Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, Natural science museum on Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia, United States
The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University is a natural history museum along Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia focused on paleontology and living organisms. The building comprises multiple floors with exhibition rooms for taxidermied animals, geological collections, and a tropical butterfly house.
Scientists founded the institution in 1812 as an independent research society, long before other comparable institutions emerged in North America. Drexel University assumed management in 2011, enabling extensive modernization of laboratories and collections.
The institution runs active research programs where families and school groups can observe living insects and fossils up close. Interactive rooms allow visitors to participate in scientific methods themselves, examining specimens under microscopes.
Visitors should plan at least two hours to see the main exhibitions, with weekdays often less crowded than weekends. The entrance is located on 19th Street, and a coat check area is available for coats and larger bags.
The archives hold over 17 million biological and geological objects, including specimens brought back from 19th-century expeditions. Some drawers contain tiny birds and eggshells that naturalists collected more than 150 years ago.
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