Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum

The Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum - The Museum of the Chicago Academy of Sciences
Established 1857
Location 2430 N Cannon Drive, Chicago, IL 60614
Coordinates 41°55′36″N 87°38′07″W / 41.9267°N 87.6352°W / 41.9267; -87.6352
Type Nature museum
Website http://www.naturemuseum.org/

The Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum -- The Museum of the Chicago Academy of Sciences is a nature museum located in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1857, the museum, which opened in its present facility in October 1999, is located at the intersection of Fullerton Parkway and Cannon Drive in Lincoln Park.[1] The museum focuses on the natural history of the Chicago region and child and adult education. In addition, it has a popular live butterfly house.

History

The Museum is operated by the Chicago Academy of Sciences, which had previously been located at Lincoln Park's century old Matthew Laflin Memorial Building.[2] The Academy was founded in 1857 by young prominent American naturalists, such as Robert Kennicott and William Stimpson.[3] It was Chicago’s first museum dedicated to nature and science, and developed one of the finest natural history collections in the United States in the mid-19th century, but that collection was lost in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.[4] The museum was rebuilt but lost its home again in the financial turmoil of the 1880s.

The museum then built a building in Lincoln Park in 1898, which became the model for the Chicago Park District's museum-in-the-parks program. The old museum attracted many visitors with its naturalistic dioramas of area ecological settings.[5] In the 1990s, a new home for the museum was constructed nearby, on the southeastern banks of the North Pond. Its old building is currently used for Lincoln Park Zoo administration.

Exhibits and programs

The original series of long-term exhibitions and botanic recreations around the building – including Butterfly Haven, City Science house, Water Lab and Wilderness Walk habitat exhibits – were developed by a team of Academy staff, led by Paul G. Heltne, Kevin Coffee and Douglas Taron, and designed by Lee H. Skolnick Design + Architecture Partnership with Carol Naughton Associates [6] [7]

The museum's exhibits today include displays about the ecological history of the Illinois region, a live butterfly house, and a green home demonstration.[8] The butterfly house features more than 200 species of native and exotic butterflies. One of the museum's ongoing scientific efforts is the study, care, and breeding of native butterflies for species population support in the Chicago area. The museum also offers more than 100 educational programs in the natural sciences for adults and children.[9]

Name

The museum is named in honor of Peggy Notebaert, wife of then Qwest Communications chairman and chief executive officer Richard Notebaert.[10] The building was designed by Perkins and Will.[11]

Front entrance on Cannon Drive 
Butterfly house (left) 
Landscape near North Pond 
Garden fountain 
The former home of the Museum (1898-1995), now Lincoln Park Zoo administration 

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Nature museum opens in Lincoln Park". Chicago Sun-Times. October 23, 2009.
  2. ↑ "Chicago Academy of Sciences". Encyclopedia of Chicago. Retrieved 2006-01-08
  3. ↑ "The Megatherium Club". Smithsonian Institution.
  4. ↑ "William Stimpson (1832-1872)". NATURALIST COLLECTORS. National Museum of Natural History. Retrieved 18 April 2012.
  5. ↑ "Chicago Academy of Sciences' Virtual Exhibit: The Laflin Building Nature Dioramas". C.A.S. (1996). Retrieved 18 April 2012.
  6. ↑ William Mullen. "Natural Resource; The Chicago Academy’s new digs reveal science’s down-to-earth side." Chicago Tribune. October 25, 1998.
  7. ↑ William Mullen. "A little yuck, a lot of fun; Museum’s exhibits aim to entertain, inform." Chicago Tribune. October 21, 1999.
  8. ↑ Donna Vickroy. "Notebaert Nature Museum evolves". Daily Southtown. October 1, 2004.
  9. ↑ "http://www.chicagotribune.com/topic/environmental-issues/nature/peggy-notebaert-nature-museum-PLCUL000214.topic"
  10. ↑ Howard Wolinsky. "Qwest over for Notebaert - CEO who led company's 5-year turnaround calls it quits calling it quits". Chicago Sun-Times. June 12, 2007. 43.
  11. ↑ Lee Bey. "Notebaert Nature Museum is a harmonic convergence". Chicago Sun-Times. October 24, 1999. 30.
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