The Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago is one of the world’s largest natural history museums and a leading U.S. institution for both public exhibitions and scientific research. Founded from the collections of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition after Edward Ayer secured support from Marshall Field, it began as the Columbian Museum of Chicago, was renamed in 1905, and moved to its present site in 1921. Its staff cares for more than 24 million specimens and objects, supported by a major research library. Its exhibitions span natural science and human history, linking public education with globally important collections, scholarship, and conservation.