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Collections
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Like many museums, the Beneski Museum holds far more specimens than it can possibly display. Our exhibits feature about 1,700 objects. Our collection includes more than 200,000 objects.

Non-exhibit holdings are used primarily by professional, faculty and student researchers. As specimens are studied, information is added to specimen records, enhancing the dynamic educational process that is central to the role of any academic museum. Natural history specimens are one of the preeminent sources of data that drive biological, environmental and Earth sciences.

At this time, the Beneski Museum does not have online or searchable collections databases. Of the 200,000 objects in the museum's collections, every one was examined as it was sorted into one of nearly 1,000 cases. But that doesn't mean there are no potential discoveries to come.  Only about 2 percent of the items have been the subject of published research.  It already serves as a reference collection for many researchers annually, and that number will rise as the process of digitizing the collections evolves.  The number of potential discoveries is incalculable. To learn more about our collections, please select from the following menu:

Acquisitions

The Beneski Museum is no longer a collecting institution, and is therefore unlikely to accept donations of specimens or artifacts. Please contact Hayley Singleton, Head of Collections and Operations, with questions regarding this policy.