Rare Books on Natural History Research Guide

• Natural History Libraries
• Professional Organizations
• Smithsonian Institution
• Exhibitions
• Digitized Cullman Books

Welcome to the Smithsonian Libraries and Archives' Rare Books on Natural History Research Guide. These resources were gathered to help students, teachers, and researchers explore resources at our libraries and beyond. Please feel free to Contact Us with suggestions for additional resources or with questions.

Natural History Libraries

• Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia
• American Museum of Natural History
• Arnold Arboretum, Harvard
• Bernice P. Bishop Museum
• California Academy of Sciences
• Carnegie Museum of Natural History
• Cornell Univ., Hill Ornithology Collection
• For additional natural-history museums & libraries, see the list of links compiled by SIL's National Museum of Natural History Branch Library (click on Libraries or Museums).
• Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation
• Missouri Botanical Garden
• Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris : Bibliothèque centrale du Muséum
• Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard
• National Agricultural Library
• National Library of Medicine-History of Medicine Div.
• Natural History Museum, London
• Oxford University Museum of Natural History
• The Royal Society, London
• Univ.Kansas, Spencer Library, Hist.of Science colls.

Professional Organizations

• Council of Botanical & Horticultural Libraries
• Society for the History of Natural History

Smithsonian Institution

• Information on Old Books
• NMNH Research programs

Exhibitions 

• Wonder Bound (si.edu)
• The Art of African Exploration (si.edu)
• Illustrations of the Nests and Eggs of Birds of Ohio (si.edu)
• Frontier Photographer: Edward S. Curtis (si.edu)

Digitized Cullman Books

• Verzeichniss meiner Insecten-Sammlung: Smithsonian Institution Libraries Digital Editions (si.edu)
• Observationum Botanicarum by D. Romanus Adolph Hedwig (si.edu) 
• Description Botanique du Chiranthodendron by José Dionisio Larréategui
• Ornithologie by François Nicolas Martinet (si.edu)
• The Avifauna of Laysan and the neighbouring islands with a complete history to date of the birds of the Hawaiian possession
• Prodromus in Systema Historicum Testaceorum by J.J.N.A. Spalowsky
• Simiarum et Vespertilionum Brasiliensium species novae by Johann Baptist von Spix
• The United States Exploring Expedition, 1838-1842 (si.edu)

You can find more at the Biodiversity Heritage Library (biodiversitylibrary.org)