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Originally titled the Columbian Museum of Chicago in honor of its origins, the Field Museum was incorporated by the State of Illinois on September 16, 1893, for the purpose of the "accumulation and dissemination of knowledge, and the preservation and exhibition of artifacts illustrating art, archaeology, science and history".
Our Mission: The Field Museum connects all of us to the natural world and the human story. A little history. Located on Chicago’s iconic Lake Michigan shore, the Field Museum opened its current building to the public in 1921—but our story began years earlier.
November 10, 1905. Trustees vote to change the Museum's name to Field Museum of Natural History to honor Marshall Field, the Museum's first major benefactor and to emphasize its natural sciences collection in anthropology, botany, geology and zoology.
Field was known to support any plan for increasing Chicago’s access to cultural and educational facilities, and the museum was no exception. Edward E. Ayer, who would later become the museum’s first president, called Field to solicit his support for the museum, and after some consideration, Field offered $1 million.
3 days ago · Field Museum, museum in Chicago, Illinois, U.S., established in 1893 as the Columbian Museum of Chicago with a gift from Marshall Field, from whom in 1905 it derived its present name. It was established to house the anthropological and biological collections of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition .
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Interior of Field Museum, c.1900. When the World's Columbian Exposition closed in the fall of 1893, and its estimated 25 million visitors had gone home, all that remained standing on the fairgrounds was the Palace of Fine Arts. On June 2, 1894, in that building, the Field Museum of Natural History opened to a large and enthusiastic crowd.
For some years, during the 1950s and 1960s, it was officially known as the "Chicago Natural History Museum" but eventually the still-popular name, "Field Museum," was restored. The museum was added to the National Register of Historic Places on September 5, 1975.
