2026-2027 Field Dreams

Bats are the second most diverse mammal group, fulfilling distinct ecological roles. Their echolocation calls—used for navigation, prey localization, and social interaction—can differentiate families and species. Recent Rapid Inventories collected substantial echolocation data from bats, and much of this data is still only partially analyzed. Each expedition is a unique opportunity to gather data in remote areas unlikely to be revisited, making thorough analysis essential. Completing this work requires strengthening our team's expertise through specialized training, led by qualified instructors, and funding to support an intern assisting with data processing. We also need advanced ultrasonic recorders and accessories to sustain high-quality data collection in future inventories. 

With more than 3,400 tanned skins of medium to large mammals, including iconic specimens
such as the Akeley leopard, the William S. and Janice K. Street Tanned Skin Facility represents a crown jewel in the Field Museum’s Mammal Collection. Maintained in three separate, climate-controlled rooms in the Gantz Family Collections Center, these specimens require storage at a constant temperature of 50°F and relative humidity of 50%. Unfortunately, none of these rooms possesses a digitally linked climate monitoring system. The primary goal of this project is to purchase three DL2000 temperature and humidity data loggers from Vaisala, which will provide real-time climate monitoring, remote alarming, and trend tracking.

The Field Museum cares for around 770,000 items from Indigenous communities across North America. These items are of immense cultural, spiritual, historical, and artistic significance. Many were collected under duress at a time when early collectors were convinced that Native communities were on the verge of disappearing. As a result, collections visits are often very emotional experiences for Indigenous community members. In addition, high travel costs prevent many community members from even making the trip to Chicago. Stipends to offset costs, a shared meal during a collections visit, or just offering a cup of coffee are all ways that the Museum can demonstrate its commitment to strengthening relationships with Indigenous communities. Support for this project with fund travel and meals during collections visits for Native American and First Nations representatives, which in turn powers the Museum’s renewed focus on repatriation and reconciliation.

Our 10-week internship program trains the registrars of the future! Museum Studies graduate students are generally required to complete an internship as part of their degree requirements.  We train them in basic cataloging, labeling, photographing, and housing of anthropology collections. They may also work with field notes from collectors, do small inventory projects, and complete more advanced collections database work. We work with interns to design projects that align with their interests and goals in order to ensure that they are ready to start their career as soon as they graduate. Our interns go on to work in registration and collections management throughout Chicago and the rest of the country.

Storytelling is a tool of cultural connection that can foster deeper relationships to the natural world and the human story. It can also serve as a pathway to cultural and ecological conservation action in urban environments, which impacts both community well-being and habitat creation. In 2018, the Daniel F. and Ada L. Rice Foundation Native Gardens opened to the public as the Field Museum’s largest exhibition, and current signage is focused on native plants and sustainability. To encourage culturally relevant conservation action beyond the Rice Native Gardens, this proposal requests funding to support the facilitation of interviews and focus groups with community partners, as well as qualitative analysis software to analyze the data. The support will inform the direction of new Rice Native Gardens signage content that will incorporate the human story of native plants and pollinators.

Museum collections contain objects of memory for the Iskonawa People of the Peruvian Amazon. This project seeks to support a visit by Iskonawa women artists to the Field Museum, where they will encounter, for the first time, objects created by their ancestors in the early 20th century. Through engagement with these objects, the artists will recover ancestral ceramic knowledge and strengthen ongoing pottery revitalization efforts. This visit will include a series of meetings and public events at the Museum, support the continuity of Iskonawa cultural practices, and enrich the Museum's understanding and stewardship of its collections through renewed Indigenous knowledge and perspectives.

The borderlands of Guyana and northern Brazil shelter one of the largest remaining expanses of intact tropical forest on Earth. Indigenous Waiwai communities have stewarded this landscape for generations. Their trails connect watersheds, families, and territories, forming a living network through which ecological knowledge is continuously produced and shared. This project equips three Indigenous monitoring teams—in Kanashen Amerindian Protected Area (Guyana), the WaiWái Indigenous Land (Brazil), and the Wayamú Territory (Brazil)—with binoculars and digital cameras that extend their observational reach without displacing the knowledge systems that give those observations meaning. This investment is a foundation for a broader model of Indigenous-led conservation across the Guiana Shield rooted in presence, movement, and connection across the landscape. 

Just steps from the Field Museum, beneath the waters of Lake Michigan, lives one of Chicago’s best-kept secrets: the mudpuppy! Although this remarkable salamander spends its entire life underwater and remains active even beneath winter ice, surprisingly little is known about how populations are connected across the Great Lakes, rivers, streams, and ponds of the Midwest. Using advanced genomic and ecological approaches, this project will reveal the hidden freshwater pathways that have shaped mudpuppy populations over thousands of years. By understanding how these populations are connected today, we can better predict how they may respond to future environmental change and identify strategies to conserve one of North America’s most iconic amphibians. Perhaps most importantly, this project reminds us that extraordinary wildlife exists just beyond the Museum’s doors. Every visit to the Field Museum overlooks an ecosystem that still holds remarkable scientific mysteries waiting to be discovered.