A T-REX IN THE ‘DINOSAURS IN THEIR TIME’ EXHIBIT AT THE CARNEGIE MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY | PHOTO BY JOSHUA FRANZOS, TREEHOUSE MEDIA

The Carnegie Museum of Natural History has received its largest individual monetary gift since Andrew Carnegie founded that institution in 1895.

The gift of $25 million comes from two longtime Carnegie Museum patrons, Daniel G. and Carole L. Kamin. Their donation follows the Kamins’ previous gift of $65 million to the Carnegie Science Center on the North Shore in early 2024, which will lead to the center’s renaming to the Daniel G. and Carole L. Kamin Science Center later this year. The science center became part of the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh in 1991. Daniel Kamin is a real estate developer and longtime supporter of local arts and science causes.

Between now and 2028, a portion of the couple’s newest gift will be used to renovate the Natural History Museum’s iconic “Dinosaurs in Their Time” exhibition, which opened nearly 20 years ago. It will be renamed the Daniel G. and Carole L. Kamin Hall of Dinosaurs. A donation in 2006 by the couple led to the naming of the Daniel G. & Carole L. Kamin T. rex Overlook, which gives visitors a bird’s eye view of that part of the dinosaur exhibit from the upper floor.

Part of the new gift also ​​will be used to establish an endowment to support the museum’s scientific mission.

CAROLE L. AND DANIEL G. KAMIN | PHOTO COURTESY CAROLE L. KAMIN

“One of my first jobs when I moved to Pittsburgh was as a buyer for Carnegie Museum of Natural History’s museum store,” Carole L. Kamin said in a release, “So my connection to and love for this museum runs deeply.”

The Kamins’ donation will help to update and modernize the dinosaur exhibit with immersive and interactive elements, accessibility and an in-gallery storytelling approach that encourages visitors to explore at their own pace.

In 2017, Daniel Kamin and Carole Kamin were inaugurated into the Carnegie Nobel Quartet Society, which recognizes lifetime giving to Carnegie Museums that exceeds $1 million. In 2016, a $5 million donation from the Kamins permanently endowed the Carnegie Museum of Natural History’s director position. The position is currently held by Gretchen Baker, who is the Daniel G. and Carole L. Kamin director of the museum.

“When I first met Carole, we immediately bonded over our love of dinosaurs and the museums that bring them to life,” Baker said in a release. “Carnegie Museum of Natural History stewards one of the most extraordinary dinosaur fossil collections in the world, and the museum’s beloved exhibition, ‘Dinosaurs in Their Time,’ contains many of the finest fossils from this collection… Now, with Carole and Dan’s generous support, we’ll reimagine the gallery in which these iconic specimens are displayed.”