The Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum, a specialized natural history museum, is a collecting museum. Its collection of shells and preserved specimens represents a large fraction of the global biodiversity of mollusks. The Museum houses a collection of worldwide and local mollusks that encompasses about 150,000 lots. The collection is expanding, with a growing focus on mollusks from the coast of southwest Florida, its barrier islands, and the Gulf of Mexico. The increasingly regional nature of the collection has attracted a large number of national and international students and scientists who visit the Museum to examine specimens in their fields of expertise. Records of our holdings are managed through a database management system and searches of the collection may be performed online.

Volunteer docents assist museum visitors on their self-guided tours. The museum offers special programs and tours to groups of all ages from schoolchildren to Elderhostels. The Museum offers a discounted admission price for tours by groups of ten or more persons. The unique guided tour consists of a slide presentation on the lifestyles of mollusks, and a hands-on display of Southwest Florida shells. Also highlighted are certain exhibits in the Great Hall of Shells, including live mollusks. Reservations are required.

Private Non-Profit

Access: General Public, Students, Scholars

Appointment required: True