The Yale Peabody Museum’s collection of invertebrate fossils is one of largest in the United States, in volume and in geographic, stratigraphic and taxonomic representation. The holdings of the Division of Invertebrate Paleontology represent more than 350,000 specimen lots, approximately 4 million individuals. A total of 35,000 are type specimens; about 4,500 are the basis of new species descriptions. Over 300,000 specimen lots are available in the online specimen index; all known type specimens are included.

Strengths of the collections include Early Paleozoic faunas from Maritime Canada and the Appalachians, Late Paleozoic faunas from the Mid-Continent and Western North America, and Mesozoic mollusks from the western interior of the United States. Among the Division’s notable collections are:

• The Schuchert Collection of brachiopods, which includes the collections of Fred Braun, W.H. Twenhofel and Darling K. Greger (to name a few)
• Trilobites from the Beecher’s Bed Lagerstätten
• The June R. P. Ross Collection of bryozoa
• The Charles A. Ross Collection of fusilinida
• Historical collections from Anticosti Island, Canada (collected by W.H. Twenhofel and Charles Schuchert)
• Several large collections of Devonian brachiopods and mollusks from New York State and the central United States (collected by Thayer, Bambach and others).

An archive of correspondence, field notes, maps, stratigraphic sections, photographs and publications documents the collections’ acquisition, use and provenance. The Division of Invertebrate Paleontology shares a large library with the Division of Invertebrate Zoology to facilitate research at the Museum.

The Yale Peabody Museum’s collections are available to legitimate researchers for scholarly use. Loans are issued to responsible individuals at established institutions. Loans and access to the collection can be arranged through the Collections Manager.

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