New Port Richey museum searches for larger home as collection outgrows space
February 10, 2026 | In the PressFrom Spectrum News (https://baynews9.com/fl/tampa/news/2026/02/11/new-port-richey-museum-searches-for-larger-home-as-collection-outgrows-space)
The Museum of Archaeology, Paleontology and Science in New Port Richey is looking for a new place to call home. It has been housed on the campus of Wendell Krinn Technical High School for the past five years.
Its collection has grown so large, the museum simply doesn’t have enough room anymore.
Inside the current building, Executive Director Charles Zidar walks through tightly packed display rooms and storage areas filled with artifacts from around the world.
“We have really packed it in here, and the collections continue to grow,” Zidar said.
The museum houses everything from dinosaur fossils to ancient cultural artifacts. Among the collection are excavated hadrosaur bones — a duck-billed dinosaur — including a tibia, rib and vertebra recovered in Wyoming.
There are also artifacts from ancient South America, Roman and Greek items, and even objects recovered from famous shipwrecks.
“We have a lot of objects from famous shipwrecks, including a Titanic spoon,” Zidar explained.
But the vast collection has created a major challenge: space.
The museum currently occupies about 5,000 square feet. Leaders say they need at least 35,000 square feet to properly store, preserve and display the items — and to expand educational programs.
Staff and volunteers are still cataloging pieces that have been sitting in boxes for decades.
University of South Florida student Melissa Abbruzzese has spent years documenting artifacts and placing them into a digital archive.
“Right now I’m taking all the artifacts out of these boxes so I can verify which piece is which and put them into a digital archive,” she said.
Many of the boxes she opens have not been touched in years.
“This one is from Colombia and dates to about 750 to 1500 A.D.,” she said while examining a newly opened artifact.
She hopes one day visitors will be able to see all of it on display.
“That would be a dream come true. I’ve been in this little room for years now and I’m still seeing artifacts for the very first time,” Abbruzzese said.
The museum regularly hosts hands-on events for children and families, and leaders say a larger facility would allow them to expand those programs.
“We know this is going to be huge, and we want to be there for Tampa Bay — so we need the location to do it,” Zidar said.
Right now, the museum is considering several possible locations, but officials say none can be shared publicly yet.
Their goal: a space large enough to bring more people in and allow visitors to see, touch and learn about the history of the world.
