The oldest natural history museum in the Americas will be closing this month, just shy of its 200th birthday. The Academy of Natural Sciences at Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was founded as an institution in 1812, and opened its museum doors in 1828. While the Academy will continue on its scientific mission, its museum is no longer sustainable to operate.
“We did not reach the decision to close the Academy’s museum lightly or in haste,” reads a prepared statement from Drexel President Antonio Merlo and Academy Chair Suzanna Biemiller. “In the years that followed the COVID-19 pandemic, the Academy worked actively to rebuild attendance and engagement—investing in new galleries and exhibitions and creating new programming and ways of reaching audiences. Those efforts produced important successes. But patterns of visitation and audience behavior changed in lasting ways, while the costs of operating the museum continued to rise. Over time, it became clear that these were not temporary pressures, but fundamental changes in the economics of the Academy’s operational model, costs that have imperiled the Academy’s ability to discharge its overall mission and preserve its legacy.”
Science advocates around the city have planned to protest the museum’s closure, and city councilmember Nina Ahmad has called for government intervention in a post on social media. But barring a last-minute reprieve, the museum will close its doors for good at the end of this month. The museum is open Friday-Sunday, meaning its last day open to the public will be Sunday, Sept. 27. But beyond that date, the Academy’s collection of some 19 million specimens, fossils, archived documents, and other resources, won’t be going anywhere.
“The stewardship of the Academy’s collections and their use to advance scientific knowledge will be the focus of our work for the near future,” the statement continues. “These collections—more than 19 million biological specimens, fossils, archives, and other scientific resources—constitute an irreplaceable scientific and cultural resource that supports research, education and environmental preservation efforts around the world.”
For more information, visit ansp.org.
Main Image: Academy of Natural Sciences; Credit: Ramon Torres/ANS
