The Academy of Natural Sciences is closing its museum after nearly two centuries

Philadelphia’s Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University is closing its museum after nearly two centuries in existence, Drexel and Academy leaders said in an announcement sent to staff and others Tuesday morning.

The museum, opened to the public in 1828, will cease operations at the end of the business day Sept. 30. Its last day open to the public with regular hours will be Sunday, Sept. 27.

Visitorship at the museum had slipped in recent years, according to leaders, and though the Academy had worked to rebuild attendance after the pandemic, “patterns of visitation and audience behavior changed in lasting ways, while the costs of operating the museum continued to rise,” the announcement said.

“Over time, it became clear that these were not temporary pressures, but fundamental changes in the economics of the Academy’s operational model, costs that have imperiled the Academy’s ability to discharge its overall mission and preserve its legacy.”

Closing the current Parkway museum, was, therefore, “a difficult decision taken to concentrate resources on the Academy’s enduring scientific assets and research,” said the announcement, signed by Drexel president Antonio Merlo and Academy board chair Suzanne Biemiller.

The museum on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway at 19th St. cut back its hours of operation from five days a week to three — Friday through Sunday — as of last Oct. 1 (though it added back Thursdays in July and August for its Dino-Mite Summer program).

Drexel said 27 of the Academy’s 80 employees — about a third — will be “impacted” by the closure. The university did not say whether that meant they would be laid off or transferred and did not immediately respond to a question on how much money the move will save.

Simultaneously Tuesday, the university and science institute announced that Scott Cooper, Academy of Natural Sciences president and CEO for nearly nine years, is stepping down immediately.

The Drexel and the Academy boards will “continue working together to identify an appropriate governance structure and interim and permanent leadership for the Academy,” Tuesday’s statement said.

The Academy, which became affiliated with Drexel in 2011, is known to the general public for its museum that features a Dinosaur Hall with dinosaur bones and full-scale replicas. Its exhibitions have explored environmental issues and centered on the Academy’s collection of approximately 19 million specimens, as well as historically significant items associated with Thomas Jefferson and Lewis and Clark.

It offers hands-on science experiences, like a “big-dig” fossil exhibit, and old-school dioramas of bison, bears, tigers and other animals in their ecosystems. The museum’s current “Botany of Nations” show “reshape[s] the historic tale of Lewis & Clark through Indigenous perspectives,” says an exhibition description.

Closure of the museum does not affect the rest of the institution, which builds and maintains the collections and conducts research through departments such as the Patrick Center for Environmental Research, all housed in the Parkway structure. All of that will remain there, the university said. The Academy owns the building, a university spokesperson said.

Biemiller said that “the trustees of the Academy know that this news about the closure of the museum is going to be a blow to Philadelphians, and I would love for them to know we share their feelings of loss about this beloved space and place. And we also know that work remains to develop and fund a new strategic and operating model that will ensure that the Academy’s important centuries-long mission to understand the world and inspire us to care for it continues.”

Asked whether the intent was to reopen a museum, Biemiller said: “I would hope so. That’s the goal. I think we have not given up on that part of our mission. The Academy is research, it is [specimens and library] collections, and it is public engagement.”

While she said it was “incumbent upon us to find places and ways” for the museum to continue, what form it would take has not been determined.

“It could be at the current location in a different configuration, it could be a new location, it could be imagined in different ways.”

What’s important, she said, was the “fundamental goal to ensure that people have access to the natural world, can see these birds from North American or dinosaur bones and fossils the Academy scientists have collected and understand how they connect to the world.”

The cut comes amid financial challenges at Drexel University, which has been seeking to overcome a budget deficit, overhaul academic programs, change from a quarter-based calendar to semesters by fall 2027, and cope with another national dip in high school students beginning this year.

Over about the last decade, the West Philadelphia university has lost about 20% of its enrollment. Last fall, Drexel saw a 19% drop in freshmen; numbers for this fall aren’t yet available, though the school is projecting a 16% jump in first-year students. And the school, which enrolled 20,868 undergraduate and graduate students in 2025-26, is projected to continue to run deficits through fiscal year 2028, according to a report from Moody’s, a global financial services company that releases credit ratings.

» READ MORE: Drexel’s new president must tackle a deficit and declining enrollment. He sees it as a ‘moment of reinvention.’

Merlo, Drexel’s president, told The Inquirer in April that the school projected ending the year with a $20 million deficit, down from almost $40 million last year and $63 million in 2024. In May, the school said it had implemented $93 million of “permanent strategies” to deal with the “structural imbalance” and had identified $11 million more.

The Academy has become a drain on the university, a source familiar with the situation, who was not authorized to speak about the matter and asked not to be identified, told The Inquirer in April.

The university has provided the Academy with substantial support — $8,288,000 and $8,914,000 for operations in fiscal years 2025 and 2024, respectively, according to financial statements posted on the Academy website. These numbers include in-kind support that Drexel is providing to the Academy.

Friction between the Academy and Drexel became public in April, The Inquirer reported, revealing Drexel’s wish to totally take over the Academy, or end the partnership.

Talks are continuing between the two institutions, with the offices of Gov. Josh Shapiro and Mayor Cherelle L. Parker involved, underscoring the importance of the Academy to both the city and the state. Former Comcast executive and U.S. Ambassador to Canada David L. Cohen has also been tapped by Shapiro to serve as a third-party facilitator in the process, the university said in its message.

“Together, we are advancing discussions focused on the Academy’s long-term future and identifying new opportunities to strengthen its scientific mission, ensure access to its world-renowned collections, expand public engagement in the natural sciences, and maintain the Academy’s enduring presence in Philadelphia,” the message said.

The Academy’s affiliation with Drexel is 15 years old. It announced a partnership agreement with Drexel in 2011 that blended the two organizations somewhat, but stopped short of being a full merger. The two groups maintain separate boards.

According to a 2013 Drexel audit, the 2011 affiliation agreement between the two institutions stated that the Academy would retain its status as separate nonprofit organization, but that as of September 2012 it would become a Drexel subsidiary owned 100% by the university.

A Drexel spokesperson said in April that the school had “invested a substantial amount annually in the Academy to maintain access to the Academy’s collections while we worked with the Academy and the community to identify a sustainable path to keep this resource in Philadelphia.”

Cooper was named the Academy’s leader in 2017 after serving as vice president of collections, knowledge and engagement at the Royal British Columbia Museum in Victoria, Canada. Before that, he was director of museums at the Qatar Foundation in Doha, Qatar.

» READ MORE: From 2018: Inside Academy of Natural Sciences’ historic diorama renovation

Under his leadership, the Academy “renewed its public and scientific mission,” Tuesday’s joint statement from Drexel and the Academy said. “It revitalized galleries, developed original exhibitions showcasing its collections and research, and advanced co-curatorial approaches that brought new voices into programs and interpretation.”

Cooper, who will remain for a time as a consultant to the Academy, was not available for comment, a spokesperson said.

“We’re sorry he’s leaving, but understand his decision,” said Biemiller.

“It’s a competitive world that museums inhabit, and people make choices every single day,” Cooper told the Inquirer after his 2017 announcement. “We need to ensure that when they come to the Academy they are getting a reward for their investment of time.”