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Collections

Categories of the Museum’s Permanent Collection:

  • Avian Skins and Mounts (comprised of several collections and individual accessions).
  • Avian Eggs (oological; consisting of one collection).
  • Rocks, Minerals and Sand (comprised of several collections and individual accessions).
  • Fossils including Petrified Wood (comprised of several collections).
  • Marine Shells (numerous collections). Marine Invertebrates (one small research collection).
  • Marine Mammal (numerous individual accessions).
  • Reptile and Amphibian (several accessions – primarily turtle/ tortoise shells).
  • Mammal Skins and Mounts (several accessions).

The Museum’s first orga­ni­za­tion­al meet­ing was held on Feb­ru­ary 20, 1954. From the begin­ning, the founders were focused on edu­cat­ing local Cape Cod chil­dren about the envi­ron­ment that sur­round­ed them (and by this time, was begin­ning to dis­ap­pear). With advice and direc­tion from Dr. Charles Rus­sell, retired head of the Depart­ment of Edu­ca­tion at the Amer­i­can Muse­um of Nat­ur­al His­to­ry in New York, they set about cre­at­ing a children’s muse­um”, that “… offered a place to make some­thing or to learn. It was not a col­lec­tion of mate­ri­als as such, but a col­lec­tion of indi­vid­u­als pro­duc­ing mate­ri­als, which might have to do with the life his­to­ry of clams, or the sea­son­al changes in the ground under­foot.” The Cape Cod Junior Muse­um of Nat­ur­al His­to­ry” was born and so it remained until 1962 when the name was changed to the Cape Cod Muse­um of Nat­ur­al History.

– Abstracted from a report submitted to the Board of Trustees by Dr. Frederick J. Dunford

The Crowell Archaeological Collection is currently being inventoried and photographed by a registered professional archaeologist. This project is partially funded by the Brewster and Harwich Local Cultural Councils. Upon completion of this project a public presentation will be given.

NOTE: The Museum is a nonprofit foundation, and our employees are prohibited from authenticating and/or appraising the value of artifacts and specimens. Appraisals can be obtained from private dealers and auction houses.

Questions you have related to Museum Collections can be sent to:
Kate Roderick: kroderick@ccmnh.org