Harvard, Yale, Berkeley among top 10 college museums, CollegeRank says

In the wake of the Duke/Wisconsin Final 4 matchup, here’s a new college ranking, one that points to something with cultural heft: the top 50 college museums in the United States.

University of California, Berkeley -- with six natural history museums at the Northern California campus -- is the only school in the West to break into the top 10.

CollegeRank culled what it calls the 50 Most Amazing College Museums after looking at factors such as the quality of exhibits, public access and how much the university or college reaches out to the community with educational programs.

The list of lesser-known museums will be invaluable to families with children, whether you’re scouting colleges with your kid this summer or looking for something to do with little ones.

Harvard University’s Museum of Natural History came in No. 1, particularly for its impressive collection and its child-friendly exhibits.

Yale University’s Peabody Museum, also a natural history museum, is second, with a shout out to its Incan artifacts and fossils, which Yale scientists starting collecting in the 18th century.

1. Harvard Museum of Natural History at Harvard University, 26 Oxford St., Cambridge, Mass.

2. Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale University, 170 Whitney Ave., New Haven, Conn.

3. Weisman Art Museum at the University of Minnesota, 333 E. River Road, Minneapolis.

4. Museum of Art at St. Louis University, 3663 Lindell Blvd., St. Louis.

5. Institute of Contemporary Art, 100 Northern Ave., Boston (Historically this museum was affiliated with Harvard University though it’s now a private museum.)

6. Florida Museum of Natural History at the University of Florida, 3215 Hull Road, Gainesville.

7. Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology at University of Pennsylvania, 3260 South St., Philadelphia.

8. Connecticut State Museum of Natural History at the University of Connecticut, 2019 Hillside Road, Storrs.

9. U.S. Naval War College Museum, United States Navy, 686 Cushing Road, Newport, R.I.

10. Berkeley Natural History Museums, University of California, Berkeley. (The university’s museums website lists the names and locations of the six museums on campus, which includes the UC Botanical Garden.)