ITHACA, N.Y. — The Museum of the Earth, one of the last natural history museums in Upstate New York, faces an imminent threat of foreclosure
If you have ever been tempted by a Paleozoic Pal, like a a stuffed trilobite or a full size eurypterid body pillow, now's the time to buy one, before they and a really lovely little museum are gone for good 😭😭😭
Paleozoic Pals™ Paleozoic Pals™ are the Paleontological Research Institution’s line of plush fossils. The Paleozoic is the era before dinosa
This was the museum I went to often in my childhood. I'm no longer able to visit unless I visit family, but this place holds a special place in my heart.
As stated in the article, they hold around 7 million artifacts- many of which are orphaned fossils, with the museum taking in collections that otherwise would have been trashed.
Please consider buying a Paleozoic Pal, but I'll also leave a direct donation link as well.
THE GIANT EURYPTERID BODY PILLOW IS BACK IN STOCK
It's really gratifying to see people sharing this and commenting about buying/donating; the Museum of the Earth really is a gem and the Paleontological Research Institution (PRI) that runs it does critical work in collecting and preserving "orphan" fossil collections. To explain/expand on a couple things, the financial straits they're in started a couple years ago when a $30 million donation fell through for reasons unknown. They severely restructured and downsized in 2023 to keep things going (including dramatically reducing staff and re-homing about 70 animal ambassadors from the Cayuga Nature Center which is also run by PRI, to ensure the animals got consistent care), but they are now in a critical spot with the mortgage and may be foreclosed on soon.
If you're at all in the Finger Lakes area, I recommend dropping in on a weekend - they've got an incredible mastodon skeleton, a new Blaschka glass specimen exhibit, and a full right whale skeleton hanging from the ceiling; they do Fossil ID Saturdays where you can bring in what you've found and get an expert opinion, and they do mask-required days regularly as well.
