Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum

The Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum is located in Sanibel Island, Florida. The museum does its best to educate the public about mollusks and shells with its exhibits and educational programs, further awareness of protecting the environment and promoting collection-based research of materials found in Southwest Florida and the Gulf of Mexico. The museum is a non-profit organization and offers the visiting public more than 30 exhibits. These exhibits illustrate shell habitats, rare pieces, shells in art and fossils. The museum's learning lab offers a hands-on chance to enjoy shells, as well as games and a tank with mollusks. There is also a 30 minute educational video, as well as a shorter children's video. Guests can purchase a souvenir from their visit in the museum's gift shop. Exhibits include Gifts from the Seas of Sanibel and Captiva, the Shell Classification Wheel, Early Sanibel Shell Collectors, Sanibel and Captiva Habitats, the Kingdom of Land Shells which includes 25,000 air-breathing snails, Florida Fossil Shells, Carrier Shells, Mollusks, Medicine and Man, Ecphora, Calusa: the Original Shell People, Shells as Money and the School Shell Collection Kit. This kit can be purchased from the museum and includes a teacher's guide, Seashells of the World, a set of labels, species of marine mollusks and two option DVDs.