Cambridge - Harvard Museum of Natural History

Now part of the Harvard Museum of Natural History.

The Botanical Museum was founded in 1858 as the Museum of Vegetable Products and it concentrates on commercial plants, or economic botany. However, it is perhaps best known for its unique collection of glass flowers. Around 3000 models representing more than 800 species were created between 1887 through 1936 by artisans Leopold and Rudolf Baschka.

The Mineralogical Museum was founded in 1891 after receiving a large donation from A. F. Holden (class of 1888). The museum is still located in the same building and is noted for having some of the finest exhibits including rough and cut gemstones, a world-renowned meteorite collection, rocks, ores and minerals from around the world.

The Geological Museum was merged with the Mineralogical Museum in 1977 but is now part of the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences (EPS).

Swiss zoologist Louis Agassiz (1807-1873) founded the Museum of Comparative Zoology in 1859. There are 12 different departments which cover the variety and comparative nature of animal life: Biological Oceanography, Entomology, Herpetology, Ichthyology, Invertebrate Paleontology, Invertebrate Zoology, Mammalogy, Marine Biology, Mollusks, Ornithology, Population Genetics, and Vertebrate Paleontology. The museum contains an extensive collection of fossils including the 25,000-year-old Harvard mastodon unearthed in New Jersey.