Featured Museum Research
- Costa Rica Research
- One of MPM’s biggest research projects takes place in Costa Rica, where MPM scientists, in collaboration with those from the University of Wisconsin - Madison, and two Costa Rican Universities, the University of Costa Rica and the Universidad Nacional, have been conducting research since 2001. Their main focus is the cacao tree, the plant that provides the world with chocolate.
- Ethnobotany
- A comprehensive database of plant specimens, tribal photos, publications and other information from Huron Smith's research and studies of various Wisconsin tribes in the early 20th century.
- Mathiak Collection of Freshwater Mussels of Wisconsin
- The Milwaukee Public Museum Mollusk Collection contains specimens from freshwater, terrestrial and marine habitats around the world.
The most significant holdings are from Wisconsin, a major portion of these being freshwater mussels collected and donated by Harold A. Mathiak.
- New Species from the West Indies
- Bob Henderson, curator at the Milwaukee Public Museum and Robert Powell, biologist at Avila University in Kansas City, Mo. officially named the new species of lizard, Gonatodes daudini.
- Our Fine, Feathery Ferns
- Over 60 different kinds of ferns are native to Wisconsin. Most of our species can be distinguished from one another by the division of their leaves and the shape and location of their sori. For example, Walking Fern has undivided leaves with elongate sori whereas the Wood Fern has divided leaves with round sori.
- Sponges of Wisconsin
- The Wisconsin Sponges Homepage is an information resource based on Milwaukee Public Museum collections and research. The primary focus is on freshwater sponges, with images and data from the Milwaukee Public Museum project, Visual Guide to the Sponges of Wisconsin, supported in part by a grant from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.