Entry No. 35 — the San Diego file — filed under: oddities
The Nat's Nature to You Loan Library
Tucked inside the San Diego Natural History Museum is a genuine library — with a card catalog and checkout system — for over 1,300 taxidermy specimens, skulls, and fossils; educators and members can literally check out a stuffed turkey or a lion pelt the way you'd borrow a novel.
The story
While most visitors inside Balboa Park’s Natural History Museum stand behind glass barriers looking at static dioramas, there is a room in the building's northwest corner where the glass vanishes. The Nature to You Loan Library operates on the exact logic of a civic public library, except instead of paperbacks on the shelves, you find taxidermy birds, mammal mounts, animal skulls, pelts, and fossils. It holds more than 1,300 cataloged specimens representing the plant, animal, and geological history of Southern California and Baja.
The system is gloriously literal: educators and museum members present a library card and walk out the door carrying a stuffed turkey, a bobcat, or a lion pelt. By turning preserved taxidermy into circulating library stock meant for hands-on study rather than untouchable glass-case display, The Nat runs one of the most eccentric lending services on the West Coast.
What it's like
Navigate to the northwest corner of Level 1 during the library's brief public windows—Wednesday and Thursday from 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM. You'll step out of the main gallery flow into a quiet room that feels like a backstage archive, surrounded by storage containing over a thousand boxed pelts, articulated skeletons, and taxidermy mounts. Even if you aren't carrying a red-tailed hawk out to your car, visiting the desk lets you inspect a functional catalog system designed entirely for dead animals.
The move: Tour The Nat together, then ask at the Nature to You Loan Program desk to see the specimen library up close — a room of taxidermy animals normally hidden from the main galleries, available for members/educators to actually borrow.
- 📍 Balboa Park
- 💸 $$
- ⚡ Up for anything
- 🌗 Indoors
Where: 1788 El Prado, San Diego, CA 92101
Hours: Added 2026-07-19 — confirm current hours before you go.
⚠ Seasonal or scheduled — always check before you go.
Pair it with
- Spanish Village Art Center — A hundred yards away in Balboa Park, trade preserved specimens for living working artists operating out of a 1930s adobe studio complex.
- San Diego Model Railroad Museum — A two-minute walk inside Balboa Park takes you from borrowed taxidermy to 27,000 square feet of rival model train clubs running miniature locomotives.
- J.A. Cooley Museum — Drive 1.6 miles north to University Heights to double down on cabinet-of-curiosity energy with roughly three dozen niche collecting categories crammed into one space.
- The Gold Dust Collective — Head five minutes into North Park to contrast institutional specimen loans with a commercial boutique selling taxidermy mounts, human-tooth jewelry, and oddities.
Good to know
Who can actually borrow items from the collection?
Museum members and local educators are eligible to check out specimens from the library to take into classrooms or home.
Where is the library located within the museum?
It is located in the northwest corner of Level 1 inside the San Diego Natural History Museum at 1788 El Prado in Balboa Park.
When is the Loan Library open for walk-ins?
The library room is open to visitors on Wednesday and Thursday afternoons between 2:00 PM and 5:00 PM.
How many specimens are in the borrowing collection?
The loan library maintains a catalog of over 1,300 specimens across plant, animal, rock, and fossil categories.
Plan a visit & invite your people →
Further reading: sdnhm.org · Atlas Obscura · listverse.com
last checked: 2026-07-19