“In a world where a changing climate, habitat loss, invasive species, and many other influences are affecting our natural world, we are in urgent need of a repository for as much of its current diversity as possible. The Ohio Wesleyan natural history museum has served this purpose for more than 150 years, and it is one of the jewels in the crown available to our students to prepare them for the important mandate of documenting and interpreting our natural history for the common good.”
– Dr. Edward H. “Jed” Burtt Jr.
(1948-2016)
Ohio Wesleyan's Brant Museum of Zoology houses teaching collections of mammals, birds and their eggs and nests, insects, mollusks, and corals, with smaller collections of other taxa.
This natural history museum features more than 400 mounted birds, including a golden eagle. It draws researchers from across the country, but its collections are used primarily for classroom and laboratory teaching, including helping students to better understand both taxonomic and evolutionary relationships.
For many years, student-curators in the museum have enjoyed an unusually rich internship experience, with many using their involvement as a springboard for graduate education and career opportunities.
Thousands of Ohio Wesleyan Zoology students alone have benefited from the facility, officially called the Brant Museum in recognition of Alan G. Brant ’54 and Nancy Hennis Brant ’54 and their generous support of the Schimmel/Conrades Science Center.
Outside the sciences, the OWU Department of Fine Arts also brings classes to the museum to draw its collection of intricate organisms, eggs, and bones.
In addition, prospective students visit the museum regularly to better understand the breadth and depth of OWU's offerings, and teachers in local secondary schools and community colleges borrow specimens to illustrate biological principles.
“As an alumnus, I am pleased to return to OWU to see a thriving museum collection and courses still focused on organismal biology like ornithology and vertebrate anatomy.” Read more
“As the collections manager at the Maria Mitchell Association’s Natural History Museum on Nantucket, I use every aspect of the skills I learned and practiced at Ohio Wesleyan.” Read more
"This was the first time that the Latin names of animals held true meaning for me. ... Concepts from my anatomy and evolution classes were coming alive, and I was becoming even more engaged with those courses." Read more
“I have no doubt of the impact of working in the museum as a student. A job within the department, engagement with faculty, even learning skills that led toward an internship all put me on the path to my eventual career as a professor.” Read more
OWU's natural history museum has a collection of 2,500 birds of more than 130 species, as well as smaller collections of mammals, fish, insects, amphibians, reptiles, bones, eggs, and feathers.
The museum's collection of bird specimens is renown among ornithologists and other researchers.
Founded more than 100 years ago, OWU's natural history museum has played a role in the education of thousands of students.
In addition to its renown bird collection, the museum includes smaller collections of insects, reptiles, mammals, feathers, bones, and fossils.
The museum has an insect collection of 20,000 specimens for study for OWU students and faculty members.