The Museum is an invaluable resource to the community and the region because of its collections - the buildings, the animals and the artifacts. These collections preserve the region's cultural and natural heritage, serve as a resource for loans and research, and offer visitors the opportunity to see animals in a natural setting that are no longer seen in the wild; to walk in buildings preserved from another time; and to enjoy the natural environment of the region. The Museum is the only museum in the area with a regional focus, and is unequalled in the state with its displays of vernacular architecture and live animals historically native to the region.

The Museum collects, preserves, and conserves historic buildings and artifacts, live animals and natural science specimens, and archival materials that are reflective of and supportive to its mission. The Museum uses its collections in its permanent and temporary exhibits, to augment traveling exhibitions, and serve as invaluable resource for scholarly research. Through these research activities, the Museum contributes to the base of published knowledge on our state and region’s history, cultural pathways, natural environment, and indigenous wildlife. An important component of the Museum's mission is its public trust responsibility, which is fulfilled by professionally caring for and studying the collection items in its custody.

The Museum’s collections include: The Historical Collection containing: (A) 19 structures of regional significance; (B) 8,072 19th and 20th century furnishings, tools, and household items related to the region’s history; and (C) 500 Native American artifacts of regional peoples. The Natural History Collection contains 805+ artifacts including: (A) animal, mineral, and plant materials, limited to those native to the region; and (B) cultural items related to specific exhibited animals. The Living Collection comprises 6 species of native birds (33 individuals), 18 species of reptiles and amphibians (29 individuals), 4 species of fish (20 individuals), and 17 species of mammals (46 individuals). The Archives encompass 127 c.f. of materials documenting the Museum's history and its policies.

The historical buildings are a collection unique to the region. The historic houses are two of only five in the county regularly open to the public. Bellevue, the 1840s plantation house, is listed in the National Register of Historic Places as an example of plantation "cottage" architecture. The farm house and complex exemplify the traditional log and frame construction once prevalent in the surrounding counties and represents the agricultural lifestyle that dominated the region until the 1940s.

The Bethlehem Missionary Baptist Church, built in 1937 by a rural black congregation, traces its founding to a slave preacher ordained in the 1850s. Its significance led to an exhibit funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities and Florida A&M University. The 1890s one-room Concord schoolhouse, established to educate children of former slaves, is significant to the struggles and strides made in black education in Florida.

The live animal collection of native species, several of which are no longer present in the wild, is an important collection for the state. Their presence and means of display at the Museum provides the opportunity for education about habitat change and the interrelationships between people and animals. The Museum is one of the few places in Florida where the state's official animal, the Florida panther, is displayed and its story told. Only about 100 remain in the wild. The Museum's panthers have been the subject of numerous research projects as attempts are made to save these animals in the wild. The red wolf, another animal on exhibit, is extinct in the wild. The Museum's red wolves are part of a national red wolf captive breeding program. The Museum is one of the original zoos in the nation selected to participate in this effort, of which there are now 45.

Education is central to the Museum’s mission, has a significant impact on local and regional audiences and offers a diversity of opportunities to learn about our region's natural and cultural heritage. Programs respond to the needs of the Museum's audiences by offering opportunities that: a) provide knowledge about our region's natural and culture history; b) address various styles of learning; c) instill a desire for self-motivated learning; and d) promote an understanding of the individual's role in the preservation and advancement of our natural and cultural resources.

The Museum provides a variety of educational programs, both on- and off-site, that incorporate a diversity of teaching techniques and include a high degree of object-based learning and exploratory learning situations. On-going efforts to incorporate 21st Century learning skills into the Museums programs are enhancing the Museum's impact on and relevance to its audiences. Tallahassee Tree to Tree Adventures course now makes it possible for the Museum to offer a variety of special programs as well as team building and leadership training for businesses, groups, and individuals. A summary of these programs follow.

GROUP PROGRAMS meet the educational needs of schools, tour, corporate, youth and senior citizen groups. School programs follow curriculum objectives and are correlated to the State’s educational standards. Twenty-five different topics are available as well as step-on guide services for tour operators. The addition of Tallahassee Tree To Tree Adventures has further enhanced the opportunities for interested groups with the addition of team building and night-time zip line programs.

PROGRAMS FOR INDIVIDUALS serve the lifelong learning needs of individuals ranging in age from preschool to adult. An extensive summer and day camp program for grades pre-K through 12, field trips, night walks, sleep-overs, and workshops for children and adults, and teacher training workshops are offered throughout the year. The Museum will provide over 100 college students with real life learning experiences through internships, field studies and community service opportunities.

GENERAL PUBLIC PROGRAMS reach the casual museum visitor, including tourists, with a schedule of programs requiring no registration. Twice daily “Animal Encounters,” allow visitors to meet and learn about live animals. "Discovery Stations," at various Museum locations, allow visitors to interact with objects, live animals, and other teaching tools as they explore a topic at their own pace. Guided tours, nature walks, audio tours and video programs also are offered. Elsewhere at the Museum, living history demonstrators bring our 1880s farm and historic buildings to life with demonstrations of blacksmithing, cooking, sewing, gardening, and other historical activities.

EARLY CHILDHOOD PROGRAMS give children, from 1 1/2 to 5 years of age, experiential learning opportunities through full-year, full-day, and partial-day programs, two of which are Florida Voluntary Pre-K classes. Our preschool staff also provides training to other preschool teachers, especially in the subject areas of natural science and history. This program is one of the most sought after programs for young children in this region. The Museum’s preschool programs is nationally recognized and accredited by the Accredited Professional Preschool Learning Environment (APPLE) and recognized with the Gold Seal Quality of Care by the Florida Department of Children and Families.

OUTREACH PROGRAMS carry the Museum’s educational programs and resources throughout the region to nursing homes, schools, community centers, events sponsored by other organizations and private homes. The “Traveling Trunk” program provides learning resources to a variety of local and regional audiences. These trunks, covering 10 topics, are filled with hands-on objects and curriculum materials and can be used as classroom learning stations or temporary exhibits.

SPECIAL PROGRAMS are developed upon request to meet the needs of special audiences. These programs can include classroom or afterschool assistance to teachers to help them incorporate science into their curriculum and meet FCAT standards. Other programs serve as mobile science labs with Museum educators traveling to community centers, Park and Recreation programs and libraries with equipment and supplies needed to implement science learning projects with weather stations, gardens, and live animals. The Museum has specially designed and implemented programs to assist organizations like Boys and Girls Clubs, PACE Center for Girls, Turn About, Scouts, Tallahassee Housing Authority and many others.

The Museum annually offers approximately 1,600 programs to school and tour groups and individual, family and community-based audiences. Programs encompass living history and natural science demonstrations, classes, science labs, workshops, tours, teacher training, lectures, preschool, after-school, Traveling Trunks, and summer and day camps. In all, the Museum serves approximately 150,000 people through its education programs.

The Tallahassee Museum is a 52-acre property with 20 acres of trails and natural areas on a chain of lakes in southwest Tallahassee. The 20-acre Wildlife Florida exhibit area features 13 natural habitat enclosures featuring native wildlife of the region along a half mile trail of elevated boardwalks and an animal care facility. Also along the Wildlife Florida trail is the display of Jim Gary's 20th Century Dinosaurs featuring 12 large outdoor sculptures of dinosaurs.

Adjacent to and north of the Wildlife Florida area is an undeveloped natural area with a half mile nature trail. Occupying five acres east of the nature trail area is a one and a half story 1840s historic plantation house with associated kitchen/cook’s quarters, slave cabin, and garden/yard; schoolhouse; church; and caboose. These structures are clustered within eyesight of each other and linked by interpretive elements and landscaped pathways.

The five-acre, 1880s farm complex has a single-pen log house and ten frame or log outbuildings, seven restored and three reconstructed. On the remaining acreage, between the farm on the south and the historic buildings and natural areas on the north, is the starting point for the Tallahassee Tree To Tree Adventures, featuring three aerial adventure courses with ziplines. All told, over 70 aerial obstacles and ziplines crossover Museum buildings, exhibits and trails.

Also within the above area are ten contemporary buildings in a centralized area: an entrance Visitor Center (admissions, museum store, meeting room, restrooms, and director's office); a changing exhibits gallery; a natural science exhibit building; a Discovery Center; classrooms; an "outdoor" classroom/reptile exhibit; an administrative building (exhibits, education, administration, membership, and development offices) with lobby exhibit space for a Model T; an outdoor stage with seating area; the Trail Break Café with enclosed eating space and restrooms; a picnic area; and a maintenance facility (exhibit preparation/maintenance building with office space, woodworking shop, materials storage, tools, equipment, supplies, vehicles, etc.).

The Museum is a 501(c)(3), private, nonprofit Florida corporation with a board of trustees vested with the policy management activities of the corporation subject to the law, the articles of incorporation, and bylaws. The board functions in seven major areas: 1) fulfilling the mission, corporate obligations, and standards of AAM accreditation; 2) policy making; 3) hiring and relating to the executive director/CEO; 4) strategic planning; 5) fund raising; 6) financial development; and 7) interaction with the community. Trustees are elected to one-year terms and may serve up to six consecutive terms. Candidates for the board are recruited based upon Museum needs and their skills, abilities, and commitment to the financial and programmatic advancement of the Museum's standing in the community, region, state, and nation. The board meets at least six times a year. Board committees currently include: executive (officers and key committee chairs), audit, governance, development, finance and collections committees. As needed, the president of the board also appoints task forces composed of trustees, staff, and other outside expertise to resolve and/or advise the board on short-term, targeted issues. Committees meet as needed.