Nearly two centuries of school field trips, dinosaur skeletons and butterfly exhibits come to an end this weekend as the Academy of Natural Sciences museum shuts its doors for good. Sunday marks the museum's final day of regular public hours, and it will close permanently just three days later.
A Long Goodbye on the Parkway
The museum, tucked along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway at 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia, will hold its last day of regular public hours on Sunday, September 27, according to vista.today. The full closure follows on September 30, per secretphiladelphia.co. As Axios reports, the museum has been open Fridays through Sundays in its final stretch, and this last weekend is expected to draw a heavy crowd — the gift shop is already nearly sold out, and tickets, which run $16 to $22, are going fast for what may be the final chance to walk the halls.
The Academy is described as a nearly 200-year-old institution, though its exact founding date is disputed between sources. Patch.com reports it was founded in 1828, while secretphiladelphia.co states it was founded in 1812 by seven naturalists and opened its museum to the public in 1828. The Academy's collections, meanwhile, are enormous by any measure: 19 million biological specimens, fossils and archives spanning more than 73,000 species, according to Patch.
What Happens to the Collection
Despite the museum's closure, the Academy itself will remain in operation, the same Patch report notes, continuing its research programs and its stewardship of those millions of specimens. Per Axios, the building will keep housing the Academy's collections and research activities even after the public galleries go dark, and the future of the Academy, the museum and the collection is described as uncertain as leaders sort out what comes next.
Scott Cooper, the Academy's president and CEO, will step down from his position while continuing in an advisory role during the transition, secretphiladelphia.co reports. Institutional leaders are discussing a long-term plan with elected officials, according to Axios, and Gov. Josh Shapiro has appointed a third-party facilitator to help guide those conversations, per the same Patch account.
Public Pushback and Political Questions
The closure hasn't gone unanswered. An online petition had garnered more than 68,000 signatures as of September 24, and hundreds of people rallied outside the museum earlier this month, according to Axios. City Council may hold hearings about the closure and could move to restrict redevelopment at the museum site, Axios reports, though those remain possibilities rather than confirmed actions.
Officials have pointed to falling attendance and mounting costs as the forces behind the decision. Drexel and the Academy said rising operating costs and reduced visitation since the COVID-19 pandemic made keeping the museum open unsustainable, per Patch, and the closure follows years of efforts to create a sustainable operating model amid those same pressures, secretphiladelphia.co notes. Vista.today similarly describes an institution done in by falling attendance and mounting costs that officials say made its current operating model unsustainable.
The Academy has been affiliated with Drexel University since 2011, and that relationship is now central to whatever comes next for the Parkway building. For now, though, the focus is on the final few days — a last chance for Philadelphians to walk among the fossils and dioramas before the doors close on Sunday.
