The People and Places in Collections
A natural history collection is more than just the specimens it contains.
Regional natural history collections, like the Chicago Academy of Sciences' collections, focus on a geographic area. These collections often provide details about the people historically involved in studying the environment. Learn how our knowledge of our institution's naturalists, as well as their snapshots of the United States in the early 1900s, are just as important as the plants and animals they preserved.
On the Blog
A Closer Look
The Academy’s botany collection contains specimens from the early 1800s, back when the state was largely prairies and forests. Click here to learn more about how the state has changed drastically in 200 years, and how the specimens collected from that time give us a glimpse of the past.
Keep Learning
Get a behind-the-scenes look at how the team cares for the items in all of our collections.