Vertebrate Paleontology

Please contact the collection manager or curator at least one month in advance to schedule a visit. The collection is generally open for study Monday through Friday, 9 a.m.–5 p.m. If you would like to study specimens on exhibit, it is best to schedule your visit on a non-summer Tuesday, when the museum is closed to the public.

Loans are made to qualified institutions at the discretion of the collection manager, in consultation with the curator. Loans to graduate students will be addressed to their advisors. Specimens currently being used by in-house researchers may not be loaned until that work is completed. Specimens deemed by the collection manager or curator to be too large or fragile for transport are not available for loan. The loan period is generally for two years, and extensions may be granted upon written request. Computed tomographic (CT) scanning, surface scanning, digital modeling, destructive analysis, molding and casting, 3D printing, and preparation are prohibited without prior written consent from the collection manager or curator.

The outstanding fossil vertebrate collection at Carnegie Museum of Natural History has been accumulated by more than a century of fieldwork by Vertebrate Paleontology staff and acquisitions by the museum. The Section of Vertebrate Paleontology collection began in 1895 with the sponsorship of Andrew Carnegie. In the early 20th century, the Carnegie Corporation supported the museum’s numerous paleontological expeditions to the American West, building one of the best dinosaur collections in the world. More recent efforts by Vertebrate Paleontology staff have concentrated on collecting mammals, reptiles, and amphibians from the Cenozoic and tetrapods from the Paleozoic and Mesozoic. These field expeditions and the curation of the fossil collection have been supported by the National Science Foundation, the National Geographic Society, the American Chemical Society, the L. S. B. Leakey Foundation, the M. Graham Netting Fund of Carnegie Museum of Natural History, the National Park Service, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, Save America’s Treasures, and several other organizations.