The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University

The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University is the oldest natural history museum in North America. Founded in 1812, the museum is known for both its collections of natural specimens and its active research faculty. It has been affiliated with Drexel University since 2011. The Academy’s collections contain more than 18 million specimens and archival materials, many of which predate the institution’s founding and reflect the work of famous naturalists and scientists, including Thomas Jefferson, John James Audubon, Meriwether Lewis, and William Clark. Permanent exhibitions feature dinosaur skeletons, life-size animal dioramas, and a live butterfly garden. In 2020, the Academy received a Center Project grant for Watershed Moment, an immersive new media exhibition that animates the research of six scientists and highlight the scientific, historical, and social contexts of water in the Philadelphia area.