AN INTRODUCTION TO OUR COLLECTIONS

The Museum's permanent collections exist to serve our mission as a resource to the public, both through exhibitions and opportunities for research.   Below is a brief introduction to some of our most exciting collections.

As part of an initiative supported by generous donations from the Ford Foundation and Con Edison, the Long Island City Museum of Natural History will be creating an online archive of its entire collection to be accessible to the public free of charge. The Museum is committed to universal access and will be developing this service during 2008, with a scheduled launch in early 2009. For more information, or on how you can support this unique program, please contact the Museum.





ROCK AND MINERAL COLLECTION

Considered one of the most diverse collections in the United States, the Museum's rock and mineral collection features specimens from all seven continents. In addition to samples from the Earth, our collection also contains rocks from the Moon, dozens of meteors and meteorites, and more exotic sources like comets.

About the above image: chrondrite meteorite sample, found in Mass. on May 1, 1860. Permanent collection; RM4875.





ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

A major initiative of the Museum is to provide world-class exhibitions on our natural environment and our impact on it. Thanks to a major grant from the Ford Foundation, in the next three years the Museum will present cutting-edge interactive exhibitions demonstrating the beautiful and sometimes terrifying features of our world, and how our lifestyles and industry is affecting it.

About the above image: wall cloud forming over Cortland, New York. Image courtesy of Museum's image and media archive; W2201.





ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY COLLECTION

With over 6,000 specimens, the Zoology and Botany department visually demonstrates the diverse plant and animal life on Earth. Life present today from the farthest reaches of the planet are contrasted by fossils of extinct dinosaurs and mammals. The Kelly M. Comsey Regional Wing shows animals and plants indigenous to New York state with a special focus on Queens.

About the above image: a very well preserved 13" trilobite, an extinct arthropod from the Cambrian period. Gift of Michael Murray, 2007; LC1458-2.





Special thanks to the Ford Foundation and Con Edison for their generous support of this project