Collectible NightLife

From the rare and weird to the historically important and just plain cool, Collectible NightLife celebrates the art of collecting.

Get lost in cabinets of curiosities as Emily Graslie, Chief Curiosity Correspondent for The Field Museum in Chicago and creator and host of the YouTube show, “The Brain Scoop,” shares tales and #fails from her time working in one of the largest natural history collections in the world.

See our scientific collections in a whole new light as photographer Susan Middleton shows off some of her most stunning images of the Academy’s specimens. Throughout the Academy, some of the Bay Area’s most prolific collectors show off their wares.

History buffs will marvel at Schein & Schein’s antique maps and books and learn about the city’s west side with the Western Neighborhood Project’s collection of historical ephemera from the outside lands. Watch 16 mm films with film collector Jon Bastian in the Philippine Coral Reef and browse Western Relics Records’ vintage vinyl collection while a vinyl battle rages in the piazza, pitting DJ Tanoa versus Tom LG.

Elsewhere, check out comic books and art from Mission: Comics and Art, appreciate the sparkle of some of the San Francisco Gem and Mineral Society’s finest specimens, and perhaps raise an eyebrow (or two) while learning about Good Vibrations’ collection of antique vibrators and viewing Loved to Death’s taxonomic oddities.