Was It Something I Did?

Hat Hair's Beege Welborn is incensed Drexel University Closes Philadelphia's 200 Yr Old Academy of Natural Sciences

A beloved Philadelphia museum is now closed for good, after nearly 200 years of educating children and families. The Academy of Natural Sciences on the Ben Franklin Parkway was open to the public one final day on Sunday.  Drexel University announced the surprise closure last month, citing declining attendance and the university's financial struggles.

City Council plans to hold a special hearing next month to hear from museum leadership about the struggles leading to the closure.

The museum was founded in 1812 and opened to the public in 1828.

This is unconscionable. No notice to fundraise and save any of the treasures, like Lewis and Clark's samples, which were sent back from the expedition. It's not just dinosaurs.

The Academy of Natural Sciences will close its Parkway museum at the end of the month, ending a nearly 200-year run as a destination for generations of visitors.

The museum, founded in 1812 and opened to the public in 1828, has long been a fixture for families, students and educators.

News of the closure left many visitors disappointed as they reflected on memories made inside the institution's galleries and exhibits.  "I think it's a loss to Philadelphia," said Marcia Halbert of Germantown. Halbert, 97, said she visited the museum with her children and brought students there during her career as a teacher.

This is as underhanded as can be. And tragic.

I used to work for the Academy. I started at the Academy's Benedict Estuarine Research Laboratory (in Benedict MD) in 1985 as a post-doc, and stayed there until 2004, when the Academy sold/gave the laboratory to Morgan State University because we ran a chronic $20 k budget deficit in a multimillion dollar, multi-investigator program. So naturally, my view on this is a bit more nuanced. An institution is going to do what it's got to do.

Money, as always, was the issue that drove conflict. The public face of the institution, the museum which is now being closed, had a fairly large endowment and the curators in the museum mostly received money for the endowment, and from proceeds from the museum. The research arm, of which I was a part, was largely self-funded through grants and contracts. Both sides resented the other. 

This article doesn't mention it, but the research arm is still continuing under Drexel. I assume the collections, some of which would be worth real money, will be kept by Drexel, although I suppose some might be sold off to raise money. Like the Audubon Elephant Folio, kept on display under glass in the Academy library. I assume the bulk of the collections will largely go to cheaper off-site facilities, like the ones the Smithsonian keeps in Suitland, MD. 

There was an apocryphal rumor among Academy employees that back in the glory days of the 19th century, rich Philadelphians used to visit Africa on safari, and send back stuffed animals, and other things for the collection. One was reported to be a pygmy bearer who died on safari, stuffed into a barrel of alcohol, and shipped back to the Academy. I want to know who gets custody of the pygmy.