Wagner Free Institute of Science

The Wagner Free Institute of Science is a natural history museum and educational institution. Founded by William Wagner in 1855, it offers the oldest free adult science education program in the United States. From the beginning it has combined public access to natural history and science materials with lively educational programs taught by acknowledged scholars.

Today, the Institute offers a wide range of educational opportunities for people of all ages, including free courses, public lectures, field trips, tours and children’s lessons. Its National Historic Landmark building, completed in 1865, houses a Victorian-era lecture hall, a 3-story exhibit hall with more than 100,000 specimens, and a special collections library and archives that serve students, scholars and the public.

The Wagner now has a dual mission: making contemporary science widely accessible and preserving and interpreting its historic site and collections, which together offer a rare experience of a Victorian natural history museum and library.