Searchable online Burke Museum collections
Search the Burke Museum collections
The Burke Museum's collections consist of more than 16 million biological, geological and cultural objects from Washington state and around the world. Online access is available for nearly 1 million of these specimens and objects.
Find Burke collections near you
Find out which organisms, fossils, artifacts and other Burke Museum objects were discovered where you live. Zoom in to an area of interest on the map and use one of the selection tools to define the area you want to explore.
Burke collections from Washington
The Burke cares for collections from across Washington state (and around the world), covering many different types of landscapes and spanning well over 100 years of collecting efforts. Explore the distribution of Burke specimens, artifacts, and objects from Washington state.
Ethnology Collection
The Ethnological Collection includes objects dating from the late 1700s to the present, acquired from collectors and Native artists. The Burke Museum's world-renowned ethnological collections number over 48,000 objects and more than 50,000 archival records.
Herbarium Collection
The WTU Herbarium's total holdings number more than 650,000 specimens of vascular and nonvascular plants, fungi, lichens and marine algae with the oldest specimens dating to the late 1800s.
Herpetology Collection
To search Burke specimens only, select “Amphibian and reptile specimens” under “Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture (UWBM)” in the drop-down menu for Collection.
Ichthyology Collection
The Burke’s Ichthyology Collection includes more than 11 million specimens, including adults, juveniles, larvae, eggs, skeletons, tissues, otoliths and scales. Roughly 98% of the Ichthyology Collection is cataloged, databased and available to search.
Mammalogy Collection
The Mammalogy Collection database includes over 55,000 specimen records, including more than 9,000 specimens that have tissue samples archived in the Burke’s Genetic Resources Collection.
Ornithology Collection
The Ornithology Collections at the Burke Museum maintains a comprehensive collection of specimens, including study skins, spread wings, bird skeletons, egg sets, nests and frozen tissue samples. Approximately 99,550 individual records from the collections are accessible through this database.
Otoliths Collection
This collection is comprised of roughly 2.4 million pairs of fish otoliths, representing 83 species in 41 genera and 17 families.
Paleontology Collection
The Vertebrate Paleontology Collection is global in scope and includes over 62,000 fossils from over 2,500 localities from all seven continents. The Burke's paleontological collections are accessible and searchable in this online database.