Research & Collections

Photograph of Butterfly specimens in the NHM collection

Our Collections

NHM has, wait for it, 35 million real objects and artifacts. Explore them online!

Our Research

There are dozens of scientists and historians on staff, protecting our records of the planet, and making new discoveries all the time.

What our experts are up to

austin hendy looking at specimens in collections research and collections

Recent highlights

Bat Specimens from the Mammalogy Collection laid back to back with their specimen tags visible

Digitized Mammals

How the new digitization project Ranges is unlocking the potential of NHM's Mammalogy Collection

A paleoart rendition of Eupachydiscus sp. by Cullen Townsend.

Collections Staff Help Ammonites Come Out of Their Shells

Uncovering how digitization and collections management made a groundbreaking extinction study come to life

Sam the Eagle Olympic Pin Collector Patch

The Olympics in Los Angeles: Back to the Future

Los Angeles first hosted the 1932 Summer Games for the Xth Olympiad. The Museum, then called the Los Angeles County Museum of History, Science and Art, provided the venue for the Olympic Art Exhibition.

A Deep Dive on Microplastics

Museum scientists are examining fish guts to understand the pervasiveness and types of plastics invading California waters over time, which may help us understand how that pollution affects sea creatures and even land-loving pescatarians.

Dispatches from the D-ARK

Follow Curator of Malacology Jann Vendetti with updates from an expedition into the deep sea caves around Japan's Minami-Daitō Island

L.A. Sunday Times cover depicting Chinese father and son from 1907 cropped for close up

An Object of Contempt and Curiosity to a Testament of Hope

At quick glance, the picture looked unremarkable and vaguely familiar like something I might have on my iPhone. After introspection, it reveals stories about community, immigration, tradition, and a historic earthquake.