Collections
While the museum's primary geographic strengths are in Florida, the Southeastern U.S. and the Caribbean, its collections and research programs span the globe to include every continent and nearly every island group on earth.
Archaeology
Caribbean Archaeology
One of the largest systematic collections of pre-Columbian artifacts from the West Indies in North
America, the collection contains systematic collections from sites on the islands
of Antigua, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Curacao, Dominican Republic, Grenada,
Guadeloupe, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Marie-Galante, Martinique, Puerto Rico,
St. Lucia, St. Martin, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Surinam, Tobago,
Trinidad, Turks and Caicos, U.S. Virgin Islands, and Venezuela.
Ceramic Technology Lab
The CTL houses an extensive pottery type collection of prehistoric and historic
period aboriginal pottery from Florida and the Southeastern U.S.
Analyses of physical and mineralogical properties of the pottery are undertaken
to provide precise data to address research questions regarding chronology,
provenience or manufacturing origins, processes of production, culture change,
and the development of social and economic complexity in prehistoric Florida,
the Southeastern US, and the Caribbean Basin.
Environmental Archaeology (Zooarchaeology, Archaeobotany & Archaeopedology)
The Environmental Archaeology Program collections include modern comparative and archaeological specimens of
zoological and botanical materials and archaeological soils. The collections are strongest in zoological comparative
and archaeological specimens as this was the original focus of the Program, but holdings are continually added in both
archaeological and modern soils and plants. The Environmental Archaeology collections are one of only a few such
collections in the United States or the world that integrate both comparative and archaeological materials. The
osteological fish comparative collection is the 5th largest in North America just behind the U.S. National Museum's.
The region of greatest strength is the southeastern United States and the Caribbean. The comparative collections from
northwestern South America and Mesoamerica are not complete in range and taxonomic coverage, but are expanding
due to active research efforts in those areas.
Florida Archaeology
The Florida Archaeology Collection includes artifacts spanning 14,000 years of human history from more
than 1,500 archaeological sites, including some of the most important in the state. Much of what is known about
pre-Columbian Florida is based on these collections that were excavated by such notables as John Goggin, William
Sears, Ripley Bullen, and their students. Collections include both artifacts and the documentation regarding their
excavation and analysis. They also curate significant collections from Georgia and other localities.
Historical Archaeology
The Historical Archaeology program has had ongoing research and training programs in St. Augustine,
Florida since 1973, and in Hispaniola since 1979. The collections, including more than 2 million specimens
from 124 sites in the circum-Caribbean region, provide a continuum of European colonial settlement spanning
the period between the arrival of Columbus in 1492 and the end of Spanish dominion in 1821. Emphasis is on
Spanish colonial materials and research collections.
Latin American Archaeology
This relatively small collection of some 400 artifacts includes ceramics, metalwork, wood, and textiles. Peru and Bolivia are well
represented with ceramic vessels and textiles from a variety of periods. The Mesoamerican component of our collection is relatively
small but does include ceramics from both highland and lowland regions. The Latin American archaeology collection is not expected
increase substantially because of ethical considerations first outlined in the 1970 UNESCO Convention of the Means of Prohibiting
and Preventing the Illicit Import and Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property.
South Florida Archaeology
The South Florida archaeological collections contain materials from 13 counties (Broward, Charlotte, Collier, Miami-Dade,
Glades, Hendry, Highlands, Lee, Martin, Monroe, Okeechobee, Palm Beach, and St. Lucie). This area includes 14,666
square miles, about 27% of the area of Florida. Systematic artifact collections are most comprehensive for southwest
Florida. There are also important reference collections from elsewhere in south Florida, including the so-called "Cushing
Collection," the Van Beck Collection excavated from the Marco Midden in the 1960s, the extensive Fort Center collection,
artifacts from Key Marco, artifacts collected by John Goggin on which the major systematic artifact typologies for south
Florida are based; and all artifacts, pre-Columbian and post-contact, that have been excavated since 1983 by the
Southwest Florida Project (e.g., Horr's Island, Cash Mound, Galt Island, Buck Key, Josslyn Island, Useppa Island, and
the Pineland Site Complex).
Ethnography
Latin American Ethnography
Artifacts from the Andes include a premier collection transferred to our museum from the Harn Museum of Art. Originally acquired
by Roy C. Craven and Robert P. Ebersole in their travels through Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia in the mid 1970s, this collection
is exceptionally well documented and includes both folk art and utilitarian objects of local manufacture. Amazonia is also well represented,
and includes a large collection recently transferred to our museum by Federal authorities after it was impounded as evidence in a court case.
This collection features elaborate feather work headdresses, as well as a number of other objects of ritual use. Material culture from
contemporary Mesoamerica is currently only a small component of our collection, mostly represented by textiles and ceramics.
North American Ethnography
The North American ethnographic collection spans all the major geographic areas, and includes many important artifact types dating to the
1920s. Some of these were collected systematically, such as the material acquired by Oliver Austin from the Labrador Inuit and Innu (Naskapi)
of Canada in 1927-1928. The Pearsall collection includes 2,320 North American Indian ethnographic artifacts purchased by Leigh Morgan Pearsall
on the art market between 1900-1960. Rich in imagery of the cultural interface between European-Americans and Native Americans, this collection
contains many examples of early forms of art made specifically for sale, providing an important resource for studying the origins of the North
American Indian art market.
Fossils
Invertebrate Fossils (Invertebrate Paleontology)
The strength and significance of the Invertebrate Paleontology Collection reside in the extensive amount of
material collected within the last 25 years from sites all over Florida, the southeastern U.S., and the Caribbean
and from numerous acquired fossil collections (e.g., Emily & Harold Vokes-Tulane University, Florida Geological
Survey, Department of Geology-Florida State University, Paul and Thomas McGinty, Evelyn and Ernest Bradley,
Muriel Hunter and Joe Banks, Jules DuBar, Maxwell Smith). Totalling 4.3 million specimens, these fossils
constitute one of the finest Cenozoic invertebrate collections in the U.S.
Fossil Plants & Pollen (Paleobotany & Palynology)
The collection is the 3rd largest paleobotanical collection in the United States with approximately 300,000
specimens collected from 1,400 localities. It is international in scope, ranging from the Proterozoic to the
Pleistocene, and includes collections from 47 countries. Its greatest strength is in Cretaceous-Tertiary
(from 120 million years old to the present) angiosperms, or flowering plants, which are represented by
large numbers of well-preserved fruits and flowers as well as leaves and wood. The type and figured
collection includes all FLMNH paleobotanical specimens that have been cited in published literature,
extending from the 1920s to the present. Approximately 180 publications are known to have cited
specimens that now reside in the FLMNH paleobotanical collection.
Vertebrate Fossils (Vertebrate Paleontology)
One of the top 5 university collections of its kind, Vertebrate Paleontology features rich samples of all classes,
mainly from the Cenozoic Era, with more than 500,000 specimens, including bones from mammoths and mastodons
to the ancient horses from North America. More than 90% of the collection comes from about 2,000 marine and
non-marine sites in Florida. Other contributing regions are the Caribbean Basin and the South American Andes.
Natural Sciences
Birds (Ornithology)
The Ornithology program curates the world's 5th largest collection of modern
bird skeletons and a collection of bird sounds 2nd largest in the Western
hemisphere in number of species. The egg collection represents approximately
90% of the living species and subspecies of North American birds.
Butterflies & Moths (Lepidoptera)
The McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity houses more than 8 million specimens of butterfly
and moth species and is approximately equal to the Natural History Museum, London, in Lepidoptera holdings,
the two being the largest in the world.
Fishes (Ichthyology)
The ichthyology collection ranks as an international resource. Although holdings are global in scope,
its strengths are Atlantic nearshore, continental shelf and deepwater marine fishes; western Atlantic
reef fishes; North American, neotropical and Antillean freshwater fishes; and elasmobranchs (sharks,
skates and rays). The collection has fully integrated important ichthyological collections formerly
housed at the University of Miami, Florida State University, and the Tropical Atlantic Biological
Laboratory (now National Marine Fisheries Service Southeast Fisheries Science Center) as well
as numerous smaller regional collections. A web-based database allows for off-site searches of
the 200,000 catalogued lots (ca. 2 million specimens). The division also hosts the All Catfish Species
Inventory Project and the Florida Program for Shark Research, which includes the International Shark
Attack File.
Genetic Resources Repository
The Genetic Resources Repository was established in the summer of 2006 as a central facility for the long-term
cryogenic preservation of museum materials destined to be used in genetics-based studies of evolution and conservation.
The GRR archives samples from the other eight natural history research collections of the museum. Currently,
approximately 10,000 samples are housed in the repository's liquid nitrogen freezer and in the coming years these
holdings are expected to grow by about 6,000 per year.
Mammals (Mammalogy)
The Mammalogy collection consists primarily of skins and skulls, although entire
skeletons have been prepared for most specimens collected after 1980. Important
collections include marine mammals (one of the most extensive collections in the
U.S.), small mammals of Pakistan, Caribbean bats and Florida Panthers. Mammalogy
has been involved with the Florida Panther Recovery Project since its inception
and has the most significant research collection of this endangered species in
the country.
Molecular Systematics & Evolutionary Genetics
Scientists and students from 10 countries are currently working with a variety of molecular
techniques to answer ecological and evolutionary questions at all taxonomic levels.
Ongoing studies address the origin of the flower, the phylogeny of flowering plants,
plant speciation, and the conservation genetics of endangered Florida plant species.
Mollusks & Marine Invertebrates (Malacology & Invertebrate Zoology)
The Malacology collection is the 4th largest in North America, and the 2nd
largest in the world in terms of online access. Its extensive holdings provide
some of the best documentation available of change and extinction in North American
freshwater habitats during the last century. The collection is renown for land
and freshwater snails, and tropical reef mollusks. The Invertebrate Zoology
collection, currently housed with Malacology, is the newest addition to the
museum. Initiated in 2000, it is already among the 10 largest in the US, with
a rapidly growing collection of reef invertebrates worldwide in scope.
Plants (Botany/Herbarium)
The University of Florida Herbarium, a joint operation of the Florida Museum
and the Institute for Food and Agricultural Sciences, is composed of over 400,000
vascular plants, bryophytes and lichen specimens, 15,000 wood samples and 3,000
seeds samples. The herbarium's reference library contains over 10,000 publications
with descriptions, geographical ranges and keys for differentiating species of
vascular plants, as well as information regarding Latin plant names (nomenclature),
plant collectors and economic botany.
Reptiles & Amphibians (Herpetology)
With approximately 202,000 specimens, the FLMNH herpetology collection is estimated to be the 9th largest in the
U.S. Its skeletal collection, with more than 11,000 disarticulated skeletons and a small number of cleared and
stained specimens, is 5th largest. An average of 3,800 new specimens is cataloged each year.