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Natural history museums and extinct species have a long, intertwined history, and at the intersection lies the diorama.

Here at Milwaukee Public Museum, our renowned and immersive habitat dioramas have many different extinct or endangered species on display.

Below, we highlight 10 dioramas and how each relates to extinction stories.

Cosmic Curiosities

“I think you should always bear in mind that entropy is not on your side.”
- Elon Musk

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.

Introduction

The Third Floor Mezzanine (Pre-Columbian America) is permanently closed to the public as part of the next phase of packing for our new museum. Take a virtual tour of the gallery here.

Mesoamerica, a term used for the community of cultures found in southern Mexico and northern Central America from 2500 B.C.

When the first European explorers came to North America, they hoped to find vast amounts of gold and silver.

This was not an unrealistic expectation, for when Hernando Cortes conquered the Aztec Empire in Mexico in 1518 and 1519, he found incredible quantities of precious metals, as did Francisco Pizarro when he conquered the Inca Empire in 1534. A French explorer, Jacques Cartier, explored the St.

To the Maya of the modern Lake Amatitlán communities, the lake has a longstanding tradition as a sacred place. During Pre-Columbian times, according to legend (see Borhegyi 1959:237-38, Suzanne de Borhegyi 1961), a carved stone figure known as Jefe Dios occupied a hilltop on the north shore of the lake. One night in the 17th century, during a violent hailstorm and earthquake, the figure disappeared. In the morning, the small, painted wooden statue of the Santo Niño, the Christ Child, stood at the water's edge at the base of the cliff.