Bailey-Matthews National Shell Museum

Bailey-Matthews National Shell Museum
2014 view of the museum with shell banners
Bailey-Matthews National Shell Museum is located in Florida
Bailey-Matthews National Shell Museum
Location within Florida
Bailey-Matthews National Shell Museum is located in the United States
Bailey-Matthews National Shell Museum
Bailey-Matthews National Shell Museum (the United States)
Established1995 (1995)
Location3075 Sanibel-Captiva Road, Sanibel, Florida, 33957, U.S.
Coordinates26°26′17″N 82°05′34″W / 26.438145°N 82.092749°W / 26.438145; -82.092749
TypeMalacology and Conchology
AccreditationAmerican Alliance of Museums, 2010
DirectorSamuel Ankerson
CuratorJosé H. Leal, PhD
ArchitectGeorge "Tutts" Tuttle Jr.
WebsiteOfficial website
A 2011 view of the museum, the Raymond Burr Memorial Garden in the foreground

The Bailey-Matthews National Shell Museum is a museum devoted to every aspect of seashells, conchology, and malacology, including the paleontological and archeological/anthropological aspects of the study of shells. The museum is located in the city of Sanibel, Florida on the Gulf of Mexico coast of Southwest Florida.[1]

The Bailey-Matthews National Shell Museum opened to the public in 1995, and operates as an information and reference center for national and international scientists, students, and shell enthusiasts, particularly those who are interested in the marine, terrestrial, and freshwater mollusks of the Gulf of Mexico and Florida. The Museum, which is a facility of the Shell Museum and Educational Foundation, Inc., received its first accreditation from the American Alliance of Museums in March 2010.

It was heavily damaged by Hurricane Ian and the museum reopened in February 2023.[2][3]

  1. ^ The Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum
  2. ^ "Sanibel shell museum to Wicked Dolphin: How did familiar Lee County landmarks fare after Hurricane Ian?". news.yahoo.com. Retrieved 2022-10-06.
  3. ^ "Bailey-Matthews National Shell Museum Reopens". www.aza.org. Retrieved 2023-04-22.