The Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History was founded as the Museum of Comparative Oology in 1916 boasting one of the most significant collections of bird eggs and associated nests in the world; the Museum still stewards that significant collection and provides access to researchers around the globe. In addition, the vertebrate zoology department houses regional and comparative foreign specimens of all vertebrate classes including: eggs, nests, skins, osteological preparations, pickled preparations, tissue collections and associated field notes and catalogues. The historic collections contain material from as early as 1849 and have continued to grow in size and scope to now house over 40,000 specimens of fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and eggs, and mammals.