Arachnids in the Academy
Exploring Arachnids in the Chicago Academy of Sciences Collection
- Time of Year
- February 1, 2025 – May 4, 2025
- Location
- Level 2
Natural history collections help inform our understanding of the natural world. Each specimen is a physical representation that documents the unique species and habitats of Illinois and the Midwest, as well as human interactions with nature. Explore our collections through interactive installments while you get a closer look at some preserved specimens. Plus, learn more about some of the people who have contributed to our collections over the years.
Access to this exhibit is included with Museum admission.
Featured Collectors
Donald C. Lowrie
Donald C. Lowrie’s contributions to the Chicago Academy of Sciences were vast. During the 1930s and 1940s, he gave public lectures, published his field research, and collected the bulk of the Academy’s historic arachnid specimens. His work with the Academy stretched across the United States, from the Indiana Dunes to the Great Smoky Mountains to the arid southwest landscape of Arizona. See some of the specimens collected by Lowrie in person, and click here to learn more about our collections.
TEENS
Nature Museum TEENS is a paid internship program that engages approximately 60 Chicago high school students per year. A program of the Academy’s Biology Department, participants conduct field and lab investigations focused on urban ecology, contribute data to community science projects, add specimens to the Academy’s collections, and participate in local habitat restoration projects. Over 50 of the spider specimens currently on display were collected as part of various teen-created research projects carried out over the past 11 years. Click here to learn more about TEENS!
A Closer Look
In addition to preserved specimens, our collections include motion picture films. The film below dates back to 1943 and was digitized through the Council on Library and Information Resources' (CLIR) Recordings at Risk Grant Program 2023-24. It features black-and-white film of two tarantulas interacting on gravelly soil. Click here to explore more of these digitized films.
In 1939, Donald C. Lowrie published a leaflet titled How and Where to Collect Spiders. Our Collections team has digitized it and added it to the Internet Archive. You can flip through it below, or click here to open it in a new tab.