Philadelphia’s Academy of Natural Sciences museum is closing

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Just shy of its 200th anniversary, the museum of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University in Philadelphia will close Sept. 30.

In a statement announcing the shuttering of the museum known to area parents and children for its dinosaur skeletons, the Academy announced that its other functions, including scientific research and public education, will continue.

“While the museum will close, the Academy remains committed to public engagement and education, and work will continue to identify new and financially sustainable opportunities for the public display of elements from its collections,” read the statement from Drexel University.

The Academy of Natural Sciences was founded in 1812 as the first natural science research center of the Americas. It opened a public museum in 1828.

In 2011, the Academy and its museum merged with Drexel University, in part to secure its financial stability.

In its statement, Drexel said the museum was a casualty of the COVID-19 pandemic, which undercut attendance. The museum never recovered from that reversal despite new programming and marketing.

“Those efforts produced important successes. But patterns of visitation and audience behavior changed in lasting ways,” the statement read. “It became clear that these were not temporary pressures, but fundamental changes in the economics of the Academy’s operational model.”

The Academy has a collection of 73,000 preserved plant and animal specimens and a library of over 75,000 pieces of scientific literature. It currently has on display the exhibition “Botany of Nations,” about the 1806 Lewis and Clark 1806 expedition into the United States’ newly acquired Louisiana Purchase, most of whose findings are archived at the Academy.

By shedding its museum, the Academy looks to better secure its scientific missions.

“Continuing to operate the museum in its current building and form would place increasing pressure on the resources required to safeguard the collections and sustain the research enterprise,” the statement read. “Closing the current Parkway museum is, therefore, a difficult decision taken to concentrate resources on the Academy’s enduring scientific assets and research.”

The Academy’s CEO, Scott Cooper, stepped down effective immediately. While dozens of employees will be impacted, the number of layoffs has not yet been determined. Drexel said in the statement that it is in talks with Gov. Josh Shapiro and Mayor Cherelle Parker about the Academy’s long-term future.