{"id":294996,"date":"2026-09-27T11:44:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-27T11:44:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/294996\/"},"modified":"2026-09-27T11:44:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-27T11:44:13","slug":"philly-rallies-to-save-academy-of-natural-sciences","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/294996\/","title":{"rendered":"Philly rallies to save Academy of Natural Sciences"},"content":{"rendered":"

Love Philly? So do we. Let\u2019s be friends.\u00a0Sign up for the Billy Penn newsletter today<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On potentially the eve of The Academy of Natural Sciences\u2019 final day<\/a>, Philadelphians rallied outside its doors in a last ditch push to keep the museum open.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The academy reportedly received a lifeline from the William Penn Foundation on Sept. 25<\/a>, the day prior to the rally, but there was no sign as to whether or not its operator, Drexel University, would accept the offer of enough funding to keep the academy open for at least another year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Drexel\u2019s response wasn\u2019t an immediate \u2018hell yeah,\u2019 what are we doing here,\u201d asked Corey Miller, an individual rallying outside the academy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Like many, Miller said he was caught between his feelings of hope for an extension and the beginning of mourning a beloved institution.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI am somewhere in between violent rage and delusional optimism,\u201d said Miller. \u201cI\u2019ve been a member for decades. When I heard that this was closing, like everybody else did, I was outraged. It seemed disgusting to me that they would announce it with less than a month\u2019s notice.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"The William Penn Foundation offered to cover the operating subsidy needed to keep the museum open for at least another year, giving supporters more time to develop a long-term plan. As of Sept. 26, Drexel had not announced that it would accept the offer. (Davis Cuffe\/Billy Penn)<\/p>\n

Organized by Save The Academy, a volunteer group put together just days after the academy\u2019s Sept. 1 announcement that it would close at the end of the m<\/a>onth, the rally drew individuals throughout the afternoon to peruse the museum in its final hours and push for an extension. At the rally was a sign-making station, face painting, coloring and crafts for younger rallyers and a trio of musical performers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sarah McAnulty, a Philly-based scientist and educator, has acted as one of the organizers with Save The Academy, and helped organize a Sept. 8 rally as well as run the organization\u2019s Instagram page, which was created Sept. 5 and has already amassed over 13,000 followers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had an overwhelming response,\u201d McAnulty said. \u201cSo even if the decision makers don\u2019t make the right call, it is obvious that the city of Philadelphia cares about science and educational opportunities<\/a>.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"The Academy announced Sept. 1 that its public museum would close, with Sunday, Sept. 27, scheduled as its final day of regular public access and the museum formally closing Sept. 30. (Davis Cuffe\/Billy Penn)<\/p>\n

Through dreary conditions brought on by a nor\u2019easter that dropped up to 4 inches of rain in parts of New Jersey, Lauren Kibbe waited outside the museum in a line that stretched down the block with her family, all of whom were in dinosaur costumes.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy kiddo here, his grandfather would bring him to Dinos After Dark once a month, and they became members. He loved digging in the fossil area and seeing artifacts, the big dioramas,\u201d said Kibbe. \u201cIt\u2019s actually a thoughtful collaboration and helping people care about the natural world.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been really cool becoming a parent and I\u2019d been hopeful that my kids can grow up coming here,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m sad to hear that that won\u2019t be the case.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"The Academy had already cut its public schedule from five days a week to three in October 2025, citing declining visitation and financial pressures. At the time, officials said about 70% of visits already occurred on weekends. (Davis Cuffe\/Billy Penn)<\/p>\n

Suzanna Ryan, who stood outside the academy urging attendees to sign a petition and call lawmakers to keep it open, noted that although she was new to Philadelphia, she already felt connected to the museum.<\/p>\n

A first-time visitor with her granddaughter in June, Ryan said she fell in love with the museum and applied to volunteer twice afterward, but never heard back \u2014 then in September, she heard it would be closing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there\u2019s a lot of suspicious stuff, and I think the questions need to be answered,\u201d Ryan said. \u201cI mean, we\u2019ve got Thomas Jefferson\u2019s collections here. We have Lewis and Clark. This is where the Bone Wars started. So why would we lose that? Why would anyone say that that\u2019s acceptable?\u201d<\/p>\n

Founded in 1812, Philadelphia\u2019s Academy of Natural Sciences is packed with towering dinosaur skeletons, fossils, 37 old-school wildlife dioramas and more than 100 live animals ranging from reptiles to tarantulas. The academy was the nation\u2019s first scientific society to focus on natural history.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Philly native Diana Lawrence said she\u2019s been coming to the museum for over 40 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am just so sad today,\u201d said Lawrence. \u201cI\u2019ve been coming to this museum since I was in the third or fourth grade. It\u2019s terrible that they\u2019re going to close it. So terrible.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"About 41,000 people visited the Academy over the three weekends leading up to its planned closure, including roughly 14,000 visitors during one weekend, according to Drexel, Sept. 26 saw hundreds pour into the academy during the rally. The surge came after years of declining attendance cited as a reason for closing the museum. (Davis Cuffe\/Billy Penn)<\/p>\n

While not present at the rally, state and city officials have pushed for the Academy to stay open.<\/p>\n

Gov. Josh Shapiro and Mayor Cherelle Parker have backed efforts to preserve the institution, while eight City Council members \u2014 Jeffery Young Jr., Nina Ahmad, Curtis Jones Jr., Quetcy Lozada, Kendra Brooks, Jim Harrity, Nicolas O\u2019Rourke and Mark Squilla \u2014 sponsored a resolution authorizing hearings into the closure and examining options to preserve public access<\/a>. During the rally, 1st District state Sen. Nikil Saval published a letter to Drexel and the board of the Academy of Natural Sciences asking for the museum to remain open.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Still, on Sept. 30, the Academy of Natural Sciences remains scheduled to close.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think Drexel really realized how much momentum this movement has. I think because there\u2019s the momentum, something could happen,\u201d said Santiago Ortiz, the founder of Philadelphia-based social media brand No Shorts. \u201cRight? But who knows? I don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Santiago Ortiz outside the Academy of Natural Sciences on Sept. 26. Founded in 1812, the Academy began welcoming museum visitors in 1828, meaning the planned closure would end nearly two centuries of public exhibitions in Philadelphia. (Davis Cuffe\/Billy Penn)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Love Philly? So do we. Let\u2019s be friends.\u00a0Sign up for the Billy Penn newsletter today. On potentially the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":294997,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[57966,8055,227,564,94,69,71,70,122044,57369,122045,32727],"class_list":["post-294996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-academy-of-natural-sciences","tag-drexel-university","tag-education","tag-featured","tag-history","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news","tag-sarah-mcanult","tag-sarah-mcanulty","tag-save-the-academy-coalition","tag-william-penn-foundation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=294996"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294996\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/294997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=294996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=294996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=294996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}