Treasures, historic artifacts and scientific specimens

Cincinnati Museum Center houses historic artifacts and scientific specimens that stretch more than five billion years back into prehistory and forward through the present day. Among these are more than six million treasures that reveal a snapshot of our ancient world, the voices of the region’s earliest inhabitants and the stories that give character to our unique history – holotypic dinosaurs, the world’s largest Late Ordovician collection, everyday letters documenting extraordinary events and much more.

On June 30, 2024, we purchased a 200,000-square-foot facility adjacent to Union Terminal, taking a transformative step for the future care and research of our community’s treasures. This facility will allow us to consolidate and expand our collections, foster a dynamic state-of-the-art research environment for global scholars and students of all ages and increase public access to our collections. Additionally, we will have the ability to accept important new treasures to extend our collections, creating more learning experiences and telling more robust stories. This strategic investment secures the future growth of our collections and enhances our ability to share our treasures, research and education with our community.