The Museum was founded by Dr. Everhart primarily as a result of his fascination with ornithology. As a result of this the Museum has the most extensive collection of birds in the Northeastern Pennsylvania region. The natural history collection also contains animals, rocks, fossils, minerals, plant specimens, shell, coral and a few wet specimens. In 1920, less than 20 years after the founding of the Museum, the collection contained more than 2,300 bird specimens, 50 fish, 400 mammals, 150 reptiles, 35 amphibians, 2,100 botanical specimens, 25,000 shells, 300 fossils, and 800 minerals.