Mission

Create a positive relationship between people and nature through collaborations, education, research and collections, exhibits and public forums that fosters urban connections to our region’s nature and science.

 

A Message from our President and CEO, Deborah Lahey

 

 

History

 

 

Pioneers in Natural History

Since 1857, the Chicago Academy of Sciences has been led by passionate lovers of natural history enthusiasts, from founder Robert Kennicott to the scientists, educators, and Museum professionals at its Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum. In its early years, Kennicott and his fellow citizen naturalists assembled important collections and invited the public to marvel at natural history specimens housed at Wabash Avenue and Van Buren Street. After being well-received from the public, the bright future of the Academy of Sciences was later dimmed by the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, with the total loss of the collections and the library.

 

 

Rising From the Ashes

The collections were rebuilt and, in 1894, a resilient Academy moved into the Laflin Building in Lincoln Park. There, natural history came to life through innovative, richly detailed dioramas filled with local flora and fauna. Research in the natural sciences flourished alongside pioneering work in wildlife photography and film. Exhibits were enhanced by lectures and publications. At the end of the century, the Academy was considered the city’s leading provider of science enrichment for teachers and students.

 

 

The Museum Experience Reinvented

The opening of the new 6.35 acre Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum on Cannon Drive in 1999 heralded new opportunities to build on the Academy’s legacy of scientific inquiry, offering the public much more than dioramas and taxidermied animals. Complete with permanent exhibitions including a Butterfly Haven, the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum became an interactive experience for adults and children alike.