What's New
Upcoming activities and recent Shell Museum developments. Also, check "General Information."
May 10, 2013
Celebrate your Mothers Day with shells! The Museum will be offering free admission to mothers on Mothers Day, this Sunday, May 12, 2013!
April 4, 2013
Museum Honors Shell Enthusiast and Founding Volunteer
April 3, 2013
Museum Invites Applicants
April 3, 2013
Need for Collection Volunteers as Summer Approaches
April 1, 2013
Museum’s 2013 Oyster-lympics Preparations Underway
April 1, 2013
Join a group of nature and shelling enthusiasts for this year’s trip to Chub Cay, Bahamas, sponsored by The Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum.
March 18, 2013
Everyone is invited to join the “mollusk madness” during the 4th Annual Oyster-lympics, co-sponsored by The Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum and The Timbers Restaurant & Fish Market! The event will be held April 20 from 11 a.m. - 2 p.m. at The Timbers. Proceeds from the event will benefit the Museum’s exhibit and educational programs.
March 18, 2013
The Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum is proud to announce that the Museum Store is now the exclusive retailer on Sanibel for an outstanding collection of affordable Sailors’ Valentines Kits, designed and produced in the United States by a crafter in Colorado.
March 14, 2013
The Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum in Sanibel, Florida seeks an innovative Executive Director to lead the Museum into its next phase of development
March 11, 2013
The Museum has installed a beach backdrop for photos of visitors with unique shells found on the beaches of Sanibel and Captiva.
March 11, 2013
The Museum introduces a new staff member, Ann Parker
March 11, 2013
New redesigned Exhibit Guide enhances visitor experience
March 2, 2013
The Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum celebrated its volunteers during the Annual Volunteer Appreciation Reception on February 25, 2013
February 25, 2013
Local cartoonist Dave Horton assists Museum with clever cartoon for Oysterlympics
February 8, 2013
This past Tuesday, February 5, The Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum hosted an opening reception for its most recent three exhibits: “Raymond Burr Memorial Exhibit,” “Deep-sea Mollusks,” and “Henry Domke: Nature Photographer.”
February 8, 2013
The Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum recently became a central focus for one family visiting the area from New Hampshire.
February 1, 2013
The Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum hosted another edition of “UNDER THE SEA,” its Annual Museum Gala, at The Sanctuary Golf Club on Sunday, January 27th with the theme “In an Octopus’s Garden with You” – complete with the BEATLEBEAT Tribute Band.
January 28, 2013
What Is a Nudibranch? You may not have heard of them, but Mother Nature has imbued them with some of her wildest indulgences of color and form.
January 2, 2013
The Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum is starting the New Year with a great line-up of speakers and events for the month of January.
January 1, 2013
In another of The Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum “UNDER THE SEA” event promotions, sponsors are wigging out this week for the Museum’s annual Museum Gala. Local business leaders have bubbled up to the surface as sponsors of the event and are proud to raise money in support of the Museum’s outstanding educational programs.
December 29, 2012
The Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum is finalizing details for the season’s kick-off event, the 2013 edition of its Annual Museum Gala, “UNDER THE SEA: In an Octopus’s Garden with You”.
December 22, 2012
Sanibel Island resident Tom Risher, originally from Green Pond, New Jersey, has been one of The Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum’s most active and engaged volunteers for the past four years
December 22, 2012
Interested in shells, museums, education, or non-profit work? Looking for a fun and rewarding way to donate your time to a great educational institution on Sanibel? We invite you to participate in an orientation session designed to help interested community members to learn more about the Museum and its volunteer opportunities.
December 15, 2012
The Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum is going “UNDER THE SEA” again for its annual Museum Gala. This year’s event, aptly subtitled “In an Octopus’s Garden with You,” will feature a 1960s theme and tribute to The Beatles.
December 15, 2012
Still looking for a great holiday gift for a special family member, friend, or child? Want to find something out of the ordinary, with perhaps a touch of artiness? Look no further than your local museum store!
December 10, 2012
The Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum is advancing a collaborative initiative with some partner hotels, resorts and tourist information centers to assist with their existing shell displays.
December 7, 2012
The Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum is proud to announce the winners for the 3rd Annual Live Mollusk Photography Competition, in sync with the Museum’s 17th Anniversary.
December 3, 2012
The Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum is currently in the pre-production stages of an exciting enhancement to the visitor experience. In the coming months, the Museum will produce and deliver audio tours for eight of the more than 30 exhibits currently on display in the Great Hall of Shells.
December 3, 2012
Next Friday, December 14, 2012 from 12:00 – 1:00 pm, The Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum welcomes Angelika Geerlof, artist, author, poet and photographer who will share how her contemplative walks on the island’s beaches and in the wildlife refuge have inspired her new book, Sanibel Moodscapes.
November 28, 2012
November 26, 2012
The Beatles Abbey Road album cover served as inspiration for the first promotional image of “UNDER THE SEA 2013: In an Octopus’s Garden with You,” with four members of the management team of The Sanibel-Captiva Trust Company standing in for the 1960s rock band members.
November 19, 2012
Harland Wittkopf, a local Sanibel resident and shell enthusiast for over 38 years, has done it again! Based on his Alphabet Cone brochure, Mr. Wittkopf has written a children’s book based on the character, Alphie.
November 19, 2012
The Sanibel-Captiva Shell Club recently donated over $11,000 to The Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum to assist with the purchase of collection storage cabinets and specimen boxes for the Museum’s collection department.
November 13, 2012
Join author Harlan Wittkopf and illustrator Ken Vinton as they present their first book about alphabet seashells, "Alphie Finds the Seashell Alphabet."
October 31, 2012
The Museum is proud to announce the appointment of Laura Richardson as the new Collection Manager.
October 31, 2012
The story of Sanibel and Captiva Islands stretches back over three hundred years, to a time when natives roamed the islands and Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon first met and tried to subdue the Calusa Indians in San Carlos Bay in 1513.
October 28, 2012
There’s still time to join an amazing field trip to Guaymas, Mexico for a shelling expedition that will benefit The Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum!
October 24, 2012
Which is the most abundant shell on Sanibel Island? We all know how plentiful shells are on Sanibel’s beaches, but what species is most commonly found? Did you ever wonder?
October 19, 2012
In an unexpected but appropriate twist of fate, Bailey’s General Store recently incorporated the Museum’s now famous Shell Guide onto the shopping bags given to customers.
October 9, 2012
Dr. Eugene Coan from the California Academy of Sciences will be speaking about “Reviewing a Fauna: the Panamic Bivalve Mollusks."
October 8, 2012
The stars came out to shine at Traders Café & Store last Wednesday night to help raise money for The Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum.
October 8, 2012
The Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum announces the final call for submissions to the Museum’s 3nd Annual Live Mollusk Photography Competition. For this competition, the Museum seeks amateur photos of live mollusks in their environment. Museum staff hope you will share your skills to photograph live mollusks in their natural habitats; marine, land, or freshwater.
July 30, 2012
Federal grant award will help advance management of Museum collection.
July 26, 2012
The Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum has been awarded a three-year grant from the “Museums for America” initiative of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), the primary source of federal support for libraries and museums.
July 20, 2012
Dr. José H. Leal, Director and Curator of The Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum, was recently elected president of Conchologists of America (COA), the largest organization of shell enthusiasts in the world.
July 7, 2012
Dr. José H. Leal, Director/Curator for The Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum, announced today that Dr. Eugene V. Coan was awarded the 2012 R. Tucker Abbott Visiting Curatorship.
June 23, 2012
The Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum is proud to announce the appointment of a new Store Manager, Ms. Cheryl Gruner.
June 22, 2012
The Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum continues to offer live tank demonstrations and shelling activities throughout the summer. The Museum, home to more than 35 exhibits consisting of thousands of shell and mollusk specimens and a library, is a great place for visitors with an interest in shelling.
June 22, 2012
Calling all amateur shutterbugs! The Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum is pleased to announce the Museum’s 3nd Annual Live Mollusk Photography Competition.
June 22, 2012
Looking for a great way to inspire your students, but can’t find the
funds you need to make it happen? Check out the Target® Field Trip Grants program.
June 15, 2012
Honored as a Highly Rated Museum as Reviewed by Travelers on the World’s Largest Travel Site
June 15, 2012
The Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum is proud to announce the appointment of a new Senior Assistant Director for Operations and Administration, Ms. Jennifer Hoerl
June 11, 2012
The Ferguson family, on Sanibel for a summer vacation from southern Georgia, recently visited The Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum; the family received free entrance as a part of the Museum's participation in the Blue Star Museums program.
June 11, 2012
Cartoons provide the perfect medium for introducing children to drawing. Children, especially young children, have fewer creative and artistic inhibitions than adults. Cartoons are fun because the creator can assign any kind of emotion to the subject and from an action standpoint can make the cartoon character spring into action in any way that they choose.
June 11, 2012
The Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum is honored to host three university students as summer volunteers; Ana Larson and Zachary Hammond from Florida Gulf Coast University (FCGU), and Grant Miller from Purdue University.
June 11, 2012
A group of 14 adventurous naturalists and shell enthusiasts joined organizers Anne Joffe and Gary Schmelz on a trip to Chub Cay, Bahamas to benefit The Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum.
June 1, 2012
The Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum has a new look! After an exhaustive competition that resulted in over 350 design submissions from around the world, the Museum is happy to unveil the new logo that will represent the Museum “brand” across multiple forms of communication, including print and digital media.
June 1, 2012
The Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum is hosting a week-long camp “Live Mollusks on Parade Camp,” June 25-29.
June 1, 2012
Artwork from the Cape Coral Public Library Art Contest will be on display this month at The Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum.
May 25, 2012
As The Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum finalizes the restoration and relocation of the Raymond Burr Memorial Exhibit and The State Fair in Shells, some groundwork was required.
May 25, 2012
The Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum is currently scheduling this academic year’s field trips for Lee County fourth grade students. However, due to continued cutbacks in Lee County school budgets, sponsorships from individuals and businesses are vital to the continuation of the program.
May 11, 2012
On Wednesday, May 9, 2012 Dr. José H. Leal, Ph.D., director and curator for The Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum, delivered a talk to the Broward Shell Club about one of the Museum’s newest exhibits, “Cowries.” After the talk, Broward Shell Club board member Tom Ball handed Dr. Leal a check for $500 as a donation to the Museum’s programs.
April 30, 2012
The Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum (BMSM) is currently renovating The Raymond Burr Memorial Exhibit, established in memory of the deceased actor prior to his death in 1993. The exhibit, currently housed in the lower level of the Museum, will be relocated into the Great Hall of Shells and will feature newly acquired shells from his personal collection, as well as memorabilia from the Mr. Burr’s very illustrious career.
April 24, 2012
Membership in The Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum has become more valuable than ever. The Museum is pleased to announce its participation in the North American Reciprocal Museums (NARM) program. If you join the Museum at the $100 level or above, you automatically become a member of this reciprocal membership program.
April 23, 2012
This year's oyster eating contest went into a "slurp-off" to determine the winner of the 3rd Annual Oyster Eating Contest co-sponsored by The Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum and The Timbers Restaurant and Fish Market.
February 21, 2012
The Shell Museum introduces its newest staff member
October 7, 2011
See just how much fun everyone had at the Celebrity Island Dinner
September 30, 2011
Local celebrities will serve up a good time at the Museum's fundraiser!
