We hold 131,000 insects in the Carl Parsons collection (named after our curator from 1948-1955 who willed his collection to the museum), including a world-class set of North American ground beetles (Carabidae) collected by former faculty Ross and Joyce Bell. No other comparable collection of Vermont’s insects and other arthropods exists, since Tropical Storm Irene destroyed the State Invertebrate Collection in 2011.

Our 6,000 mammal specimens (skins) consist primarily of New World rodents, with an extensive collection of small mammals from Vermont and New Hampshire; our holdings represent 35 of the 70 families of New World mammals, including all living species of Vermont mammals. We also have 1,200 birds and 2,600 reptiles and amphibians, which formed the basis for the Vermont State Herpetology Atlas.

Karl Pember, Vermont State Ornithologist from 1923 until his death in 1928, assembled a collection of 4,000 birds' eggs representing 273 species and 57 families. The collection includes several threatened or endangered species, such as the short-tailed albatross, great bustard, and Florida sandhill crane. Karl's cousin Franklin, also a naturalist whose collection is maintained at the Pember Museum in Granville, New York, may have contributed some specimens as well.

Stuffed birds and mammals as old as the 1850s make up our collection of about 170 historic mounts, including an extinct passenger pigeon, a muskox born and raised in Vermont, and a polar bear killed during a sting that toppled an international poaching ring. In 2021, professional and student conservators cleaned and restored these mounts with a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Service's Inspire! program for small museums. More about the conservation project. And be sure to check out our catamount exhibit, displaying one of our oldest and most dramatic animals, on the first floor of the Davis Center.

Meet our curatorial staff and researchers