Mission of Natural History Museums

Abstract

Natural history museums are research organizations to investigate systems and historical organization of the natural world and to contribute to debate about what constitutes ideal human societies in both the present and future. Regional natural history museums bear two important roles, i.e., to investigate the regional natural environment and to collect and deposit specimens and materials from the region. A nationwide decrease in the number of professional and amateur taxonomists will lead to a serious depletion of natural science capabilities in Japan in the near future. Considering recent deterioration of social circumstances in Japanese museums, regional natural history museums should concentrate their activities on research and collections rather than education and should become centers of natural history study. Therefore, conducting such basic research should be the most important mission of natural history museums.