Harvard Museum of Natural History
The Ware Collection of Glass Flowers, great mammals, dinosaurs, gemstones, and changing science displays transform university collections into unusually close encounters with form.
Artwork inspired by Blanche Ames Ames
The Ware Collection of Glass Flowers, great mammals, dinosaurs, gemstones, and changing science displays transform university collections into unusually close encounters with form. The museum joins nineteenth-century display traditions with active research. Blaschka glass models reward botanical scrutiny, while comparative zoology, minerals, and fossils reveal how classification changes when evidence or scientific questions change.
The same ticket includes the adjoining Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, so decide whether to split the day or stay with natural history. Narrow historic galleries become crowded, and the Glass Flowers deserve time without treating them as decorative curiosities.
- Signature
- Ware Collection of Glass Flowers
- Institution
- Harvard University
- Shared admission
- Peabody Museum
Quick guide
- Begin with glass
- Compare transparency, anatomy, and illusion.
- Question classification
- Notice how cases organize relationships.
Know before you go
- Begin with glass
- Compare transparency, anatomy, and illusion.
- Question classification
- Notice how cases organize relationships.
- Choose the second museum
- Shared admission can double the day.
- Respect narrow rooms
- Return after groups move through.
Good to know
This museum and the Peabody share an entrance and ticket but remain distinct experiences. Historic cases, stairs, and crowds can complicate circulation even where elevator access exists.
Notice these
- Glass Flowers
- Great Mammal Hall
- Mineral gallery