National Museum of Natural History

Director: Kirk Johnson
Total full-time employees: 427
Annual budget (federal and trust) FY 2018: $133.4 million
Approximate number of artifacts/specimens: 146 million
Total museum size: 1.32 million square feet
Public space size: 325,000 square feet
Visits (2018): 5 million
Website: naturalhistory.si.edu  

Background

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History connects people everywhere to Earth’s unfolding story. Its researchers, scientific collections, free exhibitions, and educational programs address fundamental questions, spark curiosity, and illuminate the beauty and wonder of the planet. The formal title for Kirk Johnson is Sant Director, in recognition of an endowed gift from the philanthropists, Roger and Vicki Sant.

Research and Staff

The scientific research staff is organized into seven departments: anthropology, botany, entomology, mineral sciences, invertebrate zoology, paleobiology and vertebrate zoology. Museum programs address current topics, such as biological diversity, global climate change, molecular systematics for enhancing the understanding of the relationship between living things, ecosystem modeling and the documentation and preservation of human cultural heritages.

In 2018, the museum’s scientific staff authored 812 scholarly publications and contributed to the discovery and description of 52 new genera and 309 new species.

Collections

The museum holds more than 146 million objects and specimens, making it the largest natural history collection in the world. Approximately half of the collection is maintained at the Smithsonian’s Museum Support Center in Suitland, Md., which provides state-of-the-art conditions for storage and conservation of collections as well as a library and advanced research facilities.

Permanent Exhibitions

• The Janet Annenberg Hooker Hall of Geology, Gems and Minerals showcases the Hope Diamond and other treasures from the National Gem Collection. It also encompasses re-created mines and galleries that present important research in mineral chemistry and physics; plate tectonics, seismology and the study of volcanoes; and planetary science.
• The David H. Koch Hall of Human Origins explores the epic story of how the human species evolved over 6 million years, adapting and surviving during an era of dramatic climate change. It features more than 285 early-human fossils and artifacts, lifelike full-size reconstructions of several hominid species and 23 interactive experiences, including a morphing station where visitors can see what they would look like as early humans.
• The Sant Ocean Hall demonstrates how the ocean is intrinsically connected to other global systems and the daily lives of people around the world. Features include male and female giant squids and an exact replica of a living North Atlantic right whale
• Butterflies + Plants: Partners in Evolution combines a traditional exhibition with experiential learning provided by the Butterfly Pavilion. It gives visitors a rare, up-close look at living butterfly and plant specimens that demonstrate how they have evolved and diversified together for millions of years.
• Eternal Life in Ancient Egypt showcases more mummies than have been on display at any time in the museum’s history. The exhibition combines rare artifacts and cutting-edge research tools to illuminate how Smithsonian scientists have pieced together the lives of ancient Egyptians through their burial practices and rituals in preparation for their eternal life.
• The Kenneth E. Behring Family Hall of Mammals tells the story of mammal evolution across 225 million years, with more than 274 specimens on permanent display. Designed with families in mind, the hall includes four discovery zones with hands-on activities that help visitors explore an array of mammal adaptations and habitats around the world.
• The dinosaur and fossil hall is closed to the public as it undergoes the largest, most extensive exhibition renovation in the museum’s history. The David H. Koch Hall of Fossils - Deep Time will open June 8, 2019. Dinosaurs are on view at the museum through interim exhibitions and programs: Last American Dinosaurs tells the story of non-avian dinosaurs’ final years in western North America, and the FossiLab features a glass-enclosed lab that allows visitors to watch museum paleontologists and trained volunteers extract fossils from rock and make fossil casts and molds.
• The O. Orkin Insect Zoo offers visitors a variety of exhibits and live insects—as well as daily tarantula feedings—and plenty of hands-on activities.
• The Bone Hall features almost 300 vertebrate skeletons. It highlights the diversity and unity of every major group of vertebrates, supporting ideas of evolution and common ancestry. In the exhibition’s mobile app, Skin and Bones, 13 different skeletons come to life through 3-D augmented reality and tracking. The app shows how the specimens move or look in life or how their skeletons work.
• African Voices examines the diversity, dynamism and global influence of Africa’s peoples and cultures over time in the realms of family, work, community and the natural environment. It includes historical and contemporary objects from the museum’s collection and commissioned sculptures, textiles, and pottery. Video interactives and sound stations provide selections from contemporary interviews, literature, proverbs, prayers, folk tales, songs and oral epics.

Education and Outreach

The museum offers a variety of educational programs for audiences of all ages. Visitors can engage onsite and online with scientists, collections and research that happens in the lab and in the field. 

Interactive educational activities are offered in Q?rius, The Coralyn W. Whitney Science Education Center, the museum’s innovative learning space for teens, educators and families. The space inspires young visitors to explore their world through a scientific lens by directly interacting with scientists and more than 6,000 specimens, including bones, minerals and fossils. Q?rius Jr. is a separate learning environment for children ages 10 and under using a diverse array of museum specimens. Free school programs for K–12 student groups are available on weekday mornings by reservation.

The award-winning Youth Engagement through Science (YES!) summer internship enables high school students to work alongside Smithsonian experts, inside laboratories and out in the field. 

The Smithsonian Science How live-streamed webcasts offer students online access to museum scientists through interactive, television-style programs.

About the Museum

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, located at 10th Street and Constitution Avenue N.W., Washington, D.C., is one of the most visited natural history museums in the world. Opened in 1910, the museum houses the world’s largest collection of natural history specimens and artifacts.  The museum is open daily (closed Dec. 25) from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Admission is free. For more information, visit the museum on its website and Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

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SI-44-2019