Let’s take a closer look at natural history museums. Natural history collections trace their history, in some cases, back several centuries, and today, natural history museums in the United States collectively house at least one billion specimens, and perhaps more! Globally, that number may be as high as three billion specimens. Natural history specimens represent science’s best accounting of Earth’s biodiversity, with each specimen documenting where a species occurred at a given point in time. Specimens provide documentation of species occurrences and baselines for assessing the effects of climate change and invasive species. Until recently, these vast collections were only available to specialists who could afford to travel to the physical collections. But today, our collections are being digitized, and both data and images of specimens are increasingly available online, providing free access to scientists, educators, and the public worldwide.

DS:  You may be wondering what actually lies behind the scenes, behind the main exhibits? What treasures exist in museum cabinets and drawers? You may be envisioning a museum specimen as a stuffed bird or a pressed plant or a fossil tooth – and certainly many specimens are indeed these preserved materials. But natural history collections are increasingly also curating DNA samples and video and audio recordings – and all of these diverse specimens help tell us more about the world around us. In truth, only a tiny fraction of museum specimens is ever on display. Behind the exhibits – that is where the action occurs – is where our millions of specimens are stored and where we as researchers are privileged to examine and study them.

Today, by visiting museums across the country, we are going to go behind the scenes and share with you some of the content in those cabinets and drawers. We will turn to our American Academy colleagues at four other institutions to tell the stories of their collections. We will visit the Ornithology Collection at Harvard University’s Museum of Comparative Zoology with Academy member Scott Edwards. From there, we will cross the continent to visit the living collections of UCLA’s Mildred E. Mathias Botanical Garden and Herbarium, with Academy member Victoria Sork.

PS:  We will then travel northward to the University of Oregon’s Museum of Natural and Cultural History with Academy member Jon Erlandson. From there, we will visit the University of Michigan’s Museum of Paleontology, where Academy member Philip Gingerich will introduce us to the Museum’s Director, paleontologist Matt Friedman. After that, we will return to the Florida Museum, where our colleague Akito Kawahara will share the wonders of our Museum’s Lepidoptera collection.