Featured Collections

Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

Our educators have curated these collections to let students see how comparing collection specimens can lead to new discoveries.

Researchers who work at the museum and around the world use the museum's huge collection, which has almost 150 million items, to understand something new about how the Earth formed and how organisms live, interact in their environment, and evolve. They also study how people evolved and the diversity of ways that they have interacted — and continue to interact — with each other and their environment over time.

Choose a collection topic below to explore and compare some of our collection objects.

From the Exhibits

Cross-section of spiral ammonoid shell showing the spiral divided into chambers.

Finding Patterns Everywhere

These items from the Objects of Wonder exhibit are either spiral shaped or contain a spiral. What can we learn from recognizing this pattern?

A gray, clay cone with cuneiform inscriptions covering most of it

For the Record

These objects reveal some of the ways people in various cultures have recorded their histories.

Red, gold, and black cape made from Hawaiian bird feathers

Linking Nature and Culture

View objects that reflect how human cultures draw inspiration and sustenance from the natural world.

Painted wooden model of a steam ship with several structures on its deck.

On the Move

Objects can often tell us where they have been, who made them, and how they moved from place to place. These items show how our collections sometimes reveal unexpected connections.