier donor circle, the Putnam 1867 Society, during an exclusive cocktail reception, “Raise the Dinosaur,” held on the Lardner Balcony, at the Putnam (1717 W. 12th St., Davenport) on Thursday, April 23 at 6 p.m.
This milestone event represents a bold step forward for the museum, inviting the community’s most dedicated supporters to invest in the preservation, restoration, and future installation of a full-scale Triceratops, currently being unearthed and prepared for display as the first dinosaur skeleton to be placed on permanent exhibit in Iowa.
“The Putnam 1867 Society brings together leaders who understand that bold ideas require bold commitment,” said Cindy Diehl Yang, president and CEO of the Putnam Museum and Science Center. “Their support ensures the Putnam will continue to inspire curiosity, learning, and wonder for decades to come. We are not just raising a dinosaur, we are elevating what’s possible for our community.”
The evening will convene civic leaders, philanthropists, and science enthusiasts along with their special guest of honor, Dr. Marcus Eriksen, paleontologist and Putnam partner, for a dynamic 45-minute experience designed to inspire both awe and action.
In collaboration with students from Augustana College and the Fryxell Geology Museum, the event will feature an immersive, hands-on paleontology experience, complete with large fossil bones and authentic excavation tools, from air scribes and brushes to dental picks, magnifying safety glasses, skeletal diagrams, and a field bone map, bringing the science of discovery to life for guests.
“This is more than an event, it’s a defining moment for the Putnam,” said Michele Darland, Putnam vice president of development. “We are building something that will last for generations, and it starts with a group of people willing to lead.”
There’s no cost for the reception on the 23rd, but there will be an expectation that guests will join the new society – to replace the former Putnam Power Circle, with minimum annual donations of $1,000, Yang said Thursday.
“Our expectation is that people who come to that evening are ready to pledge funds for the dinosaur,” she said. “Our intent for that particular evening is that the 1867 Society really is that group of donors that are willing to come in at the $1,000 level. So that's our minimum kind of level, if you will, to be a part of the group. And then it goes all the way up to whatever you would like to commit.”
The new donor group aims to be more inclusive and social than the Power Circle, which did host an annual breakfast at the Putnam until 2024.
“It’s a different format of really bringing a group together,” Yang said. “We weren't bringing people in and showing them the special things or making that necessarily feel like a group that you might see and associate with on a regular basis. And so moving over, changing the name and moving it to something that we're really building a community of donors and a community of people who are interested in investing in the preservation and future of the Putnam versus kind of hitting, hey, we're going to come and see you every three years.
“Not all of the events that the Putnam 1867 Society do will be fundraisers. That's not our intent,” she said. “There'll be at least two events per year that are really focused on the Putnam 1867 group. Some of them will be early access to a museum exhibit or maybe a behind the scenes. We'll try and make that an experience that's a fun, interesting and unique one that helps build their understanding of the museum and their excitement around what we're doing.”
There most recently have been about 80 Power Circle members, all of whom will be invited to the 1867 Society’s first reception.
What is the new society?
The Putnam 1867 Society is a distinguished leadership giving circle designed to unite individuals and organizations committed to advancing the museum’s mission. Named for the museum’s founding year, the Putnam 1867 Society represents a renewed investment in the future of science education, community access, and cultural impact across the Quad Cities.
Charter Members for the new Putnam 1867 Society hold a unique place in its expected legacy. They are not simply donors; they are founding architects of what comes next, according to the museum. Becoming a Charter Member of the Putnam 1867 Society signals more than generosity, it signals leadership. Charter Members will:
- Play a direct role in bringing the dinosaur to the Putnam, as a centerpiece of learning and inspiration.
- Be recognized as founding supporters in permanent museum installations, including a legacy recognition wall.
- Receive exclusive access to private exhibit previews and behind-the-scenes experiences.
- Enjoy VIP access to the museum and its evolving programs.
- Most importantly, Charter Members will be part of a select group shaping the trajectory of one of the region’s most important cultural institutions.
The April 23 event will conclude at 7:30 p.m., leaving guests with a clear sense of purpose and an opportunity to be part of something enduring. Those interested in being a part of the Putnam 1867 Society, can visit www.putnam.org/1867-society
to learn more.
The fundraising goal is unclear for the 1867 Society, but will be separate from the full dinosaur costs of $1.5 million.
“The Putnam 1867 Society has a separate goal,” Yang said. “We're still in the process of kind of figuring out for sure. We're like, we have a tentative idea of what we think this group will give. But I'm also a little bit, like, this is still new for me in this community. It seems strange, but this will be the first time that I've done fundraising for here that wasn't capital. So I'm excited about it.”
New effort on top of capital campaign
The new fundraising comes soon on the heels of the completion of the Putnam’s $7-million capital campaign, “Putnam Reimagined,” which has made major building and exhibit changes since 2021, including The Vault, the “Common Ground” permanent exhibit, World Culture Gallery, QC Innovators gallery, Family Discovery Center, exterior and lawn improvements, and renovated Science Center.
After seeking and winning so much funding in recent years, it’s not great timing to return to the public for more, Yang noted.
“But it's not every day that someplace has a dinosaur that you can dig up yourself and have come,” she said. “If I had had my choice of timing, I would have done it differently. I think one of the benefits is of our capital campaign starting in 2021, is that many people pledged early and have their pledge paid off within three years. So it's been a couple years for many of them, and I think that's been huge for us is that there was a break in there for a lot of the people, even though there wasn't a break in the construction.
“But I would say for most of the people who are interested in being a part of this, they're funding for it. It's been a couple years already, and so that does help,” Yang said. “It would have been nice if we could have pushed it out a little bit, but kind of opportunity knocks and you're like, okay, here's our chance.”
The Putnam has a long-term campaign to secure its own Triceratops skeleton for permanent display, by late 2027.
The skeleton earmarked for the Putnam is currently being excavated at a dig site in remote Lusk, Wyoming. A team of 10 from the museum and the greater community took part in a week-long dig there in late June 2025. That trip uncovered 32 bones.
The Triceratops fossils will make the Putnam Museum and Science Center the only place in Iowa where visitors can see a full dinosaur skeleton. The museum expects the skeleton to be installed in 2027 (first in the Palmer traveling exhibit gallery) and be a permanent addition to the museum’s over 250,000-item collection.
Since this is literally a massive undertaking, the Putnam is partnering with several local organizations to turn the $1.5-millon dream into reality. They include Augustana College and the Fryxell Geology Museum, VictoryXR, the Quad City Symphony Orchestra, Leap Lab: Ventura County Science Center, Eastern Wyoming Nature Center and local “Jurassic Park” aficionado Colin Parry.
The dig site is about an hour north of Lusk, led by Marcus Eriksen, who is building a dinosaur museum for the town, Eastern Wyoming Nature Center. That area is called the Triceratops Beds, where researchers have found the most Triceratops fossils in the world, and most have left the area.
Eriksen, executive director of the planned center, has been excavating dinosaurs in Niobrara County since 1991, building his first life-size dinosaur skeleton for the Stagecoach Museum on Main St. in Lusk in 2000, according to the center website. He shares a dream for a nature center in Lusk to give back to the community what it has provide for him over the last three decades.
The Putnam’s dinosaur costs have ballooned, after an estimate of $325,000 for the project, which aims to open the Triceratops for display on the Putnam’s 160th birthday, Dec. 14, 2027.
“The biggest difference is really the mounting and the development of the space here,” Yang said, noting it will be in the traveling exhibit space for the first three or four years. “And our initial budget didn't really take into account doing anything to Palmer, adding any extras, making sure that we have audio, video. We're working on having a virtual reality component with that. Our team is working on what that exhibit will actually look like.”
“And then we'll be looking at, where do we put it permanently?” she said. “Getting a dinosaur from Wyoming, it turns out, is a little more expensive than we originally thought, because he's big, he's coming in pieces. And then we hadn't really thought. We hadn't budgeted a ton to have him in a temporary space. But then we realized if we're bringing him here for a temporary space, we don't want to turn around and fundraise again right after. So we wanted to have a really nice home where it can be. And people can enjoy it and people can travel in to see it for the next three to five years.”
The Putnam is organizing more groups to go to the dig site this July and again in summer 2027.
“The goal is to have as many real bones as we can possibly get,” Yang said of the finished skeleton. “We’re not sure if they’re from the same dinosaur or not. But I've been told by many paleontologists that that's not uncommon because how can you know, especially with pack animals like Triceratops, it's somewhat hard to tell.”
“So the good news is there's a lot of bones there so as we can continue to dig that up,” she said.
April 24 Lunch & Learn on dig site
The day after the 1867 Society event, April 24, Marcus Eriksen (scientist, paleontologist, and educator, who created the traveling “JUNKraft” exhibit at the Putnam in 2023) and Mark Russell Smith, conductor of the Quad City Symphony Orchestra (who went on the 2025 Wyoming dig) for a Lunch & Learn exploring real stories from the Triceratops dig site.
During this engaging hour, you’ll hear first‑hand experiences from the field and learn how the Putnam Museum is partnering with Dr. Eriksen and the Quad Cities community to bring a Triceratops to our region. Discover how science, collaboration, and curiosity come together behind the scenes of a major paleontology project, all while enjoying lunch at the museum.
Space is limited, advance registration is recommended for this special behind-the-scenes conversation with leaders in science and the arts. The event is noon to 1 p.m. Friday, April 24 in the Putnam activity room, and cost is $25 per person, available HERE.
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