Donations can be made securely online through The Essig Museum Fund website.
Adopt a drawer in your own name or in honor of a friend or mentor. Alumni can add the year of their graduation, or add a short message. Choose one of our “Oh My” display drawers, or your favorite insect group. Learn more about our Adopt A Drawer program here.
SUPPORT THE ONGOING MISSION OF THE ESSIG MUSEUM
Your support, large or small, can make a big difference:
- To curate and preserve specimen collections
- To support graduate and undergraduate research and education
- To digitize and georeference specimens
- To catalog and archive field notebooks, manuscripts, photographs, and artwork
- To develop outreach and education displays and activities
- To support public events such as Darwin Day, CalDay, and Alumni weekend
We also accept specimen donations. Our primary focus is on western North America, but we may accept specimens from other regions, particularly collections of historical significance, poorly sampled areas, or representing research vouchers. Specimens should be properly preserved with appropriate labels, and preferably with documentation such as field notes and permits. Additional curation supplies (drawers, unit trays, etc.) and funds to properly preserve and manage specimen donations are very much appreciated. The Essig Museum also accepts historical documents (eg. manuscripts, correspondence), photographs, data sets, etc. from UC Berkeley Entomology alumni and associates.
Established as the California Insect Survey in 1939, and renamed the Essig Museum of Entomology in 1972, historically the University of California terrestrial arthropod collection was supported by a line item in the Department of Entomology budget. After the reorganization of departments in the 1980’s, administration of the Essig Museum, along with the other Berkeley Natural History Museums (BNHM), fell under the auspices of the Vice Chancellor for Research (VCR). Unlike the other BNHMs, however, the Essig Museum does not have an endowment and relies solely on dwindling state funds managed by the VCR for operational support. We continue to apply for grants to support research, curation, education, and digitization of collections, but depend on donations to help support staff salaries, student engagement, outreach, and other activities.
For more information contact the Collections Manager (essig.museum[at]gmail.com).
To make a donation to the Essig Museum today visit Give to Cal.