Club Membership

Welcome to the Natural History Society of Maryland’s Club Membership page! Established in 1929, NHSM has had a long tradition of clubs. Natural history encompasses many things and we’ve had a club for all of them at one point in time. Currently we have volunteer experts leading four different clubs. We hope you will want to join one or all of them.

Archaeology Club

The Natural History Society of Maryland’s Archaeology Club was founded in 2019 to promote the value of archaeology in Baltimore City, Baltimore County, and surrounding areas.  The goal of the Archaeology Club is to educate citizenry in the ethics, methods, and artifact preservation methods of archaeology and how archaeology can be used to document, discover, and promote local history. The Archaeology Club is inclusive to all persons who have an interest in archaeology and welcomes people of all levels of experience.  Whether you are a professional, avocational, aspiring, or armchair archaeologist, join us as we explore thousands of years of Maryland’s fascinating past. Activities include everything from cleaning archaeological artifacts, to field trips to Antietam to hear about the professional archaeology projects there, to archaeological excavations.  Our meetings vary depending on the current projects we are working on and while our archaeological surveys and excavations have ceased temporarily due to Covid-19 restrictions, we do have a monthly Zoom meeting on aspects of Maryland archaeology.  And we have some interesting projects coming up including kayak trips on the Susquehanna to see the petroglyphs to an archaeological survey of the Loch Raven Dam Workers Camp.  You must be a member of both NHSM and the Archaeology Club to participate in the events.

Purchase an Individual Club Membership or Family Club Membership.

Fossil Club

The fossil club invites speakers both from within the club and from the Smithsonian, Calvert Marine Museum, and other like-minded clubs.  We constantly strive to schedule collecting trips of interest to the Club Members – both trips and speakers are often open to folks who are not yet members of the Fossil Club. Benefits include belonging to a group that shares your same interests, attending trips trips and having meetings to identify and comment on what you have found. The fossil club meets in person or via Zoom, and share a private Facebook page.

Purchase an Individual Club Membership or Family Club Membership.

Herp Club

Monthly meetings allow networking with amateurs and professionals in the field of herpetology. Members only field trips to local sites to find, photograph native reptiles and amphibians, and a members only Facebook page for networking and sharing photos and ideas. Our monthly meetings promote fellowship and education between members at all knowledge levels. Many of our members are children, and they are always encouraged to participate in all club activities.

Purchase an Individual Club Membership or Family Club Membership.

Lep Club

The NHSM Lepidoptera Club (“Lep Club” for short) is for people interested in both rearing and learning more about moths and butterflies.  Meetings include both a short formal presentation, and open discussion on personal experiences related to rearing moths and butterflies. Also, there is typically discussion of plants that are good for attracting pollinators to your garden.

The Lep Club meets the last Thursday of each moth, April thru October

Normally meetings occur at the NHSM building and a Typical meetings start with a 15-30-minute presentation or hands on activity. Presenters are brought in from across the Mid-Atlantic region to talk about rearing, growing host plants, field collection and preservation of specimens.  Typically, there is an annual Field trip to Ladew Topiary Gardens or another location to get a behind the scenes tour of a Butterfly house. We attempt to have a local nursery come with native plants for members only presentation and plant sale.

Purchase an Individual Club Membership or Family Club Membership.