However , only fifteen years later , the Market Street facility fell victim to the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and three days of fire , which also wiped out all but a wheelbarrow full of the Academy 's library and specimen collections . In the widespread destruction occurring in the aftermath of the quake , Academy curators and staffers only were able to retrieve a single cart of materials , including Academy minute books , membership records , and 2,000 type specimens . The 1905-1906 scientific collecting expedition to the Galápagos Islands ( the first of several sponsored by the academy to the archipelago ) already was underway , and it returned seven months later , providing replacement collections for those lost
1906 San Francisco earthquake
1906 San Francisco earthquake
California Academy of Sciences