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 One of the four Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh | |
  Location of Carnegie Museum in Pennsylvania Show map of Pittsburgh Carnegie Museum of Natural History (Pennsylvania) Show map of Pennsylvania Carnegie Museum of Natural History (the United States) Show map of the United States | |
| Established | 1895 |
|---|---|
| Location | Pittsburgh,Pennsylvania |
| Coordinates | 40°26′37″N79°57′00″W / 40.44361°N 79.95000°W /40.44361; -79.95000 |
| Type | Natural History |
| Visitors | 300,000 |
| Director | Gretchen Baker |
| Public transit access | 54, 58, 61A, 61B, 61C, 61D, 67, 69 |
| Nearest parking | On site and street |
| Website | carnegiemnh |
TheCarnegie Museum of Natural History (abbreviated asCMNH) is anatural history museum in theOakland neighborhood ofPittsburgh,Pennsylvania. It was founded byPittsburgh-basedindustrialistAndrew Carnegie in 1896. Housing some 22 million specimens, the museum features one of the most extensivepaleontological andentomological collections in the world.
The museum consists of 115,000 square feet (10,700 m2) organized into 20 galleries as well as research, library, and office space. It holds some 22 million specimens, of which about 10,000 are on view at any given time and about 1 million are cataloged in online databases. In 2008 it hosted 386,300 admissions and 63,000 school group visits. Museum education staff also actively engage in outreach by traveling to schools all around western Pennsylvania.
The museum gained prominence in 1899 when its scientists unearthed the fossils ofDiplodocus carnegii.[1] Notable dinosaur specimens include one of the world's very few fossils of a juvenileApatosaurus, the world's first specimen of aTyrannosaurus rex,[2] and a recently identified species ofoviraptorosaur namedAnzu wyliei.[3]
Research teams including former Carnegie scientists made critical discoveries such asPuijila darwini,Castorocauda lutrasimilis, andHadrocodium wui.
Other major exhibits includeHillman Hall of Minerals and Gems, Alcoa Foundation Hall of American Indians, Polar World: Wyckoff Hall of Arctic Life, Walton Hall of Ancient Egypt, Benedum Hall of Geology, Dinosaurs in Their Time, andPowdermill Nature Reserve, established by the museum in 1956 to serve as a field station for long-term studies of natural populations.
The museum's active curatorial departments are:Anthropology,Birds,Botany,Herpetology (Amphibians &Reptiles),Invertebrate Paleontology,Invertebrate Zoology,Mammals,Minerals,Mollusks (Malacology), andVertebrate Paleontology. These departments work collaboratively under strategic centers created to re-frame how the museum leverages its research, exhibitions, and public programming to meet the challenges and issues of today. In late 2013, however, the museum's parent organization and interim administration eliminated multiple scientific positions, seriously reducing its capacity to conduct original research.
Carnegie Museum of Natural History publishes scholarly journals and books includingAnnals of Carnegie Museum, which offers peer-reviewed articles in organismal biology, earth sciences, and anthropology;Bulletin of Carnegie Museum of Natural History, offering monographs or collections of related papers from symposia; andSpecial Publications of Carnegie Museum, documenting special topics or areas of research.
