Artwork credit: Friedemann-Sánchez, Nancy. Loba Garifuna. 2024, 80" x 40", Ink on Tyvek and found objects, Courtesy of Instituto de Vision, New York/Bogotá

MEASURING DIFFERENCE

A NEW EXHIBITION AT THE COLLECTION OF HISTORICAL SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS OPENING 10/20/24

Our Mission & Vision

The mission of the Harvard Museums of Science & Culture (HMSC) is to foster curiosity and a spirit of discovery in visitors of all ages, enhancing public understanding of and appreciation for the natural world, science, and human cultures. HMSC works in concert with Harvard faculty, museum curators, and students, as well as with members of the extended Harvard community, to provide interdisciplinary exhibitions, events and lectures, and educational programs for students, teachers, and the general public. HMSC draws primarily upon the extensive collections of the member museums and the research of their faculty and curators.

Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East

The museum explores the rich history of the Near Eastern cultures. Exhibitions include a full-scale replica of an ancient Iron Age home, life-sized casts of famous Mesopotamian monuments, authentic mummy coffins, interactive displays, and tablets containing the earliest forms of writing.

6 Divinity Ave
Cambridge, MA

Open: Sunday–Friday

Hours: 11:00 am–4:00 pm

Closed: Saturdays

Man with object showing a man and a woman.

Harvard Museum of Natural History

Visit the new exhibits Swimming with Sharks and In Search of Thoreau’s Flowers, as well as the popular Glass Flowers gallery. Find your birthstone gem in the newly renovated mineral gallery, and view dinosaur fossils in the paleontology gallery. Admission to the Peabody Museum at Harvard is included.

26 Oxford St,
Cambridge, MA

Open: Monday–Sunday

Hours: 9:00 am–5:00 pm

Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology

Explore Maya culture in the Latin American galleries. Discover the early days of American anthropology as shown in the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. Experience Native American history and cultures through special exhibitions on Penobscot Canoes, Lakota Images of the Contested West, and the Indian College at colonial Harvard. Admission to the popular Harvard Museum of Natural History is included.

11 Divinity Ave,
Cambridge, MA

Open: Monday–Sunday

Hours: 9:00 am–5:00 pm

Guests enjoying the exhibits in the Peabody.

Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments

The collection contains over 20,000 objects dating from about 1400 to the present. A broad range of scientific disciplines are represented, including astronomy, navigation, horology, surveying, geology, calculating, physics, biology, medicine, psychology, electricity, and communication.

1 Oxford Street
Cambridge, MA

Open: Sunday–Friday

Hours: 11:00 am–4:00 pm

Closed: Saturdays