How can you investigate something you cannot see? 

The challenge of understanding the unknown motivates scientists today, just as it has inspired curious people for centuries.

Using material from the Allen Forbes Collection, this exhibit traces the scientific process of observing, measuring, and describing that turned whales from monsters into mammals.

Using prints from the sixteenth through the nineteenth centuries, Monsters of the Deep examines how European knowledge about the creatures of the sea was informed by new information from sailors, scholars, and beachcombers, and how that knowledge transformed what people understood about the natural world. 

Want a closer look at what we have on view? You can explore digitized versions of exhibition objects here.

On view through January 2026.