Learning about life on Earth at the Wagner Museum

In the next installment of our series 'Why didn’t I go there?' co-host Shai ben-Yaacov and his son take a virtual tour the Wagner Free Institute of Science in Philly.

Air Date: May 4, 2020

Display cases inside the Wagner Free Institute of Science (David Graham/The Wagner Free Institute of Science)
A woodcut of the Wagner Free Institute of Science, circa 1865 (The Wagner Free Institute of Science)
A draft horse skeleton (Rob Cardillo/The Wagner Free Institute of Science)
A case displaying human and primate skeletons (Tom Crane/The Wagner Free Institute of Science)
A Victorian collection of insects with handwritten labels (David Graham/The Wagner Free Institute of Science)
Bird skeletons and specimens (David Graham/The Wagner Free Institute of Science)
A sawfish specimen (The Wagner Free Institute of Science)
Skeleton of an aye-aye lemur (John Woodin/The Wagner Free Institute of Science)

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In the next installment of our series Why didn’t I go there?, The Why co-host Shai ben-Yaacov and his 9-year-old son take a virtual tour the Wagner Free Institute of Science. Hear the story behind its large collection of ancient fossils and extinct and endangered animals that show the evolution of life on Earth. And get to know the “gentleman scientist” from Philadelphia who founded the museum, and whose love of collecting rocks, shells and other specimens started during another disease quarantine in the early 1800s.

If you could explore a spot in the region right now, where would you go? Send us a voice memo at TheWhy@WHYY.org.

Guest: Susan Glassman, executive director, Wagner Museum

In case you missed it, you can check out the first episode in the series here — a trip inside The Rosenbach, Philly’s archive of rare books and manuscripts.

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