The new Philadelphia bicentennial exhibition which has opened at the nation’s oldest natural history museum features rare and beautiful treasures from the collections, hands-on scientific exploration activities, and the unique opportunity to discover the innovative research going on at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University.

The Academy at 200: The Nature of Discovery is the centerpiece of the Academy’s yearlong Bicentennial. Building on the Academy’s extraordinary collections and two centuries of global exploration, The Academy at 200 celebrates the groundbreaking discoveries of the past and present and provides a glimpse into the future of one of the world’s great natural history museums. The exhibit is free with museum admission.

Upon entering the exhibit, visitors will come face-to-face with an 80-foot-long wall displaying a marvelous sampling of the Academy’s 17 million specimens. It will be a feast for the eyes: colorful, mounted jewel-like insects, stunning minerals from the Seybert Collection from 1812, glittering jars of mysterious creatures, mammal skulls from a range of animals, giant shark teeth, and an enormous clam shell.

A fully mounted skeleton of an Irish elk that lived more than 10,000 years ago cuts a majestic presence with its huge rack of antlers. The Irish elk is an extinct relative of the reindeer and was frequently depicted by prehistoric cave painters. It serves as a stark reminder that many animals that are closely related to those alive today are now as extinct as the dinosaurs.

Five “immersive” rooms take visitors on behind-the-scenes journeys with Academy scientists out in the field and into their labs. Visitors young and old can take part in interactive studies, examine scientists’ tools, and learn more about the Academy’s cutting-edge research in biodiversity and the environment. The rooms also link the Academy’s historic accomplishments with current projects. The room settings evoke:

Illustration Credit: Wolf's Skull ©Rosamond Purcell

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