#  Culture & Community 

 



##  Culture & Community 

 About us 

 

 

       ![people standing in a natural history collection](/sites/g/files/omnuum6431/files/styles/hwp_21_9__1920x825/public/2025-08/INV_46_0.jpg?itok=kA7HUkPO) 

 

 



 

 



 

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> The Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University stands with all people and organizations working to end racism and social injustice. We acknowledge the role of the Museum, and especially its founder, Louis Agassiz, in fostering ideas of racial disparity and inequality that underlie historical attitudes towards African Americans and other people of color—**ideas that we soundly reject**. As an institution devoted to education, research and public outreach, we are committed to **developing programs that will earnestly evaluate these attitudes and promote contemporary solutions, and to offering new educational and research opportunities** in the Museum for people who until now may have felt unwelcome or excluded.



 

Community Outreach

### Emerging Scientists Program 

 

This program ran by the Department of Organismic & Evolutionary Biology connects Cambridge and Boston high school students with Harvard researchers to provide meaningful and accessible life sciences research experiences to area high school students. Students are hosted by faculty research labs and museum collections.



 [ Learn more about this program arrow\_circle\_right ](https://www.oeb.harvard.edu/dib-initiatives) 

 



      ![two people examining specimens in a natural history collection storage area](/sites/g/files/omnuum6431/files/styles/hwp_1_1__480x480/public/2025-09/IMG_20240516_144901822%20%281%29.jpg?itok=5ypS_ljz) 

 

 

  

 



First Steps

### Building Spaces 

 

The MCZ is working towards making our building spaces welcoming to all. We have removed artwork depicting Louis Agassiz from our common spaces, renamed the conference room formally in his name to instead honor [Robert A. Gilbert](https://www.mcz.harvard.edu/Gilbert), named a meeting room after [Ruth D. Turner](https://mcz.harvard.edu/Turner), and are working to improve a lounge where all denizens of the building are welcome and have a place to rest and socialize.



 



      ![a black and white image of someone standing in front of a log cabin, in a suit](/sites/g/files/omnuum6431/files/styles/hwp_1_1__480x480/public/mcz/files/gilbert_close-up.jpg?h=454b480f&itok=3QCr42N6) 

 

 

  

 



First Steps

### Fellowship Renamed 

 

The E.O. Wilson Postdoctoral Fellowship (2019-2022), was initiated through generous seed funding by the late Edward O. Wilson, with support from additional donors. The change in the name of this program reflects our commitment to encourage diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives as part of our core values.



 [ Learn more about the Biodiversity Postdoctoral Fellowship arrow\_circle\_right ](https://www.mcz.harvard.edu/biodiversity-postdoctoral-fellowship-program) 

 



      ![three people outside, smiling at the camera](/sites/g/files/omnuum6431/files/styles/hwp_1_1__480x480/public/2025-09/BPF%20DSC_3126.jpg?itok=33K5X3XW) 

 

 

  

 



 

 

 

##  Resources at Harvard 

 



  [### Acknowledgment of Harmful Content

 ](https://www.mcz.harvard.edu/acknowledgment-harmful-content)Acknowledgment of harmful content in the MCZ database, MCZbase. We acknowledge the existence of harmful content within the collection data available on MCZbase and are committed to addressing this problem, including the presentation of racial and other



 

 

   ![a person looking at a digital screen with a drawer of bird specimens in the background](/sites/g/files/omnuum6431/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2025-01/MCZbase_credit%20Melissa%20Aja%20DSC_3039.jpg?itok=agkIwTF3) 

 



 

 

   [### Women of the Museum 1860-1920: Behind-the-scenes at the Museum of Comparative Zoology

 ](https://hmsc.harvard.edu/women-museum/)Often assigned repetitive and mundane tasks, they nonetheless made significant contributions to the museum’s early history. This exhibit highlights their work for the first time. While their expertise and extensive knowledge of the museum’s collections



 

 

   ![black and white image of a person at a desk](/sites/g/files/omnuum6431/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/mcz/files/elizabeth-bangs-bryant-1024x725.jpg?itok=OkDtVCeA) 

 



 

 

   [### OEB Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging Committee

 ](https://www.oeb.harvard.edu/diversity-inclusion-and-belonging)The OEB Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging Committee is unequivocally dedicated to creating an environment that is welcoming to all people regardless of race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, religion, or any other axis of



 

 

   ![a group of four meerkats outside](/sites/g/files/omnuum6431/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2025-09/Meerkats-1.jpg?itok=T1wAYA-k) 

 



 

 

   [### Office for Community Support, Non-Discrimination, Rights and Responsibilities (CSNDR)

 ](https://csndr.harvard.edu/) 

   ![logo with text Office for Community Support, Non-Discrimination, Rights and Responsibilities (CSNDR)](/sites/g/files/omnuum6431/files/styles/hwp_scale_small/public/2025-09/CSNDR%20Logo.png?itok=k8znnGjo) 

 



 

 

   [### Anti-Racism Resources, hosted by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Science Division

 ](https://antiracismresources.hsites.harvard.edu/) 

   ![the word RESOURCES with colorful block decoration](/sites/g/files/omnuum6431/files/styles/hwp_scale_small/public/2025-09/Screen-Shot-2020-03-16-at-11.49.50-AM-992x357.png?itok=WlhfSTH_) 

 



 

 

   [### Harvard & the Legacy of Slavery

 ](https://legacyofslavery.harvard.edu/) 

   ![an older-looking map focused on the Caribbean](/sites/g/files/omnuum6431/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2025-09/Screenshot%202025-09-15%20at%203.01.56%E2%80%AFPM.png?itok=oh2ihlOR) 

 



 

 

  

 

 

 

 

##  Related commentary with regards to natural history museums 

 



  [### African Americans in evolutionary science: where we have been, and what’s next

 ](https://evolution-outreach.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12052-019-0110-5) by Joseph L. Graves Jr. 

 

 

   [### Are natural history museums inherently racist?

 ](https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2019/july/are-natural-history-museums-inherently-racist.html?utm_source=tw-link-post-20200601-vp&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=collections) by Josh Davis 

 

 

   [### Time for New Norms: Museums must address their systemic inequities if they want to be truly inclusive—and relevant—institutions

 ](https://www.aam-us.org/2019/07/01/time-for-new-norms-museums-must-address-their-systemic-inequities-if-they-want-to-be-truly-inclusive-and-relevant-institutions/) American Alliance of Museums 

 

 

   [### People are calling for museums to be abolished. Can whitewashed American history be rewritten?

 ](https://www.cnn.com/style/article/natural-history-museum-whitewashing-monuments-statues-trnd/index.html) CNN 

 

 

   [### Addressing the British Museum’s Colonial History and Hollow Solidarity With Black Lives 

 ](https://hyperallergic.com/570591/letter-to-british-museum-hartwig-fischer/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=D061720&utm_content=D061720%20CID_e1f53a5ef1b718bb7de9e71abda5cd2e&utm_source=HyperallergicNewsletter&utm_term=Addressing%2520the%2520British%2520Museums%2520Colonial%2520History%2520and%2520Hollow%2520Solidarity%2520With%2520Black%2520Lives) by Bayryam Mustafa Bayryamali 

 

 

   [### Collection of Louis Agassiz information

 ](http://www.christophirmscher.com/_span_style__text_transform__none__louis_agassiz___creator_of_american_science__s_114499.htm) by Christopher Irmscher 

 

 

   [### Morton, Agassiz, and the Origins of Scientific Racism in the United States

 ](https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ644333) by Louis Menand, Journal of Blacks in Higher Education 

 

 

   [### Scientist in Full: The fruitful, flawed Louis Agassiz

 ](/resource/scientist-full-fruitful-flawed-louis-agassiz) book review by James Hanken 

 

 

   [### Exploring the North’s long history of slavery, scientific racism

 ](https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/10/norths-long-history-of-slavery-scientific-racism-is-examined/?utm_source=SilverpopMailing&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily%20Gazette%2020201013%20(1)) Harvard Gazette