Connecting People to Nature

Connecting People to Nature. Parkway Museums District. , When Philadelphia's natural history museum opened in 1828, the mysteries of nature, from fossils to beetles, were revealed to the public, organized and labeled in Latin and Greek. The collections expanded so rapidly, the Academy outgrew its building three times in 60 years., When the Academy, the first American museum to display a mounted dinosaur, put Hadrosaurus on view in 1868, crowds overflowed the halls. In 1876, the the Academy moved here to 19th and the Parkway, then the outskirts of town, now the heart of the city's cultural district., Today, visitors come to see dinosaurs and dioramas, and walk through a garden full of butterflies. Children can touch a meteorite, see a stream from underneath and dig for fossils., Academy educators and scientists also create programs for people of all ages, reaching out to tens of thousands of school children and adults each year., Research and Exploration , The Academy of Natural Sciences is more than a museum. It is a world leader in biodiversity and environmental research. In Academy labs and on expeditions from Amazon to Arctic, its scientists unlock nature's mysteries., With a 200,000-volume library and a priceless collection of 17 million biographical specimens, the Academy is an important resources for scholars., [Captions:] , Visitors walk through a tropical garden filled with butterflies and moths in Butterflies!, Tyrannosaurus rex makes Dinosaur Hall one of the visitors' favorite spots., Children meet a rare tortoise in the hands on discover center, Outside-In.