The Illinois State Museum Geology Section curates extensive paleontological and paleobotanical collections from throughout the geologic record. The Section is housed at the ISM Research & Collections Center which is open to the public by appointment only.
The Illinois State Museum inspires discovery and caring about Illinois' cultural and natural resources and heritage. The Museum cares for 13.5 million objects and artifacts from many disciplines including anthropology, fine and decorative art, zoology, and geology. The geology collection contains the very first specimens the Museum held at its founding in 1877. It contains rocks, minerals, and fossils which tell the geologic story of Illinois and the Midwest.
