Digitized Collections

You can search or browse data and images for parts of our large collection of specimens and artifacts through our own website at collections.nhm.org or through external sites. In many cases, we publish our data to regional, national, or international aggregator sites or platforms that help researchers find information from many institutions all at once.  

Some of our collection is not yet available online in any form.  If you have specific questions about our holdings that can’t be answered by the data available through the following links, please get in touch with the collections manager in your area of interest.

Biodiversity Specimens and Data

Visit collections.nhm.org to search parts of our Dinosaur Institute, Entomology, Mineral Sciences, Rancho La Brea, Invertebrate Paleontology, and Vertebrate Paleontology collections. 

Some collection records are available through iDigBio—the NSF-funded center for digitized US biodiversity collections—and through the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), the international portal for biodiversity data.  Search for us under institution code “LACM”, or see the following records:

• LACM Malacology on GBIF
• LACM Vertebrates on iDigBio, GBIF, or VertNet
• LACM Entomology on iDigBio and GBIF
• LACM Invertebrate Paleontology on iDigBio and GBIF
• LACM Rancho La Brea (La Brea Tar Pits) on GBIF
• LACM Echinoderms on GBIF
• LACM Dinosaur Institute on GBIF
• Our GBIF Publisher page
• Our GBIF datasets

Records for phorid flies are available through Phorid.net.

Search our Invertebrate Paleontology stratigraphic inventory.

Historical, Cultural, and Archival Collections

Visit collections.nhm.org to search object information and images for parts of our Anthropology (including Ethnology and Archaeology) and Seaver Center for Western History Research collections.

For additional collection information for the Seaver Center for Western History Research, visit the guide and index to the general collections (manuscript materials and ephemera) or the guide and index to the photo collection.

Collection guides, finding aids, and documentation for collections in the Seaver Center for Western History Research are also available in the Online Archive of California.

To view collections finding aids from the NHMLAC Institutional Archives, please visit https://archives_nhm.libraryhost.com.

Images, films, documents, and publications digitized with support from California Preservation’s California Revealed grant program are available through Internet Archive and in Calisphere.

3D Images and Data

Interactive 3D models and images of some specimens can be viewed through MorphoSource and Sketchfab:

• Our collections on MorphoSource are listed under our institutional acronym LACM.
• Main NHMLA page on Sketchfab
• La Brea Tar Pits (Rancho La Brea) specimens on Sketchfab
• Vertebrate Paleontology: Reptilia holotype specimens on Sketchfab.  Read more about this project here.
• Vertebrate Paleontology: Amphibia holotype specimens on Sketchfab.
• Invertebrate Paleontology specimens on Sketchfab.

Our Library and Scholarly Publications

Contributions in Science, Science Series, and other museum scholarly publications are available in Biodiversity Heritage Library.  Researchers needing access to later issues of Contributions or to NHMLA's other scholarly publications should contact librarian@nhm.org for assistance.

Search our research library catalog.  The library collection is not available for public circulation.