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The fossil vertebrate collection at the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History (UCM) was initially built by vertebrate paleontologists in the University of Colorado (¶¶ÒõÂÃÐÐÉä) Department of Geological Sciences. Early contributors to the collection include John Clark (1936-1938), Robert W. Wilson (1938-1946), and Harold Koerner (1946-1971), who helped expand the collection of Cenozoic mammals. Clark’s primary work focused on the Eocene Green River Formation in Utah and the Eocene/Oligocene White River Group in South Dakota and Colorado. His most notable contribution is a complete skeleton of a false saber-tooth cat (), which is currently displayed in the Henderson Building. Wilson collected specimens from the Eocene Willwood Formation in Wyoming, the Miocene Pawnee Creek Formation in Colorado, and the Eocene/Oligocene White River Group in Colorado. Koerner focused on the Miocene Deep River Formation in Montana and the Eocene/Oligocene White River Group in Wyoming.

Hugo Rodeck, UCM Director from 1939 to 1971, organized several excavations at Little Box Elder Cave near Douglas, Wyoming, which yielded a modest but significant Quaternary collection. However, the collection truly flourished with the arrival of Peter Robinson in 1961. Robinson, the first dedicated curator of the UCM paleontology collections, quickly established a field program that took him across the western United States, including sites in the Paleocene/Eocene Rocks of Colorado, Eocene rocks of Wyoming, and Miocene rocks of Colorado, Nebraska, and Wyoming. Robinson also expanded the collection internationally, adding Miocene faunas from Tunisia and late Pliocene fossils from South Africa. In 1972, Judith Harris joined the UCM, spearheading a revitalized teaching program. Harris introduced the first vertebrate paleontology laboratory classes, allowing students to study real fossil materials, and she made significant contributions to the collection by collecting from the Miocene Barstow Formation and the Eocene/Oligocene White River Group in Nebraska.

Since its founding in 1902, the UCM has focused its fossil vertebrate collection on Cenozoic fossils from the Rocky Mountain region. Today, through efforts of ¶¶ÒõÂÃÐÐÉä and UCM paleontologists, along with students and amateur collectors, the UCM boasts an unmatched collection of early and middle Eocene vertebrate fossils from the Rocky Mountains. The Paleontology Section continues to actively collect and conduct research on fossil vertebratesÌýfrom the Cenozoic of the Rocky Mountain region.Ìý