Field Museum of Natural History facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Field Museum of Natural History

The Field Museum's south front
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Established	June 2, 1894; 131 years ago (1894-06-02)
Location	Near South Side, Chicago, United States
Visitors	1,018,000 (2022)
Public transit access	Metra ME South Shore Line at Museum Campus/11th Street Roosevelt Red Orange Green

The Field Museum of Natural History (FMNH), often called The Field Museum, is a huge natural history museum in Chicago, Illinois. It is one of the biggest museums of its kind in the world. The museum is famous for its amazing educational and science programs. It also has a huge collection of specimens and artifacts.

Every year, about 2 million people visit the museum. They come to see permanent exhibits like fossils, displays about different cultures from around the world, and fun interactive programming. These programs often show how important it is to protect nature today. The museum is named after Marshall Field, a rich businessman who gave a lot of money to start it. The museum's first collections came from the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, a big fair where many cool items were shown.

The museum also has special temporary exhibits that travel or are made in-house. Its expert staff takes care of over 24 million specimens and objects. These items are used for the museum's science research. The collections include all kinds of living things, gems, meteorites, fossils, and many anthropological items and cultural artifacts from all over the globe. The museum has a large library with over 275,000 books and journals. These books help the museum's researchers and exhibit creators. The museum's scientists go on field expeditions to study nature and cultures worldwide. They also train students and look after the valuable collections. They work closely with public programs and education efforts.

History of the Field Museum

Daniel Giraud Elliot in 1897

Even before the museum officially opened, it started collecting important items. In 1869, it got a very large collection of birds and bird descriptions from artist and bird expert Daniel Giraud Elliot. Later, in 1894, Elliot became a curator at the museum, working there until 1906.

The idea for the museum came from Edward Ayer. He wanted a place to keep the exhibits and collections from the World's Columbian Exposition for future generations. He convinced Marshall Field, a wealthy merchant, to help pay for it. The museum first opened on September 16, 1893, and was called the Columbian Museum of Chicago. It was created to "gather and share knowledge, and to save and show artifacts about art, archaeology, science, and history." The first museum building was the Palace of Fine Arts, which was the only building left from the World's Columbian Exposition in Jackson Park. Today, that building is home to the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry.

In 1905, the museum's name was changed to the Field Museum of Natural History. This was to honor Marshall Field, its main supporter, and to show that it focused on natural sciences.

Stanley Field, Field Museum President, 1906

Stanley Field became the museum's president in 1906.

From 1943 to 1966, the museum was known as the Chicago Natural History Museum. In 1921, the museum moved from its first spot in Jackson Park to its current location near downtown Chicago. By the late 1930s, the Field Museum was one of the top three museums in the United States. The other two were the American Museum of Natural History in New York City and the National Museum of Natural History at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC.

The museum has continued to grow and improve. It has added more collections and done more scientific research. It also has award-winning exhibits, publications, and programs. The Field Museum is part of Chicago's lakefront Museum Campus. This area also includes the John G. Shedd Aquarium and the Adler Planetarium.

North Hall, circa 1895

Stanley Field Hall in 2020

The Tsavo Maneaters on display in Mammals of Africa exhibit hall

Museum Visitors

In 2022, the Field Museum welcomed 1,018,002 visitors. This made it the 11th most-visited museum in the United States.

Permanent Exhibitions

Animal Halls: Exploring Wildlife

The Animal Halls have exhibits and dioramas like Nature Walk, Mammals of Asia, and Mammals of Africa. These allow visitors to see up close the different places animals live. A famous display features the man-eating lions of Tsavo. The Mfuwe man eating lion is also on display.

Evolving Planet: Life's Journey

Evolving Planet shows how life on Earth has changed over 4 billion years. The exhibit features fossils of tiny single-celled organisms, ancient reptiles, dinosaurs, extinct mammals, and early humans. The museum has a large collection of non-mammalian reptile fossils, including many rare ones.

Species represented in Evolving Planet	Type	Specimen Notes
Cardipeltis	agnathan	fossil skeleton
Drepanaspis	agnathan	fossil skeleton
Tiktaalik	sarcopterygian	fossil skeleton
Acheloma	temnospondyl	fossil skeleton
Bradysaurus	pareiasaur	fossil skeleton
Cacops	dissorophid temnospondyls	fossil skeleton
Captorhinus	captorhinid	fossil skeleton
Casea	pelycosaur synapsids	fossil skeleton
Dicynodont	anomodont therapsids	fossil skeleton
Edaphosaurus	edaphosaurid synapsid	fossil skeleton
Eryops	temnospondyl	fossil skeleton
Jonkeria	dinocephalians	fossil skull
Labidosaurus	anapsid reptile	fossil skeleton
Lycaenops	carnivorous therapsids	fossil skull
Ophiacodon	ophiacodontidae synapsid	fossil skeleton
Seymouria	primitive tetrapod	fossil skeleton
Diasparactus	diadectid reptiliomorph	fossil skeleton
Sphenacodon	synapsid	fossil skeleton
Varanops	varanopid synapsid	fossil skeleton
Anchiceratops	ceratopsid dinosaur	fossil skull
Apatosaurus	sauropod dinosaur	fossil skeleton
Allosaurus	theropod dinosaur	fossil skull
Brachiosaurus	sauropod dinosaur	bronze cast
Buitreraptor	dromaeosaurid theropod dinosaur	fossil skeleton
Cryolophosaurus	theropod dinosaur	fossil skull
Daspletosaurus	theropod dinosaur	fossil skeleton
Deinonychus	dromaeosaurid theropod dinosaur	fossil skeleton
Herrerasaurus	herrerasauridae dinosaur	fossil skeleton
Lambeosaurus	hadrosaurid dinosaur	fossil skeleton
Maiasaura	hadrosaurid dinosaur	fossil skeleton
Majungasaurus	abelisaurid theropod dinosaur	fossil skull
Masiakasaurus	theropod dinosaurs	fossil skull
Parasaurolophus	saurolophine hadrosaurid dinosaurs	fossil skeleton
Protoceratops	ceratopsian dinosaur	fossil skeleton
Rapetosaurus	sauropod dinosaur	fossil skeleton
Stegosaurus	thyreophoran dinosaur	fossil skeleton
Triceratops	ceratopsid dinosaur	fossil skeleton
Tyrannosaurus Rex	coelurosaurian theropod dinosaur	fossil skeleton
Arctodus	short-faced bear	fossil skeleton
Barylambda	pantodont	fossil skeleton
Basilosaurus	prehistoric cetacean	fossil skeleton, pelvis with hind limbs
Coryphodon	pantodont	fossil skeleton
Eobasileus	uintathere	fossil skull
Glyptodon	glyptodont	fossil skeleton
Mastodon	proboscidean	fossil skeleton
Megatherium	giant ground sloth	fossil skeleton
Paramylodon	giant ground sloth	fossil skeleton
Pronothrotherium	ground sloth	fossil skeleton
Rodhocetus	prehistoric cetacean	fossil skeleton, pelvis with hind limb
Smilodon	saber-toothed cat	fossil skeleton
Thylacosmilus	saber-toothed metatherian	fossil skull
Ursus spelaeus	cave bear	fossil skeleton
Woolly Mammoth	proboscidean	fossil skeleton

Inside Ancient Egypt: Life and Afterlife

Inside Ancient Egypt lets you see what life was like for ancient Egyptians. You can see 23 human mummies and many mummified animals. The exhibit has a three-story copy of a mastaba tomb. This tomb belonged to Unas-Ankh, the son of Pharaoh Unas. It even has two real rooms with 5,000-year-old hieroglyphs. You can also explore an ancient marketplace, a shrine to the cat goddess Bastet, and displays showing how ancient Egyptians prepared for the afterlife.

This replica of an Aztec sun stone is displayed in the Ancient Americas exhibit. It depicts the Aztec creation myth.

The Ancient Americas: 13,000 Years of History

The Ancient Americas exhibit shows 13,000 years of human creativity in North and South America. Many different societies lived here long before Europeans arrived. This large exhibit tells the amazing story of how people settled these continents, from the Arctic to the tip of South America. The exhibit has six main parts: Ice Age Hunters, Innovative Hunters and Gatherers, Farming Villagers, Powerful Leaders, Rulers and Citizens, and Empire Builders. Visitors usually start with Ice Age Hunters and end with Empire Builders. This helps them understand how cultures and economies changed over time in the Ancient Americas. The items are displayed to show their cultural meaning.

The six displays use items from the Field Museum's huge North America collection. Important items include pre-Columbian artifacts collected by Mayan experts Edward H. Thompson and John E. S. Thompson. Also, former curator Paul Sidney Martin's collection from the American Southwest is a big part of the "Farming Villagers" display. The Empire Builders display has Aztec and Incan artifacts collected in the 1800s.

The Ancient Americas exhibit connects to the Alsdorf Hall of Northwest Coast and Arctic Peoples. It also leads to the Native Truths: Our Voices, Our Stories exhibit. This shows how all the museum's American collections are linked by theme.

Cultural Halls: Worlds of People

The Cultural Halls have sections on Tibet and China, where you can see traditional clothing. There's also an exhibit about life in Africa, showing many different cultures from that continent. Another exhibit lets visitors "visit" several Pacific Islands. The museum has a real 19th-century Māori Meeting House, Ruatepupuke II, from Tokomaru Bay, New Zealand. The Field Museum's Northwest Coast Collections show the early work of Franz Boas and Frederic Ward Putnam with the Kwakwakaʼwakw (Kwakiutl) people in the Alsdorf Hall. Finally, the Native Truths: Our Voices, Our Stories exhibit shows how the Field Museum now works with Native American people.

Africa: Diverse Cultures

The Africa cultural hall opened in November 1993. It has 14 different displays that focus on people and their cultures. Several African countries are featured, along with different areas like the Sahara desert and the East African rift valley. The last part of the exhibit talks about the African diaspora. It especially focuses on how the slave trade affected the continent. Most of the collection in the Africa exhibit came from Wilfred D. Hambly's work.

Pacific Northwest Totem Poles

Peoples of the Arctic and Pacific Northwest

This large exhibit covers two important culture areas for the Field Museum's early work: the Arctic and the Pacific Northwest. The Pacific Northwest collection is bigger. Both collections are divided into four parts: how people lived, village life and society, the spiritual world, and art. Key displays include many dioramas and a large collection of totem poles. This exhibit started from the Maritime Peoples hall, created by James VanStone, the museum's curator of North American archaeology and ethnology.

Cyrus Tang Hall of China

This statue of the divine protector Wei Tuo is one of many artifacts on display at the Cyrus Tang Hall of China at the Field Museum of Natural History.

The Cyrus Tang Hall of China became a permanent exhibit in 2015. It has five sections: Diverse Landscapes, Ritual and Power, Shifting Power, Beliefs and Practices, and Crossing Boundaries. The first three sections are in order by time, while the last two are about different themes. Three hundred and fifty objects are shown in these five areas. These items are a small part of the Field Museum's large China collection. This collection was gathered by Berthold Laufer, an expert in Chinese studies.

Native Truths: Our Voices, Our Stories

Native Truths: Our Voices, Our Stories opened in 2021 as a permanent exhibit. This exhibit is a big update of the old Native American Hall. Native Truths uses about 400 artifacts to explain Native American culture and history. It also talks about challenges they face today. This exhibit shows a new way of thinking about Native Americans, focusing on the people themselves, not just their artifacts.

This authentic Maori Meeting House is displayed in the Field Museum's Regenstein Halls of the Pacific.

Regenstein Halls of the Pacific

This exhibit is about the nature and culture of the Pacific Islands. It has five different sections: the natural history of the islands, how Pacific Islanders first came to be, a display of canoes, a collection of items from New Guinea's Huon Gulf, and a modern Tahitian market. The last part of the exhibit shows the special arts of the Pacific peoples. Most of the collection was gathered by curator Albert Buell Lewis. The exhibit was designed to show how Pacific Islands connect with the world today, just as Lewis wanted to show cultures as living and active.

Geology Halls: Earth's Treasures

The Grainger Hall of Gems has a large collection of diamonds and gems from all over the world. It also includes a beautiful Louis Comfort Tiffany stained glass window. The Hall of Jades focuses on Chinese jade artifacts that are up to 8,000 years old. The Robert A. Pritzker Center for Meteoritics and Polar Studies has a big collection of fossil meteorites.

Underground Adventure: A Bug's View

The Underground Adventure lets visitors see the world from a bug's point of view. You can see what insects and soil look like when you are their size. You also learn about the many different living things in soil and why healthy soil is important.

Working Laboratories: Science in Action

• DNA Discovery Center – You can watch real scientists take DNA from different living things. You can also talk to a scientist through the glass every day and ask questions about DNA.
• McDonald's Fossil Prep Lab – The public can watch as paleontologists get real fossils ready for study.
• The Regenstein Pacific Conservation Laboratory – This is a large facility where conservators work to protect and study human-made items from all over the world.

Sue, the Tyrannosaurus rex

Sue, the largest and most complete (90%) Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton yet discovered

On May 17, 2000, the Field Museum showed off Sue. At the time, Sue was the biggest T. rex skeleton ever found. Sue is about 40.5 feet (12.3 m) long and stands 13 feet (4.0 m) tall at the hips. Scientists think Sue weighed between 8.4–14 metric tons (9.26–15.4 short tons) in 2018. The fossil is estimated to be 67 million years old. The dinosaur was named after Sue Hendrickson, who discovered it. People often call Sue "she," but we don't actually know if the dinosaur was male or female. The real skull is not on the body because it's hard to see it so high up, and for looks. The bones show that Sue died at age 28. This was the oldest T. rex fossil found until Trix was discovered in 2013. In December 2018, Sue's skeleton was moved to a new spot in The Griffin Halls of Evolving Planet. The skeleton was also updated to show new ideas about how Sue looked.

Scientific Collections: A World of Research

The Field Museum's collections of specimens and artifacts are very important for scientists around the world. They help with research on environmental changes, public health, and understanding different species. Many of the Field Museum's collections are among the top ten in the world. For example, its bird skin collection is the fourth largest globally. Its mollusk collection is one of the five biggest in North America, and its fish collection is also one of the largest in the world.

The museum's scientific collections started with items gathered for the World Columbian Exposition between 1891 and 1893. From the very beginning, the Field Museum had a large collection of human-made artifacts.

Many early natural history specimens were bought from Ward's Natural History Establishment. The museum also started many expeditions to collect new specimens from all over the world. In its first 50 years, the Field Museum sent out over 440 expeditions.

Other items were added by buying them, like H. N. Patterson's plant collection in 1900, and the Strecker butterfly collection in 1908.

Many specimens and artifacts were also given to the museum by collectors and donors. For example, the Boone collection has over 3,500 East Asian artifacts, including books, prints, and other objects. The museum also takes in "orphaned collections" from other places, like universities that no longer focus on collections-based research. For instance, starting in 1907, the Field Museum took in many botanical collections from universities like the University of Chicago and Northwestern University. These specimens are cared for and are always available for researchers worldwide. The museum's plant collection is known by the code F when scientists refer to its specimens. The museum's staff also collects new, high-quality specimens and artifacts for their research programs. For example, Dr. Robert Inger collected frogs from Borneo for his research on the animals of Indonesia.

Today, collecting specimens and getting artifacts follows clear rules. The goal is to only get materials that have a known origin. All biological specimens are collected with proper permits. Often, specimens are returned to their home country after being studied. The Field Museum is a leader in setting these ethical standards. It was one of the first museums to voluntarily return cultural and archaeological artifacts to their original communities.

Collection Care and Management

Field Museum collections are carefully managed by experts who know how to prepare and preserve items. Many tools and methods for caring for collections were developed at the Field Museum. For example, Carl Akeley created excellent taxidermy techniques. These made mammal and bird specimens look very natural for exhibits and study. Museum curators also developed ways to care for collections. Conservators at the Field Museum have helped improve how artifacts are preserved. This includes using pheromone traps to control webbing clothes moths.

The Field Museum was one of the first to use special systems to control humidity in display cases. This helps protect items in galleries where it's hard to control the whole room's humidity. The museum also uses low-energy ways to keep humidity low for ancient metal objects. Other important contributions include methods for coloring Japanese papers to match repairs in old objects. They also found ways to remove old display mounts from historic items. They test collections for old heavy metal pesticides and check for early plastics in collections. They also study the effect of sulfur products in display cases and use light tubes in displays.

As research grows, new types of collections are added, like frozen tissue collections. These need new ways of collecting and preserving.

Collection Records: Keeping Track

Night view of the north front exterior of the museum

Managing collections means keeping very careful records. In the past, handwritten books were used to record specimen and artifact data. The Field Museum was one of the first to use computers for collection data, starting in the late 1970s. The museum shares its digital collection data with many online groups and platforms. These include HerpNet, VertNet, Antweb, and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBif). All Field Museum collection databases are now kept in the KE EMu software system. Digital specimen data and location data are very valuable for research. They help scientists study how things like climate change affect where species live.

Collection Use: Learning and Discovery

During the World's Columbian Exposition, all collected items were on display. The fair was all about showing these materials. For example, when the Columbian Museum of Chicago first opened, the mollusk collection filled an entire hall. It showed 3,000 types of mollusks. By 1910, 20,000 shell specimens were on display, with another 15,000 stored away.

Only a small part of the specimens and artifacts are shown to the public. Most of them are used by many different people inside the museum and around the world. Field Museum scientists, their students, and researchers use the collections for their studies. They also use them for training programs for high school and college students. Researchers from anywhere in the world can search online for specific specimens. They can ask to borrow them, and the museum regularly ships them out following clear rules. This makes sure the specimens stay in good condition. For example, in 2012, the museum's Zoology collection sent out over 42,000 specimens to researchers.

These collection specimens are a key part of research. Each specimen can be looked at again, and with new scientific methods, new information can be found from items collected over 150 years ago.

Library: A Resource for Knowledge

The Field Museum's library was started in 1893 for the museum's scientists, visiting researchers, students, and the public. It helps with research, creating exhibits, and educational programs. The main research collection has 275,000 books. These books focus on how living things are classified, how environments and life evolve, human cultures, plants, geology, archaeology, and museum studies. The Field Museum Library includes these special collections:

Ayer Collection: Birds and Beyond

This private collection belonged to Edward E. Ayer, the museum's first president. It has almost all the important books about the history of ornithology (the study of birds). It is especially rich in books with colorful illustrations.

Laufer Collection: Asian Studies

This collection belonged to Dr. Berthold Laufer, who was America's first expert in Chinese studies and the Curator of Anthropology until he died in 1934. It has about 7,000 books in Chinese, Japanese, Tibetan, and other languages. These books cover anthropology, archaeology, religion, science, and travel.

Photo Archives: A Visual History

The photo archives have over 250,000 images. These pictures cover anthropology, botany, geology, and zoology. They also show the museum's history, buildings, exhibits, staff, and science trips. In 2008, two collections from the Photo Archives became available online through the Illinois Digital Archives (IDA). These were the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 and Urban Landscapes of Illinois. In April 2009, the Photo Archives joined Flickr Commons.

Karl P. Schmidt Memorial Herpetological Library

The Karl P. Schmidt Memorial Herpetological Library is named after Karl Patterson Schmidt. It is a research library with over 2,000 books about herpetology (the study of reptiles and amphibians). It also has many reprinted articles.

John James Audubon's Birds of North America

The Field Museum has a very special copy of Audubon's The Birds of America. It is one of only two known copies arranged by type of bird. It also has all 13 special plates that combine different birds. The museum's copy belonged to Audubon's family doctor, Dr. Benjamin Phillips.

Education and Research: Learning for All Ages

The Field Museum offers many ways for people to learn, both casually and in more structured ways. Exhibits are the main way people learn informally. But throughout its history, the museum has added new educational programs. For example, the Harris Loan Program started in 1912. It sends artifacts, specimens, videos, and activity kits to schools in the Chicago area. The Department of Education, started in 1922, offers classes, talks, field trips, museum sleepovers, and special events for families, adults, and children. The Field Museum also helps produce the YouTube channel The Brain Scoop. They hired its host, Emily Graslie, full-time as their 'Chief Curiosity Correspondent'.

The museum's scientists and curators work in departments like Anthropology, Botany, Geology, and Zoology. They do basic research on how living things are classified and how humans have developed. They also manage the collections and help with educational programs. The museum has strong connections with the University of Chicago and the University of Illinois at Chicago. They often teach together, share students, and hold seminars. Professional meetings and talks, like the yearly A. Watson Armour III Spring Symposium, share scientific findings with scientists worldwide and the general public.

Academic Publications

The museum publishes four peer-reviewed monograph series called Fieldiana. These books focus on anthropology, botany, geology, and zoology.

See also

In Spanish: Museo Field de Historia Natural para niños

• Captain Marshall Field Expeditions
• List of most-visited museums in the United States
• List of museums and cultural institutions in Chicago