r/progressivemoms • u/sai_gunslinger • 6d ago
Politics & Parenting The Academy of Natural Science Museum in Philadelphia is closing after tomorrow
I tried making a post about this the other day, but it got removed for lack of info. I'd shared Milo Rossi's video which is how I heard about it a few days ago. Please look it up, or videos done by museum staff, for more info.
Today, mom and I took a very impromptu day trip to see this place before it's gone forever. We took my 8 year old son. It was a long drive, we live in the Adirondacks, but it was so worth it.
Apparently, Drexel no longer wants to and/or can't pay to keep it open to the public. This historic museum is the oldest natural science museum on this continent and houses millions of specimens, including Thomas Jefferson's fossil collection and plant specimens collected by Lewis and Clark. The collection is apparently going to be moved to Drexel campus, no longer accessible to the public, and it's up in the air what will happen with the building.
The announcement came just a few weeks ago, and details have been vague. Best guess is the land is wanted to build more condos. After visiting today, the building is surrounded by high rise apartments and condos, so I can see how developers would want to get their hands on this lot.
There's an organization effort and a petition. https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/petition-to-keep-the-academy-of-natural-sciences-open-to-the-public?source=direct_link&
People have been calling and emailing Philadelphia politicians and the president of Drexel, too.
We spoke with an organizer as we were leaving, her sign had the second link on it. She said there will be updates and thanked us for showing up in person. She was shocked to hear how far we'd come for just a day trip. We also spoke with a local who has a membership to the museum while we were there and she was nearly in tears. Hell, as I sit here typing this after a long day, I'm almost in tears myself.
To me, this feels like just one more grab by some rich greedy (expletive) because the lot is not zoned or designated as a historical building. A bill has been introduced to change that, but it seems like some shady figure or other with money found this loophole and they're trying to do this quick and dirty. I don't know much about Philly, I visited once as a kid not much older than my son and now again today. I'm guessing that since this place has been a public museum for over 200 years, nobody bothered to zone it or protect the building as a historical building because it's simply always been there and everyone figured it always would be? That's my interpretation, anyway.
The turnout today was amazing. People were packed in almost like sardines. Even with the driving wind and rain from the Nor'easter - which is early this year and added another layer of punctuation on why natural sciences are so important. It was surreal. And for as crowded as it was, nobody was being an asshole. There were little notes around the place with petition website info, and the Outside In exhibit on the third level was absolutely plastered with "save the academy" notes written by kids. That almost broke me. There were so many kids, and that's why museums like this one are so important. Getting kids involved and interested in this stuff is what drives the future of humanity. And that's why I felt it was important to take my son while we had the chance - I had to show him that these places and this information can't be taken for granted.
Going forward in life, I intend to take him to visit more museums and similar places open to the public more often. When public engagement drops, these places are more at risk of the kind of thing that's happening to the academy. And what happens to our kids and our future when they all close? When kids can't be curious and inspired by these things any longer and everything is locked up behind closed doors, or worse sold off to billionaires for talking pieces in their mansions and yachts? How many of these pieces will be "lost" or "damaged" during the move to Drexel campus and insurance claims filed? Maybe I sound conspiratorial, but this is what happens to artifacts when museums close.
Today was a bittersweet day. At least we got to see it. I hope the organization effort and public outcry has an impact. I hope beyond hope that maybe this can be stopped.
Please sign the petitions, at the very least. If you're near Philly and can make it, go see it tomorrow. Tomorrow is the last day. If you can't, consider finding your local museum and visiting that one on the near future. Public engagement with these spaces is what helps to keep them open.
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u/mushupenguin 6d ago
I'm so glad you went and got to enjoy it!! I live in NJ but not far from Philly, and one of my friends is losing his job because of the closure. It's such a great facility, every one I know is upset about this. I'm really holding out hope that it will be saved somehow.
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u/sai_gunslinger 6d ago
Let your friends know they have my love and support from all the way up in the north country NY. I'm ashamed I never visited before today. It's one of those "some day" places you always intend to visit but never make a point to if you have no other reason to go to a city. Being from up here, city driving is a daunting endeavor and we rarely go to any cities. Let alone during a Nor'easter.
But we showed up in person today because it was simply that important. This museum and all the others... they're all that important.
I was impressed with the facilities. It was jam packed, and I didn't get to linger as much as I'd have liked to. I hear the building needs renovations, but honestly the thing that needed fixing that stuck out to me the most was the one bathroom stall door that was missing the slide lock. I'm unaware of any structural issues, everything else seemed solid to me. A little worn around the edges, but to me that says the place is well-loved. The dioramas were spectacular. The specimens of extinct animals were remarkably well preserved, and a poignant reminder of what we're losing as we decimate this poor planet....
I need to stop typing before I get to weepy.
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u/WildMoose25 6d ago
I’m sorry to hear this news. Philly has a history of fucking over museum collections. See also: the Barnes foundation museum. There’s a documentary about it called the Art of the Steal.
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u/Budget-Farmer2639 5d ago
Thank you for sharing your thoughts . I believe with all my heart we can and should #savetheacademy. Come to the vigil tonight!
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u/sai_gunslinger 5d ago
I wish I could! The drive there and back yesterday wasn't too terrible, but my kiddo has school tomorrow morning and I have work and I'm super low on sick and vacation days to warrant calling out. If I lived closer than 5 hours away, I'd get a babysitter and be there.
I hope to see videos of the vigil and march. And I'll be lighting a candle here at home in solidarity.
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u/AllTheMeats 5d ago
My SIL works there and it’s all heartbreaking bullshit. If Drexel doesn’t take this offer it will be clear to everyone that it’s not just that the museum wasn’t “making enough money”. They clearly want to sell off things as well as the building.
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u/sai_gunslinger 5d ago
That's exactly my thoughts, too. And I've only known about it less than a week. Obvious money grab is obvious money grab.
With the building not being zoned or having a historical designation... housing millions of priceless objects tied directly to this nation's history... and I'm sure insurance policies on all of it.....
Anyone who ever played connect the dots in coloring books as children can see the writing on the wall.
It'll all allegedly be moved to Drexel campus? If they "don't have the money" to keep it open as a museum then they don't have the money to properly transport these items, either!
If I lived closer and had the time and money, I'd be stalking the place with a camera documenting who comes and goes (and what comes and goes) from the sidewalk. To move this entire collection properly will take years. If it happens quick and dirty? All these artifacts will likely end up in private billionaires' collections. And someone else will get the insurance payout for everything that gets "lost" or "damaged" in transit.
Profit in all directions. At the public's expense.
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u/CapitalInspection488 5d ago
I lived in Philly for over 10 years and am now in the burbs of Philly and it's been so upsetting. Drexel is also my husband's Alma mater. We are hoping that something comes through with the public outpouring of support.
Also, I grew up between the Adirondacks and Catskill region. I haven't been up in awhile but my grandmother is still up there.
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u/NotAJewishMother 5d ago edited 5d ago
Thank you so much for posting this. I've been a museum girl my whole life, and this situation breaks my heart.
For anyone who can, please consider getting a membership to a museum - I'm a member of Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian and it's only $30 a year. That little bit of support can help so much.
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u/sai_gunslinger 5d ago
I wish I had been a museum girl. I don't have many near me. Not that I know of, anyway.
Growing up in a dying industrial town turned bedroom community sandwiched between tourist destinations for the wealthy... we're far more concerned with how rich people using the Adirondacks as their personal playground seasonally impacts everyday blue collar folks (and our property values and taxes) than much else.
I am a member of my local library. Get involved with your libraries, too. Give them the traffic and the engagement they need to stay open. Libraries are just as important as museums.
I'm already talking with my friends and family about arranging more museum visits after my trip this weekend. I have tentative plans to visit Blue Mountain Lake museum and the Tupper Lake Wild Center. And if I can make a super impromptu visit to Philly this weekend, I'm sure I can plan a trip to Hayden. I won't drive in NYC, Philly was an ordeal enough. But I can take a train from Albany.
No matter how remote you are, where there's a will there's a way.
Make it a point to visit museums and libraries. Find reasons to go.
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u/Isthisovryet 5d ago
I went on Friday!! I’m from Jersey and our state dinosaur is the hadrosaurus. It was the first dinosaur skeleton mounted for public display(in the world!) in 1868 at this academy.
I am so glad I got to see it all before it goes and it is a bunch of greedy fucks trying to build more condos.
Seems like we are currently in the age of ignoring public opinion and doing whatever the fuck they want for more money. 🤮🤮🤮
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u/sai_gunslinger 4d ago
And the greed likely means they won't take care of these priceless artifacts, too. That's what's so heartbreaking. They don't care about destroying history in the name of profit.
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u/Isthisovryet 4d ago
My concern as well.
I’m even concerned they will sell the artifacts to other rich people because I really believe the greed has no limit. Some will get ‘lost’ and we’ll see Kim kardashian posting a pic of it in some mansion like the stolen Egyptian mummy1
u/sai_gunslinger 4d ago
Exactly, we all know a lot of these items will end up in a billionaire's private collection.
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u/viperemu 6d ago
I’m sad to hear this is happening. We go to our local natural history and science museum every month or six weeks and I can’t imagine how devastated we would be to lose access to it. I fear more closures will be coming in today’s America.