Field Museum in Illinois, USA

The Field Museum in Chicago is a natural history museum whose collections span fossils, plants, animals, minerals, meteorites, archaeological material, and objects connected with human cultures. Its holdings contain nearly 40 million specimens and artifacts, most of which are maintained for research rather than placed on public display.

Origins of the Field Museum

The museum grew from the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Tens of thousands of objects exhibited during the fair helped form the collections of a permanent natural history institution. Marshall Field contributed $1 million toward establishing the museum, which was named in recognition of his support.

The institution opened to the public on June 2, 1894, as the Field Columbian Museum in the former Palace of Fine Arts in Jackson Park. Its early holdings included archaeological objects from the Americas, geological specimens, fossils, economically useful plants, and extensive zoological collections.

As the collections expanded, the museum required a larger home. Construction of its present building near Grant Park began in 1915. Designed by Peirce Anderson of Graham, Anderson, Probst and White, the neoclassical building opened to visitors on May 2, 1921. It remains the museum’s home on Chicago’s Museum Campus beside Lake Michigan.

Collections and Scientific Research

The Field Museum operates as both a public museum and an active research institution. Its collections preserve evidence used in studies of biodiversity, evolution, geology, archaeology, anthropology, and environmental change. Only about one percent of the collection is displayed publicly; the rest is cared for in research and storage areas.

Scientists work with specimens gathered over more than a century as well as material collected through current research. Museum collections can provide records of where species lived, how organisms changed over time, and how natural environments have been altered. Cultural collections are also used in research and collaborative projects involving the communities connected with them.

SUE the T. Rex

One of the museum’s best-known specimens is SUE, a Tyrannosaurus rex discovered in South Dakota in 1990. The skeleton measures about 40 feet long and is approximately 90 percent complete by bone volume. The Field Museum holds 250 of the roughly 380 bones known in a T. rex skeleton.

SUE is displayed in the Griffin Halls of Evolving Planet on the upper level. The surrounding exhibition places the dinosaur within the history of life on Earth and includes fossils and reconstructions covering billions of years of evolution. Other specimens in the hall include the Illinois state fossil, the Tully Monster, and a model of the 3.2-million-year-old hominin Lucy.

Máximo the Titanosaur

Máximo stretches across Stanley Field Hall on the museum’s main floor. The 122-foot-long and 28-foot-tall mount represents Patagotitan mayorum, a giant plant-eating titanosaur known from fossils excavated in Argentina.

Máximo is a cast rather than a mounted set of original fossil bones. Its reconstruction is based on Patagotitan fossils and gives visitors a full-scale view of the enormous proportions reached by some sauropod dinosaurs.

Human Cultures and Archaeology

The Field Museum’s exhibitions also examine human history and living cultures. Inside Ancient Egypt explores everyday life, religious beliefs, death, and burial in ancient Egypt. Its reconstructed tomb complex includes a burial chamber dating to about 2400 BC, and the exhibition contains 23 human mummies and more than 30 animal mummies.

The Cyrus Tang Hall of China presents roughly 10,000 years of history through objects and stories connected with Chinese societies. Its displays include ceramics, textiles, ritual objects, art, and other material illustrating changes in belief, technology, trade, social life, and cultural traditions.

Native Truths: Our Voices, Our Stories centers the perspectives of Native American and Indigenous people. The exhibition was developed with Native collaborators and combines collection objects with contemporary art, music, recorded voices, and accounts of living communities. It replaced an older approach to presenting Native North American cultures and emphasizes that the cultures represented are present-day as well as historical.

Planning a Visit

The museum is currently open daily from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM, with last entry at 4:00 PM, and closes on Thanksgiving and Christmas Day. General admission includes many permanent halls, while some temporary exhibitions and special experiences may require an upgraded ticket. Current ticket options should be checked on the museum’s official tickets and pricing page before visiting.

Illinois residents currently receive free general admission on designated Wednesdays, subject to the museum’s residency and ticket requirements. Chicago residents, students, seniors, military personnel, Illinois teachers, and visitors eligible for certain community programs may qualify for other admission discounts or free entry.

The accessible East Entrance is on the ground level facing Shedd Aquarium. Wheelchairs are available at museum entrances, accessible restrooms are provided on every level, and elevators connect the public floors. Visitors who need sensory or other accessibility support can review the museum’s accessibility information before arrival.

The Field Museum stands at 1400 S. DuSable Lake Shore Drive on Chicago’s Museum Campus. Nearby public transportation, pedestrian routes, bicycle access from the Lakefront Trail, and Museum Campus parking provide several ways to reach the building. Parking availability and rates can change, particularly when events are taking place at nearby Soldier Field.