Harvard Mineralogical Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge MA

The Mineralogical and Geological Museum at Harvard (MGMH), or the Harvard Mineralogical Museum, is located on the campus of

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston ...

. It is one of the three research museums which collectively comprise the collection of the

Harvard Museum of Natural History The Harvard Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum housed in the University Museum Building, located on the campus of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It features 16 galleries with 12,000 speciments drawn from the col ...

History

Harvard professor Louis Agassiz oversaw the construction of the University Museum building to house a museum of comparative zoology; the building was completed in 1859. Its collections soon expanded beyond comparative zoology into other natural sciences. In 1901, Alexander Agassiz, son of Louis Agassiz, formally established a Geological Museum. In 1966, the Mineralogical Museum (formed separately) and the Geological Museum merged.

Collection

The museum's collection is the oldest University collection in the country. It was established by

Benjamin Waterhouse Benjamin Waterhouse (March 4, 1754, Newport, Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations – October 2, 1846, Cambridge, Massachusetts) was a physician, co-founder and professor of Harvard Medical School. He is most well known for being ...

, co-founder of and professor at

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consi ...

, in 1784. In 1805, the collection held 1,600 specimens. Today, the museum holds 400,000 specimens.

References

External links

Official website

Google Arts & Culture: Mineralogical and Geological Museum, Harvard University
{{authority control Harvard University museums Mineralogy museums Geology museums in the United States Natural history museums in Massachusetts Museums in Cambridge, Massachusetts University museums in Massachusetts