Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History

The collections of the Department of Anthropology are a vast and unparalleled resource for inquiry into the cultures, arts, and technologies of the world's peoples, from deep in prehistory to the present day.

Fossil plants, invertebrates, and vertebrates. Fossil foraminifera and other microfossils. Collection covers fossils from the Cambrian through Pleistocene. Global, but predominantly North America. Fossil plants, invertebrates, and vertebrates. Fossil foraminifera and other microfossils. Collection c...

The NMNH Biorepository began operations in 2011 and is believed to be the largest museum-based natural history biorepository in existence. Our current capacity exceeds 4.2 million standard 2 ml cryovials, potentially expandable to 5 million cryovials. Researchers at the National Museum of Natural Hi...

Over 50 million specimens of all 30 major non-insect invertebrate phyla. Specimens housed in both the main NMNH building and at the Museum Support Center.

The U.S. National Entomological Collection ranks as the second largest insect collection in the world with approximately 35 million specimens including over 100,000 holotypes plus hundreds of thousands of additional paratypes and other secondary types. The collection includes over 300,000 species ...

Cross-listed as a separate institution

Roughly 590,000 preserved specimens. Collection supports a wide range of scientific research by resident staff and associates, as well as numerous visiting scientists.

USNM bird specimens are cited without a collection code (USNM:xxxxx) 610,000+ specimens representing ~80% of bird species. Skins, skeletal and fluid-preserved tissue collections, egg sets, nests, frozen tissues. Almost 4,000 type specimens.

Most major clades of Amphibia and Reptilia. Worldwide.. Most major clades of Amphibia and Reptilia.

Includes Smithsonian Institution collections and National Marine Fisheries Service collections, NOAA, Department of Commerce