Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture

About

The Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture is Washington State's oldest public museum, founded in 1885 and now housed in a striking new building on the University of Washington campus in Seattle that opened in 2019. As the state natural history and cultural museum, the Burke serves as a repository for Washington's most significant natural and cultural heritage while making its collections and research accessible to the public. The museum's new building was designed with transparency as a core value: visitors can watch scientists at work in research labs and collections areas through floor-to-ceiling windows, connecting public learning directly to active scholarship. The fossil prep lab, where technicians painstakingly expose specimens from their rock matrix, is a particular draw for curious visitors of all ages. Paleontology galleries feature Washington dinosaurs and Pacific Northwest fossils, including casts of the dinosaurs found in the state. The Northwest Native Art collection presents cultural objects and regalia from Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast in collaboration with descendant communities, ensuring that objects are displayed with appropriate cultural context and tribal voices. The Burke's Living collection spans plants, animals, geology, and cultural objects — over 16 million specimens in total — many of which are accessible to researchers worldwide through digitized databases. The BurkeMobile outreach program brings natural history and cultural collections to schools and communities across Washington state that can't easily visit Seattle. School programs, DIG Field School, summer camps, homeschool days, and First Thursday extended hours (free for UW students and staff) make the Burke an accessible resource for learners throughout the region.

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