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Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
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Department of Invertebrate Zoology

Collections Access

The Department of Invertebrate Zoology (IZ) collections are housed in two locations in the Greater Washington DC area. Most of the dry preserved collections (Corals, Echinoderms, Mollusks and Sponges) are housed in the Natural History Building (NHB) centrally located on the National Mall in the District of Columbia. The fluid preserved collections and selected dry preserved collections are housed in the Museum Support Center (MSC) located in Suitland, Maryland, approximately 8 miles from the Natural History Building. The MSC is accessible via a scheduled shuttle bus. By advance arrangement, access to these collections may be provided to qualified scientists and their students and others with a demonstrable academic interest in our collections. All requests for access to the collections must be submitted to a Department of Invertebrate Zoology curator for review. See the “Arranging Your Visit” section below for instructions on scheduling your visit.

Start Your Visit Request

Once your visit is approved you will be notified via email. Please have any additional documentation necessary (i.e. advisor approval letter, list of USNM specimen numbers) on hand to prevent any delays in scheduling your appointment. It is vital that you review the visitor guidelines prior to your visit. These guidelines are in place to protect the collections and the individuals working with them, and to ensure the security of the department. All visitors are expected to be familiar with these polices and we reserve the right to revoke visitor privileges at our discretion.

Specimen Transactions

Donate Specimens
Specimen Loans
Museum Collections Policies
  1. Plan Ahead
    1. For short visits (less than 2 days) arrangements must be made at least two weeks in advance of the desired start date.
    2. For longer visits (more than 2 days, less than 30 days) arrangement must be made at least 1 month in advance
    3. For visits longer than 30 days, and for researchers applying for an academic appointment, arrangements must be made at least 8 weeks, and preferably 12 weeks, in advance of the desired start week to ensure sufficient time to process your application and complete the mandatory background investigation.
  2. Contact the Department of Invertebrate Zoology scientist responsible for curatorial oversight of the collection your wish to visit. In your initial e-mail please tell them when you would like to visit, what your academic background and professional qualifications are, what collection(s) you want to examine, and what you hope to accomplish while you are here.
  3. Complete the Invertebrate Zoology Visitor Request Form and e-mail it to both Karen Reed and Bill Moser as an attachment.
  4. If your visit is approved, your IZ staff sponsor will forward your original e-mail and any additional correspondence to the staff member responsible for submitting an application for a visiting researcher ID badge on your behalf.
  5. If your visit includes access to the collections at the MSC you will be contacted by one of the collection staff stationed at the MSC. In addition to providing you with specific information related to your visit, they may ask you to provide additional information to help plan your transportation from NHB to MSC. Please submit all requested information promptly – preferably within 2 business days of receiving a request for additional information. Until all requested information is received the application for a visiting researcher badge will not be processed.
  6. When your visit has been confirmed an IZ staff member will be assigned as your primary point-of-contact. Your point-of-contact will send an e-mail with information on who to contact on your first day. Please bring a photo ID with you when you check in the first day. A driver’s license, university ID card, or passport is acceptable. For planning purposes, all visitors to the collections at the MSC who wish to use the “MSC Shuttle” from NHB to MSC should be aware that they will be asked to report to NHB at either 7:30 am or 8:30 am on their first day.

Collection storage areas in both the Natural History Building (NHB) and the Museum Support Center (MSC) are secure areas with controlled access. Upon arrival at either NHB or MSC you will be issued an electronic badge that has been pre-programmed to give you access to specific collection storage areas, libraries and laboratory facilities during specific hours. Arrangements for a temporary Visiting Researcher ID Badge will not be initiated until the Department of Invertebrate Zoology staff sponsor has approved the visitor request and the visitor has returned the completed the Visitor Registration and Emergency Contact Information form.

Hours of access vary between NHB and MSC but as a guideline for planning your visit, you may anticipate having access to the collections Monday-Friday between the hours of 8:30 am and 4:30 pm, excluding Federal holidays. Subject to the availability of departmental staff, it may be possible to extend the hours of collection access at NHB beyond the 8:30 am to 4:30 pm period. The 8:30 am to 4:30 pm access schedule is strictly observed at the MSC. Research visitors who require greater flexibility in workdays and work hours, research visitors who expect to stay longer than 30 days in any one 12 month period, and frequent research visitors should consult with their Department of Invertebrate Zoology staff sponsor regarding the possibility of a formal academic appointment.

Permission is required before any permanent alteration of a specimen for purposes of dissection, clearing and staining, SEM, TEM, or tissue sampling is allowed. You must obtain written permission from the Research Zoologist in charge of the desired taxa. Any such preparations made must be returned with the parent specimen.

Confirmation of species identification is strongly recommended before destructive use of a specimen.

To assist us in evaluating such requests for destructive analysis please provide the following:

  • A brief description of your project
  • Justification for the use of USNM specimens
  • Some indication that the technique applied or sample taken is indeed appropriate to the question being asked
  • What anatomical region of the specimen will be altered

Once sampling permission is granted by the Research Zoologist in charge of the desired taxa, submit a sampling request using the IZ Loan Request Form. All sequences resulting from use of tissues removed from USNM specimens must be deposited in GenBank. When depositing the sequences, you must cite the USNM catalog number of the specimen from which the tissue was removed. GenBank accession numbers must be reported to IZ and a PDF of each paper resulting from the study of the sampled material must be sent to the Collection Manager.

Parking

  • NHB: The Natural History Building is located at 10th Street and Constitution Avenue, N.W. in Washington, D.C. Metered street parking near the museum is extremely limited and daily rates at commercial garages may not be feasible for visitors on a strict budget.
  • MSC: The Museum Support Center is accessible by car and a limited amount of free visitor parking is available on campus.

Public Transportation

  • NHB: Visitors are encouraged to use the local subway system, METRO. In addition to stops throughout the city and close-in suburbs of Maryland and Virginia, there are subway stations at National Airport and Amtrak’s Union Station, with stops at Archives, Federal Triangle, and Smithsonian all within a short walk from the Museum.
  • MSC: The MSC is accessible via METRO. The Suitland subway station is about a 15 minute walk from MSC.

Supplies:

Routine curation supplies including jars, gaskets, closures, boxes, preservatives and label paper are available for visitors’ use. Visitors must provide their own research-related supplies including forceps, dissecting tools, tissue sampling tools, tissue sample preservatives (other than 95% EtOH) and tissue sample containers.

Chemicals:

Visitors who are working with special chemicals need to declare them at the time their visit is scheduled so we can review the request. Ethanol (95%), isopropanol (100%), full strength formalin, and anhydrous glycerin are available in the labs for visitor use. Visitors must provide any other preservative, fixative, stain or other chemical need to support their research activities as well as a copy of the corresponding MSDS.

Wifi Access:

Wireless network connections are available at NHB and MSC in most lab and collections areas. Secure log-in instructions will be provided during visitor orientation.

Microscopes:

A limited number of basic, student-grade compound and dissecting microscopes are available for visitor use. Camera lucida and camera C-mount attachments are not typically available for these microscopes. If your research requires access to professional quality optical equipment you should make special arrangements with the host curator or plan to bring your own microscopes.

Photography:

A copystand for macrophotography is available but visitors must bring their own cameras.