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Address:
26 Oxford Street 11 Divinity Avenue
Location:
Cambridge
Phone:
(617) 495-3045;496-1027
Hours:
Mon–Sat: 9am–5pm; Sun: 1pm-5pm; closed major holidays
Cost:
Adult: 5.00
Child: 3.00
Senior: 4.00
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Overview
Despite the difference in addresses, these two museums are located in the same building and are inter-connected. It makes sense to visit them together.
The Harvard Museum of Natural History is actually three museums: the Botanical Museum, the Museum of Comparative Zoology, and the Mineralogical and Geological Museum, and they are the best-kept secret in Boston. The University owns impressive collections in these fields, logically and clearly laid out on the third floor of the building. Enter through Oxford Street and start your tour with these three. You can then enter the Peabody through the Mineral exhibit, view the displays here on the third floor then descend to finish with the Peabody’s first floor collection. If this all seems chaotic, remember – this is a university building and offices and labs sit side-by-side with the public rooms.
Although all rooms hold fascinating treasures, the high point of your visit is sure to be the Glass Flowers – three full rooms of meticulously crafted botanical models made of glass by the Dresden artisans Leopold and Rudolph (father and son) Blaschka around the turn of the century. There are almost 3000 pieces, complete with leaves, petals, stamens, roots, and even pollen and the occasional insect. Unbelievably realistic, and with a beauty of their own, the models were created for teaching purposes.
Apart from the Glass Flowers, the museums hold other fine and stunning collections, for example: all shapes, sizes and colors of beetles, unusual dinosaurs and fossils, fish, birds, and mammals. There are whale skeletons with the baleen intact – for once, you can visualize just how such large creatures live off tiny plankton. Kids won’t be disappointed, neither will the adults. The mineralogical collection is vast and well tagged, and includes meteorites. Gems sparkle from their cases.
The Peabody(www.peabody.harvard.edu)collections include Native American Arts of the Southwest, as well as reproduced Mayan artifacts. Up on the balcony (floor 4), you’ll discover the watercraft, tools, and every day objects of the people of Oceania. Down on the first floor, there is a section dedicated to the Bushmen of the Kalahari, and a large Hall of the North American Indian. This hall is divided geographically and depicts tribal life by sections of the Northern Hemisphere: Northeast, Northwest, Arctic, Southeast, and Southwest. It’s a thoughtful presentation of an important part of the American heritage.
Out of the way, inexpensive, and unadvertised, this group of museums is one of the best and quietest destinations in Boston. You won’t find crowds here, nor will you find guards lurking in every corner – this place works by the honor system.
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