Collection Tours | SPNHC 2023 Events | California Academy of Sciences

Collection tours are always a highlight of SPNHC conferences, as attendees get to see firsthand some of the specimens housed at the host institution and the ways in which they are curated. For SPNHC 2023 visit collections at host institution the California Academy of Sciences or cross the bay to tour the Berkeley Natural History Museum Collections at the University of California, Berkeley. Select from blocks of tours at either CAS or UCB.

Tours will be held in the afternoon on Friday June 2nd beginning at 1:30 pm (2 pm for the Botanical Garden); both institutions are accessible from the Hilton via public transportation.

Space is limited and offered on a first come, first served basis. If the tour of your choice is full, you may add your name to the waitlist.

Behind the scenes at the California Academy of Sciences

Lobby of the California Academy of Sciences

For nearly 170 years, the California Academy of Science has documented biodiversity around the world by building and curating world-class research collections. As the oldest and largest U.S. research collections west of the Mississippi River, preserved CAS scientific specimens from around the world are an invaluable resource for documenting the biodiversity of our changing planet.

The Academy’s Institute for Biodiversity Science and Sustainability (IBSS) is home to more than 100 research scientists and nearly 46 million scientific specimens, with many species housed alive and on display under the same roof in the Academy’s Steinhart Aquarium. Since 1923, the Steinhart Aquarium has developed a colorful history of firsts. From becoming the first public aquarium to display flashlight fish and coconut octopuses to advancing exploration of the ocean’s mysterious “twilight zone”, the Steinhart continues to shape the role modern aquariums play in educating and inspiring the public about the biodiversity and sustainability of our oceans and rainforests.

Blocks of two behind the scenes tours of the California Academy Academy’s IBSS Collections and our Steinhart Aquarium in San Francisco are available to meeting attendees with pre-registration. You may sign up for one tour block that interests you. Tour block sessions begin at 1:30 pm at the California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park, a short MUNI ride from the SF Hilton downtown.

And visit the Academy's public floor any time during the week. Your conference badge will grant you free access through the main entrance.

The Berkeley Natural History Museum

Berkeley Natural History Museums on CalDay

The BNHM is a consortium of natural history collections and field reserves at the University of California at Berkeley just across San Francisco Bay from the conference venue. The BNHM integrates historic biological and cultural repositories and cutting edge informatics and research. Together, UC Berkeley's natural history museum collections represent over 12 million voucher specimens in anthropology, botany, entomology, herpetology, mammalogy, ornithology, ichthyology, and paleontology.

Tour blocks of the BNHM include the University and Jepson Herbaria, the Essig Museum of Entomology, the University of California Museum of Paleontology (UCMP), the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology (MVZ), and the University of California Botanical Garden. Recommended self-transportation for these 1:30 pm tours (2 pm for the Botanical Garden) is by BART train to the Downtown Berkeley Station close to the UC Berkeley campus. UC's Bear Transit campus shuttle is available for on campus transport for a modest fee.

Admission to the University of California Botanical Garden will also be free for all SPNHC registrants the week of the conference beginning May 28 for self-guided tours. Just show your badge at the entrance.

If you are planning on visiting the BNHM collections for your own research purposes, please contact the various staff ahead of time to plan your visit. Except for the public exhibit areas of the UC Botanical Gardens, Museum of Paleontology, Herbaria and Hearst Museum of Anthropology, the collections of all BNHM museums are not open to the public and can be seen by appointment only.