The Field Museum of Natural history has its origins in the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, held on the South side of Chicago. As the event ended an effort was made to permanently store and display the many exhibits that were seen in the Expo. The museum is named after Marshall Field, more famous for the Marshalls department stores. The museum is located in the Chicago Museum Campus along with the Shedd Aquarium and the Adler Planetarium.

The museum houses Sue the Tyrannosaurus, the most complete and best preserved T-rex fossil in the world. It measures 42 feet long, 13 feet high and over 67 million years old. The museum also has a comprehensive set of human cultural anthropology exhibits, including artifacts from ancient Egypt, the Pacific Northwest and Tibet. A large and diverse taxidermy collection, featuring many large animals, including two prized African elephants and the infamous Lions of Tsavo, featured in the 1996 movie "The Ghost and the Darkness", a large collection of dinosaurs in the Evolving Planet exhibit and a large collection of Native American artifacts are all housed in the museum.

Entrance to the museum campus is on 18th drive when driving South on Lake Shore Drive. The entire campus is a great picnic area, offering a lot of museums, rolling lawns, a lakefront and a perfect view of the Chicago skyline.