The Invertebrate Paleontology collection was established in 1875, when James Hall sold his collection, which included 5000 type specimens, to the American Museum of Natural History for $65,000. Since then the collection has grown from 40,000 specimens to an estimated 4.5 million specimens, of which 24,387 are types.

Important contributions were made to the collections from AMNH collectors, including R.P. Whitfield (Cretaceous mollusks), H.E. Vokes (Cretaceous and Tertiary mollusks), Barnum Brown (Cretaceous mollusks), Otto Haas (Mesozoic ammonites), Norman Newell (Paleozoic bivalves from West Texas ), Roger Batten (Paleozoic gastropods) and Niles Eldredge (Paleozoic trilobites).

The collection continues to grow substantially today, through staff collecting (Dr. Neil Landman is adding significantly to the Mesozoic cephalopoda collection by collecting extensively from within the Western Interior, New Jersey and Virginia), donations to the Museum, and significant purchases such the recent acquisition of a collection of over 200,000 Plio-Pliestocene mollusks from South Florida.

Gallery of Fossil Images		Contacts