A shared passion for science, nature, history, and discovery led Anne Baker-Hayes and Richard Hayes to the Natural History Museums of Los Angeles County in 2015.

Charlene Dimas-Peinado has dedicated her career to enhancing the well-being of children and families. As president and CEO of the respected LA nonprofit Wellnest, she champions behavioral health and housing solutions—transforming lives across the Los Angeles community.

Reading Shirley Hoggatt’s long list of Natural History Museum affiliations— docent, Fellow, Alliance member, Hildegarde Howard Society member—it is immediately apparent that the Museum plays a special role in her life.

Visitors to the Museum’s Hall of Gems and Minerals have undoubtedly noticed the scores of impressive specimens on display bearing the proud label “Gift of Melvin Hindin.”

The Natural History Museum recently inaugurated the Hildegarde Howard Society, a group of benefactors who have made planned gifts to the Museum.

"I'm not sure when that was. Let's see if we marked a pig," says Eileen Garson as she determines exactly when she and her husband Dick traveled with Museum Curator Karen Wise to Peru. She consults a painted wooden pig they acquired on the trip and confirms, "It was 1999."

Native Angeleno Carl W. Cooper remembers his first childhood visit to the Natural History Museum as "a bewilderment—because of the grandeur of the displays."

After arriving in Los Angeles from the Midwest in the early 1950s—with a brief whistle stop in Reno—Betty Tauer immediately made the Natural History Museum her first sight to see and has kept coming back ever since.

Ester Osder sets her coffee down and leans close to reveal a secret: "When I was a little girl, I used to love to twirl around on the bars that protected the Museum's dioramas."