About the Collection
The Michigan State University Museum has more than 117,000 specimens of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fishes, and vertebrate fossils. Specimens are preserved as skins, skeletons, skulls, fluid-preserved materials, tanned hides, frozen tissues, feathers, nests, eggs, taxidermy mounts, microscope slides, fossils, and casts. While emphasizing Michigan and the Great Lakes region, the collections are worldwide in scope and provide a record of biodiversity that ranges from 1844 to the present day. They include specimens of rare, endangered, threatened, and extinct species. Research areas include geology and the fossil record, biodiversity and conservation, systematics and evolutionary ecology, molecular and morphological evolution, environmental studies, archaeology, law enforcement, and medicine and health. Our specimens and their online data are used every day by investigators and students from all over the world.
Visiting and Using the Collection
The collections are used by researchers representing a wide variety of disciplines. Qualified researchers (including students) are welcome to visit the collections by appointment. Contact Laura Abraczinskas, Collections Manager (abraczi1@msu.edu) to arrange your visit. Administrative hours are 9 am to 5 pm, Monday through Friday.
Contact
- Laura Abraczinskas, Collections Manager
- Dr. Barbara Lundrigan, Curator of Mammalogy and Ornithology
- Dr. Michael Gottfried, Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology, Ichthyology, and Herpetology
- Dr. Pamela Rasmussen, Assistant Curator of Mammalogy and Ornithology
- Address: 409 West Circle Drive, East Lansing, Michigan 48824
- Phone: (517) 355-1290
- Website: https://www.museum.msu.edu/natural-science-collections/
- College/Department Affiliation: The Michigan State University Museum reports to the Associate Provost for University Collections and Arts Initiatives with a dotted line report to the Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies.