Last week we shared how the Minnesota Geological and Natural History Survey was first implemented by director Newton Horace Winchell, State Geologist. Winchell’s field notebooks, along with his annual reports of the survey, provide great insight in to the State…
In addition to some flora, since it is Friday, let’s add some fun… The actual caption for this photograph from the Department of Botany collection reads, “Talus vegetation, lichens and small shrubs, Lake Superior region” Something tells me that…
This Saturday marks the 73rd anniversary of the dedication of the Museum of Natural History building on the corner of Church St. and University Ave. on the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities campus. The building was dedicated on Saturday,…
I wonder what this adult Black-capped Chickadee (on the far right) did to incite such emotion in two of the younger chickadees pictured here? Maybe it’s time for lunch? (click on the image for a larger view) – Black-capped Chickadees,…
One of my favorite shows is Portlandia, an IFC original comedy created by Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen. The show is comprised of a series of sketches that light-heartedly satirize the city of Portland, Oregon (with similarities witnessed to that…
We previously shared the story of how the Minnesota Geological and Natural History Survey started. The Board of Regents, charged by the state legislature to implement the Survey, hired Newton Horace Winchell to lead field explorations and serve as the…
We reached a milestone on the Exploring project this week – completion of metadata entry (to include scientific names, families, additional captions, and geographical locations) for the 2,273 mounted botanical photographs from the Department of Botany records. Now ends the…
While growing up, I had several editions of Where’s Waldo? on my bookshelf. First published in England in 1987 as Where’s Wally? (Waldo is the American version), each book includes a series of highly detailed illustrations by British artist Martin…
I was so busy with metadata entry today that I almost forgot to post. Have a wonderful evening… – Evening scene on a Minnesota lake, undated. (From the Department of Botany records)…
In past blog posts we have shared the extreme measures that T.S. Roberts and his bird observation companions took in order to achieve their desired “shots” of the birds they were studying. Prior to becoming curator of the Zoological Museum…