Exhibitions

The Museum of Natural History is Rhode Island's only natural history museum and is home to the state's only public planetarium.  For more than a century the Museum has served as a unique educational, scientific and cultural resource by offering exciting exhibitions, workshops and presentations that provide ways for children and families to learn about our world and its people.

The Museum houses collections containing over one quarter million objects pertaining to natural and cultural history assembled from sites around the world. The natural history collections include fossils, mollusks, minerals, rocks, mounted flora and fauna.  The cultural collections contain over 24,000 archaeological and ethnographic specimens primarily of Native American and Pacific origin.

Visit the Museum and see our current exhibitions:

• Circle of the Sea
  Material culture from the islands of Oceania
• All Things Connected
  Native American Creations
• Natural Selections
  Treasures from the Museum's Collections
• Mission Moon: Past, Present, and Future
  On exhibit April 12 - September 29, 2008
   

Circle of the Sea
The rich tapestry of Oceanic cultures - their varied traditions, arts and skills - echoes the natural diversity found in the Pacific islands. This new exhibit features objects from the museum's collection from Oceania and focuses on the use of natural materials by skilled craftspeople in the creation of objects of beauty and prestige. 

All Things Connected:
Native American Creations
A showcase of Native American material culture. Objects presented from the museum's collection of beadwork, baskets, clothing, textiles, and other handmade objects. An interpretive component of the exhibit focuses on how Native Americans interrelated with the natural world. Learn more about All Things Connected.

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Natural Selections:
Treasures from the Museum's Collections
At the turn of the century, natural history collecting became an international movement. This Victorian styled exhibit showcases treasures donated by private collectors which inspired the founding of the Museum of Natural History in 1896.

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Mission Moon: Past, Present, and Future
On exhibit April 12 - September 29, 2008
Through lunar photographs from Ranger to Apollo and data gathered from Clementine to Lunar Prospector, the exhibition examines how the Moon was formed, how it evolved, and why it remains a place of wonder 40 years after Apollo. Included in the exhibit are 3D imagery acquired by the Apollo and Surveyor programs and a NASA lunar sample (Moon rock) collected by Apollo 17 Astronaut, Harrison Schmitt. Discover the Rhode Island researchers and students that are involved in studying lunar materials, probing the interior through geophysics, and participating in lunar missions including NASA’s LRO (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter), M3 (Moon Mineralogy Mapper), LCROSS (Lunar Crater Remote Sensing Satellite), and Japan’s Selene.