His Philadelphia-born son Rembrandt Peale would later found The Peale Museum in Baltimore, illuminating the city with gaslight and curiosity. 

Their legacy lives on in Founding Fossils, a multisensory exhibition conceived by Dr. Cheryl Fogle-Hatch and produced in collaboration with Dr. Bernard Means and the VCU Virtual Curation Lab. 

Visitors can touch 3-D printed replicas of fossils first collected by the Peales — the same specimens that introduced the concept of extinction to the American imagination. 

The exhibition also features student-created sculptures and panels from the Founding Monsters graphic-novel series, connecting early scientific discovery with today’s visual storytelling. 

Accessible to sighted and blind visitors alike, Founding Fossils reawakens the sense of wonder that defined America’s first museum of art and science. 

Plan your visit → thepeale.org/exhibition-founding-fossils