Hundreds rally to protest the planned closure of the Academy of Natural Sciences museum

Sandy McNeal came to the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University on a mission that belied the beauty of a September morning that was as splendid as it gets in Philadelphia: She was aiming to prevent a “funeral.”

McNeal, 69, and several hundred other protesters, chanting “Hey Drex! Save T-Rex,” gathered at the landmark building on Logan Square to demand that Drexel, the academy board, the state — somebody — find a way to prevent the closure of the museum, scheduled for Sept. 30.

They came armed with signs reading “Save Our Saurs” and “Drexel Destroys Dinos?”

Protest organizer Sarah McAnulty told the decidedly intergenerational crowd, made up of children and a whole lot of former children, that the academy, whose roots date to January 1812 — when Charles Darwin had not yet turned 3 — “brought an understanding of the vast array of Earth’s life to Philadelphia.”

The museum “must remain open to the public,” she declared.

» READ MORE: ‘It’s such a special place’: Visitors crowd the Academy of Natural Sciences ahead of impending closure

“Philadelphia should be ashamed,” said McNeal, who lives in Delaware County and whose daughter is a marine biologist. For her, the museum’s closing would be akin to a “funeral.”

As for the city government’s possible role, Councilmember Nina Ahmad said she and her colleagues were as surprised as everyone else by the announced closing.

“Why haven’t we heard about it? Why haven’t they come to us? We are the legislative body,” she told the crowd. Drexel and museum officials have said a dramatic drop in visitors since the COVID-19 pandemic and Drexel’s budget issues drove the closure decision.

They have said that the collections would be maintained and the academy’s research would continue at a different location, but that the public museum, housed in a commodious building that opened in 1876 during the city’s centennial celebration, would be closed and eventually sold.

The phrase “Academy of Natural Sciences” first appeared in the March 1812 minutes of a group of Philadelphia naturalists who had begun meeting two months earlier at the home of druggist John Speakman at Second and Market Streets, according to a 1909 history. It was a year more well-known for wars and the likes of Napoleon and Stonewall Jackson, but founder Speakman found like-minded citizens in the Quaker City.

The academy, whose participants included William Bartram, son of legendary botanist John Bartram, would grow into one of the nation’s most significant research centers, and the museum would become a popular public attraction, known for its dinosaur exhibits and dioramas, a vehicle for awing adults and piquing the interest of children in natural history.

Having bunked a few hours of school, 10-year-old Ryan Sumner-lee was among those who made it to the protest Tuesday.

“It’s the place that taught me I want to be a rock scientist, a paleontologist,” the fifth grader said. Aware of the closing plans, she begged her mother to take her to the demonstration.

“She wanted to come,” said her mother, Tammy Sumner. “I am just the driver. She gives me hope” for future generations.

Ross Bradley, 36, who brought his 6-year-old and 2-year-old to the protest, said he could not imagine a situation in which kids would not get to learn about science in their own city.

“I have a lot of anxiety about the climate and raising young kids in an uncertain future,” Bradley said. “Having this place, where they can get invested about the future, it’s vital for them to not just feel hopeless about the planet.”

Daryl Stoner, 67, a retired physician from Chestnut Hill, said she brought her children to the museum once a week when they were in elementary school. The closure means an “invaluable resource” will soon be lost.

“If we’re trying to get our kids active and off their phones, what’s better than bringing them down, walking them through the halls, and showing them things that have been there for eons.

“We can’t afford to lose it for future generations,” Stoner said. “It’s horrendous that our city would lose this.”