PHILADELPHIA — Every weekend for the past month, the sidewalk in front of the Natural Academy of Sciences has simultaneously felt like a festival, a funeral, and a science fair.

On the Museum's final Friday, there was a line of attendees waiting to get in; Activists circulating petitions and flyers to "Save the Academy"; and a museum educator showed off a giant salamander skull and a rare coat of pangolin scales.

For Philly area kids, visiting this place has been a rite of passage for generations. So when word dropped on September 1st that the nearly 200-year-old museum was closing at the end of the month, thousands of families began a wistful pilgrimage, to make one final visit.

"This is a very special place, for my family and also me growing up," said Alexandria McCormick, who was visiting with her husband and six kids. She said when she was a child, her family used to come multiple times a year, awakening her love of natural history.

"It makes me really sad to think that my children might not also grow up having these experiences and being inspired to love nature this way." she said.

Founded in 1812, and opened to the public in 1828, the Academy of Natural Sciences was the first place in the world to display a dinosaur skeleton, back in 1868. There's also mammal dioramas, live animals, and other rotating exhibits.

Its collection of scientific specimens is widely recognized as one of the most important in the world. And its sudden demise comes amidst a continuing decline in funding for cultural and scientific institutions.

"This is the oldest natural history museum in the Americas," says Isa Betancourt, who worked in the Academy's entomology department for 10 years, from 2011 to 2021.

Betancourt now lives in Arizona, but hopped on a plane and came back to Philly to help organize the "Save the Academy" campaign, which included a flurry of rallies, marches, and an online petition to keep the museum open that has over 114,000 signatures.

"If this museum can slip away like that, what's stopping other museums from going the same way? We can't let this be a precedent." she added.

Andrew Stelzer for NPR
Academy of Natural Sciences Educator Jake Cook shows a beaver skull to museum visitors during one of the last few days the museum was open.

A sudden closure

Drexel University, which took over financial responsibility for the Academy in 2011, explained on its website that post-pandemic, costs have risen and attendance declined. In its last few weeks, however, museum attendance skyrocketed and revenue was more than 20 times higher than last September.

"Maybe if they had announced this last year, they could have gotten the crowds they have now," said Zoe Abrams, who was visiting with her husband and two children. "This is busier than Grand Central. Could have saved things."

Some people working to save it criticized Drexel for not participating in any efforts to stem the museums' closure, or providing details about how much it would cost to keep it open.

"When they announced the one month notice it was a surprise for everybody," said Betancourt. "It's like the leadership didn't even try to keep it open, and that's why there's a lot of frustration around what's happening. It's just not right." she added.

In response to a request for comment, Drexel said in a statement that it "remains deeply committed to protecting the Academy of Natural Sciences' extraordinary legacy."

Less than a week before the September 30th closing date, the William Penn Foundation offered a year's worth of bridge funding; to buy time to explore more permanent solutions. Drexel said it is exploring the possibility of working with the foundation, but would need a plan for long-term sustainability before considering re-opening the museum.

Hard times for scientific institutions

The Academy houses a massive, irreplaceable library of over 19 million specimens. It includes Thomas Jefferson's fossil collection, and plant samples gathered by Lewis and Clark. It also has an archive of 73,000 holotype specimens— carefully preserved samples which scientists use as references for defining and naming species.

Drexel has said it will preserve access to that collection for students and researchers. But it's unclear what that means for the general public. And all this uncertainty comes at a moment when government support for cultural institutions has been in steep decline. "It's certainly a challenging time for the museum field." said Natanya Kashan, a spokesperson for the American Alliance of Museums. A 2025 survey of AAM's members found a third had government grants and contracts cancelled, and more than two-thirds were affected by executive orders in some way."The financial pressures are not only in federal funding, they're also in philanthropy, in corporate donations, in individual giving," she said.

The Academy tied its financial fate to Drexel's, when, in 2011, the two institutions announced an "affiliation." The Academy became a subsidiary of Drexel, but retained its own board and 501c3 organizational status. In a statement announcing the partnership the Academy's president bragged about "a rock-solid balance sheet with a $51 million endowment".

But, like many Universities, Drexel has been struggling financially, in part due to declining enrollment. In 2024, the school reported it was facing a budget shortfall.

And as attendance shrank, in 2025 the museum laid off some staff, and reduced its hours. It soon cancelled its 2026 summer camp program. Earlier this year, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that the university and the Academy were renegotiating heir relationship; Drexel wanted a full merger, which would grant it the building, endowment and collections.

Amid speculation that Drexel plans to sell the 150-year-old building housing the Academy, Philadelphia's city council proposed altering local zoning overlays in order to make selling the building or converting it to other uses more difficult. The council also plans to hold special public hearings, to find out how the Academy got to the point of closing, and what possible solutions might look like. The legislation calling for the hearing also gives the council subpoena power over Drexel.

"We need to know how this came to be. What were the levers that created this decision, and how do we undo that decision?" said City councilmember Dr. Nina Ahmad.

"There was no campaign in the recent past that we can find to encourage or to tell the city of Philadelphia, 'We're in danger of closing if you don't come and use our museum.' None of that."

Philadelphia does have a track record of saving financially struggling cultural institutions, including the renowned Art collection at The Barnes Foundation, and the Please Touch Children's Museum. But those campaigns took place before their respective museums closed. Reopening an already shuttered institution could be much more difficult.

Andrew Stelzer

Just short of its 200th birthday, a landmark natural history museum shuts down