Vertebrate Paleontology Collection

John A. Wilson contemplates the skull of Rooneyia viejaensis, an Eocene primate he discovered in West Texas.

Dr. John (Jack) A. Wilson founded the Vertebrate Paleontology Laboratory (VPL) in 1948 by assembling the collections made by Edwin T. Dumble, Elias H. Sellards, the Bureau of Economic Geology and the Texas Memorial Museum. Dr. Wilson then started a program of field research and collecting with his students—a program that continues to the present. Several hundred thousand specimens and associated documentation comprise the Vertebrate Paleontology Collection.