North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences
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 Location within North Carolina
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| Established | 1879 |
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| Location | Raleigh, North Carolina |
| Coordinates | 35°46′56″N 78°38′22″W / 35.782186°N 78.639422°W |
| Type | Natural history museum |
| Director | Dr. Emlyn Koster |
| Website | www |
The North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences (NCMNS) is located in Raleigh, North Carolina. This museum is the oldest established museum in North Carolina and the largest museum of its kind in the Southeastern United States. With about 1.2 million visitors annually, as of 2013 it was the state's most popular museum or historic destination among visitors.
The museum has four facilities on three campuses: the Nature Exploration Center and Nature Research Center on Jones Street in downtown Raleigh, the Prairie Ridge Ecostation satellite facility and outdoor classroom in northwest Raleigh near William B. Umstead State Park, and the former North Carolina Museum of Forestry in Whiteville. NCMNS is a division of the state Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
The North Carolina State Museum was created in 1879, by combining two existing state-owned collections of geologic and agricultural specimens. The museum was originally housed in the Briggs building on Fayetteville Street. The museum’s collections, outreach and education programs, and status grew over the next 60 years under the stewardship of H.H. Brimley. As part of the Department of Agriculture, the State Museum moved in 1887 to a former hotel on Edenton Street across from the Capitol building. An annex was added in 1899, but the entire facility was replaced by a purpose-built building in 1924. The facility was later renamed the North Carolina State Museum of Natural History.
In the 1950s and again in the 1990s, shifts in education further expanded the museum’s holdings as universities donated their collections to the state. In 1986, it became the North Carolina State Museum of Natural Sciences.
A new building opened in 2000, and NCMNS became the largest natural history museum in the Southeast. Also in 2000, the museum expanded with a new location: the Museum of Forestry in Whiteville was added as a satellite campus; this facility was later overhauled and reopened in 2015 as the NC Museum of Natural Sciences in Whiteville. Another location was added in 2004, with the opening of the Prairie Ridge Ecostation for Wildlife and Learning. The museum expanded its downtown campus in 2012, with the adjacent Nature Research Center.
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