Field Museum of Natural History

The Field Museum is an educational institution concerned with the diversity and relationships in nature and among cultures. It provides collection-based research and learning for understanding and appreciation of our world. Combining Anthropology, Botany, Geology, Paleontology and Zoology, the Museum uses an interdisciplinary approach to increasing knowledge about the past, present and future of the earth, its biota, people, and their cultures. The Museum holds encyclopedic collections of biological and geological specimens and cultural objects as the data needed to understand the nature of - and conditions affecting - environmental and cultural change. Supporting these collections are significant collections of books, periodicals, photographs, illustrations, computer data, archival and instructional material. Like a great research library, our collections of more than 22 million items are a crucial part of the world's knowledge database for the sciences, humanities and the arts. The Museum holds the collections in trust for future generations.