Welcome to the Yale Peabody Museum collections! This is the home for over 14 million specimens and objects from 10 curated collections that tell the story of our Earth, its life, history, and cultures.
We invite you to learn more about each of our curatorial divisions and its collections and to explore our collections database portal.
Additionally, all of the Yale Peabody Museum's catalogued collections records are represented in LUX: a digital platform that enables users to search across Yale’s museums, archives, and library collections. This includes works of art, archives, scientific specimens, and other cultural heritage items held at the University. This transformative service enables users to identify, access, and engage with items of interest within Yale’s physical and digital collections. It also uncovers relationships among items, inviting users to explore additional materials across collections.
Click on any of the images below to learn more about each collections division:
Office of Collections & Research
Several departments support the Museum’s dedication to the preservation, documentation, and research of the Peabody’s many holdings. Each is staffed with museum professionals who contribute to the Peabody’s and Yale University’s commitment to collections stewardship.
The Peabody’s curatorial divisions are governed by the Museum’s collections policies and best practices document. Collections are available to researchers for scholarly use and loans are issued to individuals at established institutions. Loans and access can be arranged through the curatorial division’s collections manager.
Collections at the Yale Peabody Museum are stewarded by curators who hold faculty appointments in a Yale University academic department. The honorary titles of Faculty Affiliate and Curatorial Affiliate are granted to individuals who give of their time and expertise to a curatorial division. Affiliates are appointed by a vote of the Board of Curators and typically serve a 5-year renewable term.
The Yale Peabody Museum has an extensive and rich archive of materials related not only to the history of the Museum, the individuals involved in its founding, and the early days of its collections, but also to the early history of higher education in the natural sciences in the United States, especially in paleontology.
The Yale Peabody Museum is committed to providing broad access to its collections for teaching, learning, and research, and makes available a variety of digital assets and associated information for specimens, objects, and archival items housed in the Museum. For information and access to Peabody Museum archival material, contact the Peabody’s Archivist. Additional archival materials are also available through the Yale Library’s archives.
Much of the Peabody’s exceptional collections of over 14 million specimens and cultural materials have been photographically documented and can be found through an online search of the collections. Access to and use of Yale Peabody Museum digital assets are subject to our Terms of Use and governed by the Museum’s policies. Requests to reproduce Peabody Museum materials, including photography in the collections, should be directed to Yale Peabody Museum Permissions.
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Barbara Narendra
Archivist
+1 203 432 0729
barbara.narendra@yale.edu
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Mailing Address
Permissions
Peabody Museum of Natural History
Yale University
P.O. Box 208118
New Haven, CT 06520-8118 USA
peabody.permissions@yale.edu
The Conservation Laboratory actively supports and promotes the Yale Peabody Museum’s mission to preserve and protect the collections entrusted to its care. The Lab is involved in all aspects of collections care and handling at the Museum. Care and treatment of specimens and cultural materials is guided by the principle that the integrity of an object should be preserved in every possible way. Because the Peabody collections are used primarily for research, our approach to the treatment of the collections is conservative. We are always aware of the research potential of the collections in our care and whenever possible nothing is done to impair or compromise it.
The conservator is involved in all aspects of collections care and handling—how specimens are stored, what materials will be in the display case, and whether they will travel by truck or airplane to another institution for study or exhibition, among others. Conservation work is multi-faceted, involving both active treatment and passive, or preventive, measures, as well as the development of new treatment techniques.
The Peabody’s Conservation Lab has collaborated with the Yale’s Institute for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage on several projects. One such project was the conservation, photographing, and rehousing of 180 tapa cloths—thin “cloths” created from the inner bark of trees that have been crafted for thousands of years in Oceania—from the Museum’s Division of Anthropology collections.
Contact
Collections & Research
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Erin Gredell
Head Registrar,
Collections / Research / Registrar
+1 203 737 4695
erin.gredell@yale.edu
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Susan Butts
Director of Collections & Research,
Collections / Research / Registrar Director of Collections & Research |
Research, Biodiversity Informatics, & More
Information Science
More InfoLearn about the Yale Peabody Museum's collections digitization efforts, data and web platforms, and biodiversity informatics capabilities.
Scientific Publications
More InfoBrowse our rich collection of scholarly articles, books, journals, monographs and more.
Virtual Exhibitions
More InfoDuring our renovation, our goal is to publish as many digital experiences and archive exhibition materials here. Please check back throughout the coming months!
Research & News
More InfoLearn about the groundbreaking academic research and the brilliant scientists at Yale who help make the Peabody a world-class scientific institution.