Bad news this week: on Tuesday, September 1st, the longest-operating natural history museum in the United States announced its imminent closure. The Academy of Natural Sciences (ANS) in downtown Philadelphia is set to close forever on September 27. Dozens of staffers will be laid off, and millions of Philadelphians will be robbed of this hub for exploring the wonders of the natural world.
The silver lining is that ANS will not cease to exist as a research organization—at least not yet. The powers-that-be intend to continue stewarding the collection of some 19 million objects. As of now, no details have been announced regarding where that will happen or what it will look like, especially given that plans are underway to sell the building that houses the museum.
It’s nice to know that the ANS collection (which includes thousands of holotypes, plants and animals collected by Thomas Jefferson, Lewis and Clark, and James Audubon, and the Hadrosaurus fossils that were used in the first mounted dinosaur skeleton ever constructed) aren’t in imminent danger of being homeless. But that does little to ameliorate the loss of a museum that has been in its current location since 1876. Non-accessioned exhibit components are likely to be sold off or trashed. That will include the dismantling of 37 habitat dioramas (most of which date to the 1930s) and, of course, the dinosaur hall.
The ANS dinosaur hall is significant because it was the first permanent dinosaur exhibition to fully commit to the ideas of the dinosaur renaissance: it blazed a trail in 1986 by showcasing active, socially sophisticated dinosaurs and highlighting their similarities with modern birds. The T. rex at the front of the hall is a cast of AMNH 5027 and represents the first time that archetypical specimen was displayed with it’s correct, horizontal posture. While most of the complete dinosaurs on display are casts from other museums, the Corythosaurus (masterfully mounted by Ken Carpenter in 1982) is composed of real fossils.
So how did we get here? Contrary to speculation that has been running rampant on social media, the Trump administration did not shut down ANS as part of an anti-science or anti-evolution agenda. While natural history museums have been downstream of some of this administration’s reckless cuts to agencies like NSF and IMLS, Trump and his cronies do not seem to care about them specifically.
The actual issue is money. Like most museums in the United States, ANS is a private nonprofit organization. It is not an appendage of the city or the state, and therefore doesn’t rely on government support. ANS has been on shaky financial ground for awhile. After taking a serious hit in the years following the 2008 recession, it joined forces with Drexel University in 2011 (while retaining its own board and leadership), a move that may well have saved the institution in the short term. Unfortunately, Drexel has spent the last decade floundering in a financial meltdown of its own. And with ANS attendance stubbornly low, Drexel has been covering a large portion of the museum’s operating costs for several years. Drexel got a new president—economist Antonio Merlo—last year, and apparently he does not see supporting ANS as a worthwhile expenditure. Without Drexel’s support, ANS has no way of covering its expenses and no choice but to close.
This wasn’t inevitable. The writing was on the wall for awhile, as ANS cut back its operating schedule to five days a week, then to just three days. Any number of actors, including the city of Philadelphia and the state of Pennsylvania, could have stepped in, recognizing that a local natural history museum is a public good.
What can be done? The choice to notify the public less than four weeks before closing is telling. It suggests to be that the decision makers here want to get this over with quickly, before the public or any outside entities can get organized and fundraise to save the museum. But that doesn’t mean people aren’t trying. The most important person to follow right now is Dr. Sarah McAnulty. McAnulty is a biologist, artist, and well-established science communicator who runs outreach programs like Skype a Scientist and Squid Facts. She is leading a rally in front of the museum on September 8—RSVP here.
If you feel you have a stake in this and can’t show up in person, Drexel is probably the most effective pressure point. Call them up, make them feel bad, and make them look bad for cutting off ANS. It’s also worth contacting the Philadelphia mayor’s office and letting them know that you’re holding them accountable. There are also two petitions circulating, but in general, signing an online petition doesn’t matter a whole lot. Pick up the phone and tell people you care!
EXTINCT MONSTERS 