San Diego Natural History Museum facts for kids
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| Established | 1874 |
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| Location | 1788 El Prado, Balboa Park San Diego, CA 92101 United States |
| Type | Natural history museum |
| Public transit access | Buses: MTS Local#7, MTS Rapid#215, Trolley: City College Stop, transfer to #7 |
The San Diego Natural History Museum is a cool place to explore nature and science! It's located in Balboa Park in San Diego, California. This museum started way back in 1874. It's the second oldest science place west of the Mississippi River and the oldest in Southern California.
The museum moved into its current building on January 14, 1933. Later, in April 2001, a big new section was added. This addition made the museum's exhibit space twice as big!
How the Museum Started
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The San Diego Natural History Museum grew from a group called the San Diego Society of Natural History. This group was founded on October 9, 1874. Some of the people who started it were George W. Barnes and Daniel Cleveland.
It's the oldest science organization in southern California. It's also the second oldest west of the Mississippi River!
In its early years, the Society was the main place for science in the area. People wanted to learn about the plants and animals around them. Early members helped create Torrey Pines State Reserve in 1885. They also helped create Anza Borrego Desert State Park. They even supported the San Diego Zoo!
In 1887, the Society received some land from E. W. Morse. Later, the Hotel Cecil was built on part of this land. In 1912, the Society started meeting there.
In 1910, the Society hired Kate Stephens. She was an expert on snails and shells. She became the curator for the museum's collections. Her husband, Frank Stephens, was an expert on mammals and birds. He gave over 2,000 bird and mammal specimens to the Society. In 1912, Kate and Frank Stephens set up the first museum exhibits at the Hotel Cecil. People could visit them on certain afternoons.
The museum's exhibits were only at the Sixth Avenue property for a short time, from about 1912 to 1917. The Society sold the property in 1987. The money from the sale helped the museum's future.
Moving to Balboa Park
After the 1915 Panama-California Exposition in Balboa Park, people wanted to use the buildings again. In 1916, a museum supporter suggested that the museum could use city-owned buildings if exhibits were free to the public.
The museum eventually used three different buildings from the Exposition. None of them were perfect for a museum. In 1917, the Society bought the Nevada State Building for $500. They moved their growing collections and library there in February 1917. This is how the San Diego Natural History Museum officially began!
Frank Stephens was the museum's first director from 1917 to 1920. The museum's goal was "to educate and help people know and love nature." They used their collections to create learning programs for schools.
Many Exposition buildings were meant to be temporary. The Nevada building wasn't built to last. So, the museum moved to the 1915 Foreign Arts Building in 1920. When that building became too small, they expanded into the 1916 Canadian Building. This new space opened to the public on December 9, 1922.
A Permanent Home in Balboa Park
From 1922 until 1946, Clinton G. Abbott was the museum's director. During his time, the museum finally got a permanent home. Other important naturalists like Guy Fleming and Laurence M. Huey also worked there.
In 1925, a fire nearby made people worry about the museum's buildings. Community leaders realized they needed a permanent, fire-proof, and earthquake-proof museum. Ellen Browning Scripps was a big helper for this new building project.
In 1932, William Templeton Johnson was chosen to design the new museum building. He was a famous architect in San Diego. The museum building has Spanish and Moorish design elements. It has yellow and blue tiles under a row of arches.
The new building was possible thanks to a $125,000 gift from Ellen Browning Scripps. People also donated money. But during the Great Depression, they couldn't raise all the money needed. So, only the first part of the building was built. The north and east walls were left plain for future expansion. The $175,000 Natural History Museum building officially opened on January 14, 1933.
During World War II
On March 8, 1943, the United States Navy took over the Natural History Museum. They used it as a hospital for infectious diseases. They even added an elevator for hospital beds, which is still used today!
The Navy using the building during World War II caused some damage to the collections and the building. The main library was moved to San Diego State College. Other valuable exhibits were quickly packed and moved to 32 different places. Exhibits that were too big were put into the north wing. The museum director and a small staff only had limited access to the basement.
The museum staff could finally move back in on July 1, 1949. They started big renovations. The museum decided to focus its collections on the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The museum kept growing after the war, even with money problems sometimes. In 1974, the American Alliance of Museums officially recognized the museum.
Modern Expansion in 2001
In 1991, Michael Hager became the museum's President and CEO. He helped the museum focus its collections on southern and Baja California. This led to the creation of the Biodiversity Research Center of Southern California. It also led to a big project to expand the museum.
In April 2001, new construction more than doubled the size of the 1933 building! It grew from about 65,000 square feet to 150,000 square feet. The entrance got a new, modern look with a glassed-in main hall. This expansion also created new spaces for the museum's research, education, and offices.
In December 2009, the museum received a special award called Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Certification. This means the museum is very good at being energy efficient and environmentally friendly. It's one of the oldest private museums to get this award!
Cool Exhibitions and Programs
With the new wing, the museum created areas for permanent exhibits. They also added five new exhibit halls. There's even a cool Charmaine and Maurice Kaplan Theater with a giant 56-foot screen and 3D projector!
Some older exhibits, like the popular Old Mine mineralogy gallery, were removed to make space. That gallery used to show minerals, gemstones, and glowing rocks.
Current Exhibitions to Explore
- Fossil Mysteries: This interactive exhibit takes you on a journey through 75 million years of southern California's past. You'll see lots of fossils, models, and displays. It shows how life has changed, how animals went extinct, and how Earth processes work. You can learn about dinosaurs and the Ice Ages!
- Coast to Cactus in Southern California: This exhibit, opened in 2015, shows off all the amazing plants and animals in our region. It's a permanent exhibit and won an award for being excellent!
- Extraordinary Ideas From Ordinary People: A History of Citizen Science: In 2016, the museum created this new exhibit in its Research Library. It shows how everyday people have helped with scientific discoveries throughout history. This exhibit also won an award!
- Unshelved – Cool Stuff from Storage: In 2017, the museum opened this exhibit. It gives you a "behind-the-scenes" look at the amazing things stored in the museum's collections. You can see carefully preserved items from birds, mammals, plants, insects, reptiles, marine animals, minerals, and fossils. It's like peeking into the museum's secret treasures!
Other Awesome Exhibitions
In 2003, the museum showed off paintings from its collection in an exhibit called Plant Portraits: The California Legacy of A.R. Valentien. It featured 80 beautiful watercolor paintings of California plants by Albert R. Valentien. This show won an award and traveled to other museums until 2009.
In 2007–2008, a collection of the famous Dead Sea Scrolls was on display. Ten of them had never been seen by the public before! Nearly 400,000 people visited this exhibit, which was a record for the museum.
Science and Research
The museum is a major center for studying biodiversity in the region. Scientists here do field research on many different topics. They collect important information about plants and animals. This information helps protect the environment and plan how land is used.
Biodiversity Research Center of the Californias
The museum's research group, the Biodiversity Research Center of the Californias (BRCC), goes on expeditions and does field research. They explore Southern California and the Baja California peninsula in Mexico. Scientists from different fields work together. These expeditions help grow the museum's collections. They also help with conservation, managing natural resources, and teaching about the environment.
The BRCC was started in 2002. It focuses on studying the biology, biodiversity, and geology of the region. For example, from 2013 to 2016, they studied the Sierra Cacachilas. This led to the discovery of a new species of spider! They also studied Isla Guadalupe and the San Jacinto Mountains.
Research Departments
Scientists at the museum work in different departments. These include Birds and Mammals, Botany (plants), Entomology (insects), Herpetology (reptiles and amphibians), and Paleontology (fossils). The Marine Invertebrates and Mineralogy departments also have important collections that scientists use.
Birds and Mammals
This department started with the collection of Frank Stephens in 1910. Now, it has specimens from 90% of the world's bird families and 58% of its mammal families! The museum also stores specimens from the San Diego Zoo. The department's research has led to two big guides: The San Diego County Bird Atlas (2004) and The San Diego County Mammal Atlas (2017).
Botany (Plants)
The Botany Department collects plants in San Diego County and Baja California. Its herbarium (plant collection) has 250,000 specimens! Most are vascular plants, but there are also many marine algae. The collection is especially rich in Crassulaceae (like succulents) and Cacti. The department provides online access to its plant records.
Entomology (Insects)
The Entomology Department has over 900,000 insect specimens! It's especially strong in beetles and Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths). They also have important collections of flies, wasps, and lacewings. The collections are used by local government departments and environmental consultants.
Herpetology (Reptiles and Amphibians)
The Herpetology Department has over 76,000 specimens. This includes one of the largest rattlesnake collections in the world! It has species from around the world, but especially from the southwest United States and northwest Mexico. The department also helps with the Amphibian and Reptile Atlas of Peninsular California. This project uses both museum data and observations from citizen scientists.
Marine Invertebrates
The Marine Invertebrates Department has about 5 million specimens! It focuses on mollusks (like snails and clams) and crustaceans (like crabs) from southern California, Baja California, and the eastern Pacific Ocean.
Mineralogy
The Mineralogy Department has 26,000 specimens of minerals, meteorites, and precious gems. It has a large collection from southern California and also minerals from all over the world.
Paleontology (Fossils)
The Paleontology Department has fossils of vertebrates (animals with backbones), invertebrates (animals without backbones), and plants. These fossils are mostly from southern California and northern Baja California, Mexico. The PaleoServices unit helps collect and care for fossils found during construction projects. They also help assess fossil resources.
Research Library
The museum's library has a complete natural history reference collection. It also has rare books and a map collection. The library's art collection includes beautiful botanical watercolors by A. R. Valentien and wildlife paintings. The library's archives have many historical photos and important field notes from naturalists like Laurence Klauber and Frank Stephens. The library director helps create the permanent exhibit Extraordinary Ideas from Ordinary People: A History of Citizen Science.
San Diego Zooarchaeology Laboratory
The San Diego Zooarchaeology Laboratory (SDZL) identifies animal bones found at archaeological sites. They use the museum's collections to help with this. The lab was founded in 2010. It has over 46,000 bird specimens and 22,650 mammal specimens! They have skeletons from 90% of bird families worldwide. They also have over 1,000 complete mammal skeletons. The lab helps scientists understand how animals were used in ancient times. They also train students and volunteers.
Publications
The museum has been publishing scientific papers since 1905! These papers show the long history of the San Diego Society of Natural History as a leader in research. All of the museum's scientific publications are available online. They publish journals like Proceedings of the San Diego Society of Natural History. They also publish longer books called Memoirs and shorter works called Occasional Papers. The museum also has online projects like the Amphibian and Reptile Atlas of Peninsular California. Recent publications include the Bird Atlas of San Diego County (2004) and the Mammal Atlas of San Diego County (2017).
See also
In Spanish: Museo de Historia Natural de San Diego para niños
