Discover artifacts collected by some of the most prolific collectors from the Quad Cities and
learn something new about the items in your own collection straight from the Putnam's knowledgeable staff with the interactive feature,
Your Trading Place!
Discover rarely seen collections from around the globe, assembled by the Putnam's early contributors such as the Palmer, Ficke and Figge families. Among the items coming out of the Putnam's vault for this exhibit are a Buddhist shrine collected by C.A. Ficke, African specimens and artifacts collected by the Figge family and more!
Your trading place
An interactive feature within the exhibit,
Your Trading Place lets you take an active role in learning about items in your collection.
How it works: Bring an object from your collection that you'd like to learn more about to
Your Trading Place — open Saturdays from 1 to 3 p.m. or available by appointment — and share the story behind your item with
Trading Place staff. Staff then will be available to provide more information, and collectors of all ages can conduct their own research using resources within the exhibit.
You can then trade your item for another found object or take it home with a newfound appreciation!
Trading place rules
Guests can bring in natural items, posters, reports, dioramas, etc., and share what they know with staff.
Items that are accepted for trade include leaves, seeds, mounted pressed plants, wood samples, shells, dried cocoons, teeth, antlers, snake skins, turtle shells, clean dried bones, dried or pinned insects, rocks, minerals and fossils.
WE DO NOT ACCEPT: Live animals, protected species (plants or animals), taxidermy mounts, large pelts, anything that is stinky with flesh still attached, specimens/objects removed from protected lands, archaeological material or Native American artifacts. If it’s too big to carry, it’s too big to trade.
Limit is 2 trades per session. Items dropped off for trade become the property of the museum.
Collectors Wanted: Become a volunteer!
Do want to share your knowledge of the natural world, including plants, animals, rocks, fossils, etc.? Can you spare 2 to 4 hours of your weekend or weekday to help collectors of all ages learn about their finds?
We need YOUR expertise and enthusiasm to staff the Your Trading Place feature in The Great Collectors & YOU exhibit!