Museum Mania in Philly

by Michele Cheplic | More from this Blogger

27 Oct 2007 02:50 PM

Philadelphia is home to a host of America's most historic relics. It also boasts the nation's oldest natural history museum. It's not exactly as old as the dinosaurs that stand tall within its walls, but the Academy of Natural Sciences is getting ready to celebrate a big birthday.

The major milestone---birthday number 200---won't get underway for another four years, but the institution is already planning for a multi-million dollar extravaganza, complete with new exhibits and additional family-friendly attractions.

Museum directors are not revealing all the details of their master plan, but did release bits of information, including the news that the museum plans to make its iconic dinosaurs and wildlife dioramas more interactive and informative with high-tech gadgets such as smart phones. Also, in the coming years visitors will be able to view showcase selections from its unrivaled collection of bird specimens fossils and mollusks, which have never been publicly displayed.

Guests can also expect to see more of the museum's historic collection of exotic metals and crystals. William S. Vaux donated the original pieces to the museum more than 125 years ago, when the area was considered the cradle of mineralogy. In the months leading up to the museum's big birthday bash curators plan to bring the massive collection of more than 7,300 minerals into public view for the first time in more than 100 years.

In addition, museum guests will have the rare opportunity to learn more about the 2006 discovery made by Academy of Natural Sciences paleontologist Ted Daeschler and his colleagues. The group made headlines around the world with the discovery of a fossil called an evolutionary missing link from fish to land animals.

The academy also plans to turn the spotlight on its history. According to current museum staff, the facility was founded in 1812 by a group of philosophers with the "progressive idea of presenting a secular and scholarly view of the world." Intellectual jargon aside; most visitors know the museum as the place to go for an unprecedented opportunity to get up close and personal with towering dinosaur skeletons. The museum also attracts hundreds of school groups each year that get a behind the scenes look at existing research projects and a collection of 17 million fossil, plant and animal specimens including Thomas Jefferson's fossils and plants collected by Lewis and Clark.

What's your favorite part of the museum?

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Learn more about Michele Cheplic

Michele Cheplic was born and raised in Hilo, Hawaii, but now lives in Wisconsin. Michele graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a degree in Journalism.

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