Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences Museum Closing

[Russell Engelman]

This is a huge deal. The Academy of Natural Sciences is one of the larger museums in the eastern United States and it looks like it's going the way the University of Wyoming Geology Museum went a few years ago (though the latter reopened).

https://www.inquirer.com/education/academy-of-natural-sciences-closing-museum-philadelphia-20260901.html

[Ronald Orenstein]

Sad news indeed.  However, it seems the research departments will continue to operate.

Some of you may be unaware that for many years the Academy's Curator of Birds was the original James Bond, author of the Field Guide to the Birds of the West Indies (Ian Fleming, who was a birdwatcher, simply lifted the name without permission; he later apologized and invited Bond to name any particularly repulsive bird parasite he chose after him).

I met Bond briefly at the International Ornithological Conference in Oxford in 1966, and have been dining out on the fact ever since.

Ronald Orenstein
1825 Shady Creek Court
Mississauga, ON L5L 3W2
Canada
ronorenstein.blogspot.com
ronorensteinwriter.blogspot.com

On Tuesday, September 1, 2026 at 12:13:33 p.m. EDT, Russell Engelman <neovena...@gmail.com> wrote:

This is a huge deal. The Academy of Natural Sciences is one of the larger museums in the eastern United States and it looks like it's going the way the University of Wyoming Geology Museum went a few years ago (though the latter reopened).

https://www.inquirer.com/education/academy-of-natural-sciences-closing-museum-philadelphia-20260901.html

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Dinosaur Mailing Group" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to DinosaurMailingG...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/DinosaurMailingGroup/859fce69-4ed8-402f-a16a-fe07354fa5ecn%40googlegroups.com.

[Ethan Schoales]

I’ve been there…RIP.

(Thanks for the anecdote though, Ronald.)

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/DinosaurMailingGroup/425739375.1947368.1788279841191%40mail.yahoo.com.

[Russell Engelman]

From reading around it sounds like this is a known issue regarding finances and overextension by Drexel.

https://www.reddit.com/r/philly/comments/1sccy7c/the_academy_of_natural_sciences_the_oldest/

You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google Groups "Dinosaur Mailing Group" group.
To unsubscribe from this topic, visit https://groups.google.com/d/topic/DinosaurMailingGroup/RSe0WEswYFU/unsubscribe.
To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to DinosaurMailingG...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/DinosaurMailingGroup/CALAi95FkmHBcPdQamNAuV7nY5DisUjJ%3D-iFT39kwqGAidy_UvA%40mail.gmail.com.

[Gregory Paul]

Being a Bond fan -- my mom took me to see Thunderball when it came out, and I read all the original novels -- I decided to see if the James Bond bird guide was at the JHU library. And there it was, a little thing with B&W sketches of the regional species. 

The origin of the name may be more complex than had been realized. During WW2 Fleming was in British intelligence, based in England. He worked with an actual James Bond operating in Europe in dangerous circumstances, he was handsome and charismatic. It is possible that Fleming used the ornithologist story as a cover, the operations remaining secret for years (as did the coding breaking operations that were hush-hush until the 80s I think, which helped inspire 007). 

GSPaul

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/DinosaurMailingGroup/425739375.1947368.1788279841191%40mail.yahoo.com.

[mkir...@gmail.com]

I was there (twice) in 1998 after it had been remodeled.  Some folks from the old DML and I attended the  February 1998 AAAS Convention in Philadelphia and then the April Dinofest Symposium (with the "Discovering Dinosaurs" exhibition), again in Philadelphia.  Both times, I walked over to the Academy of Natural Sciences, the latter time for the "Dinofeast" banquet.  It was very nice at that time.   However, it seems that the expensive remodeling did not result in a long-term increase in attendance and in fact left them in debt.   

[Noah]

Pardon my lack of professionalism, but this really, really sucks. No better way I could put it.

Noah Heymann

On Tue, Sep 1, 2026, 9:13 AM Russell Engelman <neovena...@gmail.com> wrote:

This is a huge deal. The Academy of Natural Sciences is one of the larger museums in the eastern United States and it looks like it's going the way the University of Wyoming Geology Museum went a few years ago (though the latter reopened).

https://www.inquirer.com/education/academy-of-natural-sciences-closing-museum-philadelphia-20260901.html

--

[Jerry Harris]

I did a TON of work in the collections at the ANS for my dissertation on Suuwassea and related work in the mammal and bird collections. I understand that the collections and research aspects of the museum aren't said to be closing in the article (though I'd be shocked if they aren't impacted by the staff reduction), but I fear for their long-term disposition. This is truly awful news.

[Mickey Rowe]

This really is sad to hear...  I volunteered there for a couple of temporary exhibits, spending my Sundays talking to visitors about science, starting, of course, with the exhibit they had on the science behind Jurassic Park.  It was ANSP then (1994 or thereabouts).  I loved staying there until after closing and wandering around a bit while the place was empty.  The pneumatic actuators on the Tenontosaurus in the JP exhibit kept hissing to make the thing twitch and it seemed a lot eerier when the place was quiet. Memories...

Mickey

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/DinosaurMailingGroup/eadf2dc1-7de9-44a1-a082-7ba5f34c5c1an%40googlegroups.com.

[Allan Edels]

The Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia is the oldest natural history museum in the Western Hemisphere.   Founded in 1812, the museum opened in 1828.  So it was open as a museum for 198 years.  It closes for good on September 30th, 2026.p0

I was a Dinosaur Docent at ANSP for 17+ years.  I also taught in the Safari Overnight program for several years.

I was shocked by this announcement.  According to their website, the museum will no longer be open to the public, but the research will continue.  

The museum used to be open 7 days a week.  About 15-20 years ago, it went to 5 days a week.  After the COVID pandemic hit, that was reduced to 3 days a week.

I have good memories of the Academy.  Sorry to see it go.

Allan Edels 

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/DinosaurMailingGroup/eadf2dc1-7de9-44a1-a082-7ba5f34c5c1an%40googlegroups.com.

[Mike Taylor]

This is tragic indeed.

Worth noting, since this is the Dinosaur Mailing Group, that back in 1866, the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences has home to the first even mounted skeleton of a dinosaur — Leidy's Hadrosaurus.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Irish_Deer_or_Elk,_Hadrosaur,_and_other_fossil_skeletons_(3349699896).jpg

-- Mike.

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/DinosaurMailingGroup/CAGmHUE-Rspobm1tkowNpUkN9HpSpNwwhNGZ%3DPzRQoK6BA5esig%40mail.gmail.com.

[Matt Borths]

Reading between the lines, it seems like the physical museum and exhibits were the problem and the whole facility needed to be revamped. 

The collections and associated researchers seem to be okay. Why wasnt there there a press release two year ago with a call for support? I appreciate that DOGE slashed a lot of federal support, but a 200 year old institution and a key municipal museum couldn't have run purely on soft money and ticket sales. The 2011 transfer to Drexel seems like a sign of an ailing institution then Drexel got overextended. Or was that just a marriage of convenience so Academy of Natural Science folks could be connected to academic benefits? 

I don't quite understand how such a storied institution didn't have an operating endowment to maintain physical infrastructure put in place by a robber baron in 1900. 

I am genuinely interested to know these details. If anyone has contacts to folks close to the decision or if they see more detailed reports that go beyond the press release, I would really appreciate the connection or link. 

Thanks, 

Matt

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/DinosaurMailingGroup/CACnMvBaiAb5xRJC3pGZzdH5BUr-XCj8FQmt8x70hbciXpKjrgg%40mail.gmail.com.

[Paul Penkalski]

It's disgraceful that Drexel could mismanage The Academy to the point where it has to close. What happened to the Academy's $50 Million endowment..? I don't know, but someone ought to go to jail for this.

I spent a fair amount of of time at the Academy a few years back, especially while I was in grad school at Penn. It's not much to look at from the outside, but inside it's a great museum. It takes awhile just to learn your way around the place.

But people have agendas and do things for reasons that aren't always obvious. This was gross mismanagement, or worse.

The Milwaukee Public Museum is also closing at the end of this year. Why? Because the Common Council in now-mostly-black Milwaukee decided it was time to remove all the African exhibits, and razing the museum seemed like the way to do it. (Don't believe what you read about leaks in the roof or the high cost of repairs--that's all BS.)

[Thomas Yazbek]

We also lost the beautiful museum at University of Michigan, replaced by a new one sharing space with other university departments. It's 'state of the art' but the beautiful collection of Paleozoic/Mesozoic dioramas have been mostly removed. It's an architectural demotion in disguise.

Michigan State University suffered an even worse fate. The old, quirky, but still informative hall of evolution in the basement (with its folk-art-ish equivalent of the Zallinger murals) was completely removed. More space for temporary exhibits I guess...they took the heart out of the place.

I visited the AMNH for the first time a few months ago and felt a lot of relief seeing mostly intact older exhibits, which pack in the *actual artifacts* and *physical dioramas* instead of a bunch of TV screens and blown-up illustrations. This is especially true of the zoology/anthropology parts of the museum, but of course many of the famous early 20th century dinosaur mounts haven't been tampered with too much. 

I am not happy with how the great museums of people's youths (which often remained pretty unchanged for a long time) are getting revamped so heavily. I don't understand why the trend in natural history museums is to display less and less. Big art museums get to display so many pieces that you'd have to visit 7 times just to even see them all. Natural history museums have more 're-visit value' if they have more things on display, and it gives people a better picture of the evolution and variety of life to do this. Sure, everybody wants conciseness and a coherent narrative for the halls, but I think that insults a lot of people's intelligence. Grab the average schlub off the street and ask him how much he understands from the labels at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. So what if our museums' labels have tough words like "holotype" and "squamosal"? So what if it's just a dense collection of fossils and intricate dioramas? It just gives people something new to see and learn every time they come back, and adds respectability that critics often lament is missing from nat hist museums. 

Thomas Yazbeck

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/DinosaurMailingGroup/52caad13-8fc3-4e56-9e28-f22ace5decb8n%40googlegroups.com.

[Ronald ORENSTEIN]

Arrgghh!  I did my doctorate at UMMZ.  Is the old museum building no longer in use?  Where are the research collections?

Ronald Orenstein 1825 Shady Creek Court Mississauga, ON L5L 3W2 Canada ronorenstein.blogspot.com

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/DinosaurMailingGroup/CAPySu-V%3DP-a649xBgsEUAwtQq6jYFYWNUPSVVxqv%3DkY_NKcD0g%40mail.gmail.com.

[Mike Taylor]

I am very much in agreement with Thomas Yazbeck on what makes a good museum.

I commend this old blog-post by Matt Wedel (nearly twenty years!), in which he expounds on this theme with commendable directness.

http://drvector.blogspot.com/2007/09/i-am-not-muse-d.html

-- Mike.

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/DinosaurMailingGroup/CAPySu-V%3DP-a649xBgsEUAwtQq6jYFYWNUPSVVxqv%3DkY_NKcD0g%40mail.gmail.com.

[Tyler Holmes]

Wow, it is really disappointing to hear Michigan State ripped out all their old murals. When I was wrapping up my undergraduate degree I'd stop by the museum few times a week after my classes were done. Never saw anyone else in there, I don't think most students even knew it existed.

The murals weren't amazing, but they did have a certain charm. I remember they had a sign acknowledging that the murals didn't match our modern understanding, but they were done by someone at the university and were a part of the "history" of the museum. I visited the University of Michigan museum this summer. It was slick and had some cool stuff on display, but it felt a bit hollow. Lots of open space. I have to drive to Ann Arbor every few months, but I don't see myself visiting again.

Tyler Holmes 

[mkir...@gmail.com]

Evidently most of the endowment consists of donor-restricted funds and cannot be used for the museum in general.

[Thomas Yazbek]

Not sure where the collections are but the original museum building (the Ruthven) has IIRC been repurposed for some boring function, probably gutted of many elements from the old museum. I don't live in MI anymore so I have tried to distance myself mentally from these acts of vandalism and academic hubris. If you'd like to see an unmolested museum, the Detroit Institute of Arts and Detroit Historical Museum have not adulterated some of their best exhibits. For some reason, this sort of abusive renovation gets slathered most on natural history museums and least on art museums (history exhibits might sit somewhere in the middle?)

TY

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/DinosaurMailingGroup/E4E9D827-1E3D-4157-B5EF-C7390639EDD6%40edison.tech.

[Thomas Yazbek]

That's a great article and exactly captures my thoughts. Disappointing that things haven't changed much in 20 years. 

TY

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/DinosaurMailingGroup/CACnMvBYaX%2BDdTYr3cVqMK2Z-nQKumeLXU7U5d%2BYUTXTQREHRfA%40mail.gmail.com.

[Thomas Yazbek]

Yes, there's a real sense of "gypping" going on with these museums which are architecturally spacious and scientifically modern, but light on the actual exhibits. You feel ripped off. I also think that the whole trend of museums letting guests "view paleontologists at work!" is kind of problematic. The new UMich museum features a prep lab that visitors can see into and maybe interact with the workers inside. I am a strong believer in the sanctity of doors, walls, fences, and other opaque barriers; there is something about it that just doesn't sit right. Like they're putting on a performance. it's not something I'm 100% against, but I think in a way, mystery is dignity. 

I'd be unsurprised if the MSU murals have been destroyed. Thankfully, the upper floor of the museum (the habitat dioramas, elephant skeletons, dinosaur casts incl. Allosaurus and Stegosaurus) has remained mostly unmolested. 

Thomas

--

You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Dinosaur Mailing Group" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to DinosaurMailingG...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/DinosaurMailingGroup/CAP7CPGZ5hO%2BX5n9ybUddM0qdKE%3DWgPtKBv61Vd4rPue3tBymiQ%40mail.gmail.com.

[Jeremy S]

Thomas et al.,

I certainly agree with your overall points and also concede that being a public exhibit can be unnerving and make one feel like an exhibit animal in a terrarium. But I'll just throw in that the other side of the coin is that, especially with public institutions (including those that are university-based), efforts to include visitors in the back-of-house aspects of museum work wherever it's appropriate and doesn't compromise the safety of specimens or work being performed is something to applaud. I see an increasing effort to keep faith with constituents, which in most cases is taxpayers, and showing them what's happening behind the scenes is a worthy effort in many respects. 

But more on topic, the loss of the ANS and the current state of natural history interpretation is nothing short of tragic.

Jeremy

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/DinosaurMailingGroup/CAPySu-U0%3D%3DtyTPneejdRH1Am42GNxqT-JmZu1N8gbVBbe%2Bjb_g%40mail.gmail.com.

--

Jeremy B. Stout
"At present, I am a sojourner in civilised life again."
     -Thoreau, Walden