The Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, the University of Washington’s natural history museum in Seattle and Washington’s official state museum, grew from a student natural history club formed in 1879 into the state’s oldest museum, formally established in 1899. Its collections expanded rapidly and endured decades of moves across campus before a permanent Burke-named building opened in 1964. Especially strong in Pacific Northwest natural and cultural history, the museum now holds more than 16 million artifacts and specimens in anthropology, biology, and geology. A new building opened in 2019, designed to make research and collections work visible while supporting exhibitions, scholarship, and public engagement.