Research Collections

For information about access or use of the collection areas, please contact Kacey Page at kpage@sciencebuff.org.

Anthropology

Collection of 120,000 objects, of which about 60,000 represent local archaeology and 60,000 represent ethnographic and archaeological materials from around the world.

Collection Highlights:

• Local archaeological collections represent 11,000 years of human occupation and cultural change in the Great Lakes region.
• The P.G.T. Black Collection of 6,200 objects is the second largest, earliest and best-documented collection in North America of artifacts from the South Pacific.
• Collections of artifacts from the African Village at the 1901 Pan American Exposition.
• The Holland Lithic Laboratory is North America's largest systematic reference collection of the raw materials used for tool manufacture by prehistoric Native Americans.

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Botany

Collection of more than 100,000 botanical specimens. A collection of 25,000 items focus on the Greater Niagara Region.

Collection Highlights:

• The Clinton Herbarium is the ninth oldest herbarium in the United States, dating from 1862. The collection was colledted by Judge G. W. Clinton, son of DeWitt Clinton.

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Geology

Collection of 100,000 fossil specimens and 20,000 mineral specimens. Extensive holdings of fossil fishes, echinoderms,  and trilobites. The mineral collection includes nearly all of the more common species, as well as objects d'art.

Collection Highlights:

• Hiscock Site collection: one of the most important late Ice Age collections in the country, documenting changing environments and inhabitants of western New York over the past 13,000 years.
• The largest eurypterid (sea scorpion) collection in any museum.

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Invertebrate Zoology

Collection contains about 150,000 pinned insects and smaller collections of mollusks, corals, and invertebrates in fluid. Collection of over 123,000 freshwater and marine shells, which were collected in the 19th century.

Collection Highlights:

• The collection of owlet and underwing moths is historically significant, half of the 8,300 specimens were collected prior to 1920.
• Synoptic collection of house inhabiting spiders of western New York. 

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Mycology

The mycology division contains about 4,000 collections of boletes, representing over 20,000 specimens. Boletes are fleshy readily decaying pore fungi of considerable economic importance.

Collection Highlights:

• Collection contains representatives of 35% of the species from North America and about 85% of the species recorded from northeastern North America.
• The herbarium houses a number of type specimens and the historically important collection of Charles C. Frost specimens, which are among the earliest described boletes from North America.

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Vertebrate Zoology

Collection contains over 30,000 specimens including 9,000 birds; 1,700 mammals; 3,000 reptiles and amphibians and over 16,000 fish.

Collection Highlights:

• Most of the Niagara Frontier region's 650+ species of vertebrates are represented in the Museum's collection.

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Special Collections

The Special Collections include the Museum's photographic collection and a collection of microscopes and corresponding microscope slides.

Collection Highlights:

• The photographic collections document the museum and its activities.
• The Wilson A. Bentley (1865-1931) collection of photomicrographs of snow crystals, frost and dew.

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