FOUNDED: 1874 by The San Diego Society of Natural History. The second oldest scientific institution in Southern California and the third oldest in the western United States. A leader among local museums and scientific institutions.

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: Dr. Michael (Mick) Hager has been the Executive Director since 1991. He received a B.A. in biology from Grinnell College and a Ph.D. in geology from the University of Wyoming. His academic specialty is paleontology and his administrative specialty is strategic planning and development.

THE FACILITY: The Society of Natural History originally constructed the three-story Spanish colonial masonry building in 1932-33. Designed by William Templeton Johnson, and funded primarily by Ms. Ellen Browning Scripps, the original building was 60,000 square feet. Listed on the National Historic Registry, the building was expanded and reopened in April 2001 with a 90,000-square-foot wing, designed by Architects Richard Bundy & David Thompson. The new wing is named in honor of Mary and Dallas Clark. The 150,000-square-foot facility has an 8500-square-foot traveling exhibition hall, a 300-seat giant-screen theater, expanded education facilities, a research library and public reading room, expanded exhibition space, conference rooms, a soaring atrium, a roof-top terrace and catering kitchens to accommodate seminars and special events with a capacity of 2000. There is also space for future development of a distance learning center, a hands-on discovery center, and a research demonstration lab. The Museum is located in Balboa Park at 1788 El Prado, San Diego, California.

DAYS OPEN: 363 a year

DAYS CLOSED: 2 (Thanksgiving and Christmas Day)

ADMISSION: $9 for adults, $6 for seniors, military and college students, $5 for children 3 - 17. Children 2 and under and members are free. School-group rate: $4.00 per person. Adult groups $6.00 per person.

ATTENDANCE: Approximately 226,000 a year (on-site visits, 217,283; off-site visits, 8,839)

MEMBERSHIP: 5,500 members

WEBSITES: www·sdnhm·org Over 3500 pages filled with information on all aspects of the museum as well as scientific data. The Museum website receives approximately 95,000 unique visits per month (2005.) www·oceanoasis·org Devoted to the Museum-produced film Ocean Oasis. The site receives approximately 35,000 unique visits per month (2005).

OCEAN OASIS VIEWERS: 5,350,500 worldwide, plus over 980,000 unique visitors to the Ocean Oasis website. Ocean Oasis is translated into 10 languages and played in over 60 IMAX and other large-format theaters. Seen by 1147 invited guests and VIPs at the world-premiere at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History. Dimensions of giant-screen: 38' x 45'; perforated PVC fabric.

TRAVELING EXHIBITIONS: Three to five per year.

PUBLIC EDUCATION PROGRAMS: Over 300 annually Children served annually: 105,000 on site and through outreach

COLLECTIONS: Over 8.2 million specimens

• Birds: 45,600 skins and skeletons with 48 primary type bird specimens
• Botany: 154,059 specimens (vascular and non-vascular) with 105 holotypes (+10 in process) and 258 isotype specimens
• Entomology: 980,000 terrestrial pinned and labeled invertebrates and 20,000 insects with 150 primary and 500 secondary types
• Herpetology: 68,679 reptiles and amphibians with 66 primary and 718 secondary type specimens
• Mammals: 25,000 skins and skeletons of mammals with 89 primary and secondary type mammal specimens
• Marine Invertebrates: 4.7 million specimens with 134 primary and 700 secondary types.
• Mineralogy: 15,000 samples
• Paleontology: Over 2.2 million plant, vertebrate and invertebrate fossils; includes 125 holotypes and 462 paratypes; 541 secondary types


STAFF: 140 full-time and part-time employees, including eight Ph.Ds

Ph.Ds:
Paisley Cato, Ph.D., museum studies, Curator of Collections
Tom Demere, Ph.D., evolutionary biology, Curator of Paleontology
Exequiel Ezcurra, Ph.D., Provost and Director of BRCC
Michael Hager, Ph.D., geology, Executive Director
Brad Hollingsworth, Ph.D., biology, Assistant Curator of Herpetology
Paul C. Murphey, Ph.D., geology, paleontology, Director of Paleo Services
Jon Rebman, Ph.D., botany, Curator of Botany
Hugh Wagner, Ph.D., geology, Paleontology Collections Manager

VOLUNTEERS: 793 Hours donated: 39,538 in the 2003-2004 fiscal year, the equivalent of 20 full-time employees

ANNUAL OPERATING BUDGET: $8.0 million

SOURCES OF INCOME:
Admissions
Education programs
Endowment
Government
Grants and contracts
Individual
In-kind gifts
Investment
Membership
Museum Store