On Thursday, Sept. 25, the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University announced a drastic reduction in its hours of operation. Beginning this week, the museum will be open only on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Thursdays and Friday mornings will be designated for school visits, with additional, occasional members-only hours available throughout the year.
Until recently, the museum operated five days a week. This retreat from public engagement reflects several factors addressed in president and CEO Scott Cooper’s statement on the matter, including the lingering impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on visitation and the looming loss of federal funding.
Founded in 1812, the Academy is the oldest natural history museum in the Americas. Its prime location, across from Logan Square on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, has made it a long-standing cultural centerpiece in the city.
When COVID-19 shut down much of the city in March 2020, the Academy closed its doors along with it. It reopened on July 31, 2020, with reduced hours: Fridays through Sundays, plus members-only hours. Although it has been operating on a five-day weekly schedule recently, it is clear that visitation rates have never rebounded.
According to an internal memo, conclusions have also been made regarding staff restructuring, with 11 staff members being eliminated. These decisions will also be released in early October.
“While these are not easy decisions, we are confident they are the right ones as we continue the vital work of stewarding our incredible legacy as the oldest natural history museum and natural science research institution in the Americas,” Cooper shared.
These cutbacks occur within the context of Drexel’s existing budgetary issues, which were announced last year alongside a decrease in enrollment. Drexel students, however, have rallied behind the museum in support of its prominence and the benefits it provides.
“The Academy is an awesome resource for Drexel students,” said Paulie Loscalzo, a senior majoring in legal studies and sports business. “It was such a great way for students to tie themselves into Philly’s history while also being an educational experience and an enriching one… it really was a point of pride. It makes me sad to see it rolled back.”
Ryan Keating, a fifth-year civil engineering major, described the Academy as “one of my favorite places to take visitors, especially for Dinos After Dark. It’s one of the most underrated gems on the Parkway.”
He added that the museum was also a key childhood experience for many in the region: “It’s such a formative field trip if you grew up here, and I hope kids don’t miss out as a result of this. My mom still talks about the hissing cockroaches,” he noted, referring to one of the museum’s pop-up exhibits.
The Academy became formally affiliated with Drexel in May 2011. At the time, the partnership was considered a bold new collaboration. John Fry, Drexel’s then-president, emphasized that the institutions together represented 300 years of “contributions to our understanding of the world around us.” The merger, he said, would build on that history for the benefit of both the community and the world.
Then-Academy president George W. Gephart Jr. joked, “The dinosaur and the dragon meet today, and two fantastic beasts they are. I don’t know whether you call it a dragasaurus or what.”
In the years since, Drexel and the Academy have developed “fantastic” joint initiatives. The Department of Biodiversity, Earth and Environmental Science allows students to study alongside Academy scientists, many of whom serve as Drexel faculty or adjunct instructors.
Physical changes have also taken place; the Academy transformed its 111-year-old Library Reading Room into the William B. Dietrich Gallery, while creating a modernized Library Research Center for visitors to engage with archival and library materials.
Expanding beyond campus boundaries with their collaboration, in 2016, Drexel and the Academy were part of a coalition awarded a $30 million U.S. Department of Education grant to support the Promise Neighborhood program, which targets improved educational outcomes in West Philly’s federally designated Promise Zone. That same year, the Academy established the Science and Literacy for Success initiative, which brought STEM curricula into under-resourced early childhood classrooms — a first for Philadelphia.
In spring 2021, the Academy created the Museum Innovation Fund, supporting Drexel faculty and students in developing prototypes of novel museum experiences. One recent project awarded the grant, led by faculty in the Fashion Industry & Merchandising program, is the development of a virtual reality “Philadelphia Textile Trail” to spotlight sustainable textile production throughout the city.
With federal funding unlikely to be restored for the foreseeable future, it is uncertain when the immensely valuable collection will be restored to its former availability for students and visitors.