Articles by Rebecca Toov

Wild Animal Wednesday: Squirrel Around

– Striped ground squirrel standing up, Anoka County, July 1, 1933 (l) Striped ground squirrel facing left, Anoka County, July 1, 1933 (r) Striped ground squirrel facing front, Anoka County, July 1, 1933 – Striped ground squirrel facing right,…


Tuesday Tweet: The Winter Bird-Life of Minnesota

In February of 1916, Thomas Sadler Roberts, associate curator of the Zoological Museum, released the first of what he termed “Occasional Papers,” a series of bulletins issued from the “Zoological Division of the Geological and Natural History Survey.” The content…


Monday at Minnehaha

The Pioneer Press recently published an article about public safety in one of Minneapolis’s oldest city parks, “Frozen Minnehaha Falls are cool, but visitors should heed warnings.” Minnehaha Park’s Minnehaha Falls are certainly a sight in the winter. The falling…


Friday Flora: Tick Trefoil

You’ve got a little something on your skirt… – Desmodium grandiflorum (Desmodium cuspidatum), “Tick Trefoil,” large, with Miss I. Dorman, March 22, 1924 (From Ned L. Huff’s hand-colored lantern slides in the Department of Botany collection)…


Smokey Bear?

Yesterday we shared Walter J. Breckenridge’s recollection of his trip to the Superior National Forest near Winton, Minnesota to observe the courting ritual of the Spruce Grouse in the spring of 1931. In his autobiography, My Life in Natural History,…


Wednesdays with Walter: The Spruce Grouse

Well it is Wednesday again, which means it is time to revisit the wilderness adventures of Walter Breckenridge, former preparator, curator, and director of the Bell Museum of Natural History. His description from his autobiography, My Life in Natural History,…


Tuesday Tweet: Motion Study

I’ve been watching a lot of slow motion instant replays recently as a result of being an avid watcher of the coverage of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia. Did the snowboarder/skier get enough rotation in their jump?…


The General Museum: Part II – Look toward Ward

As we shared in a blog post a few months ago, the University’s “General Museum” – the museum established by the 1872 act that created the state Geological and Natural History Survey – started humbly. It wasn’t until three years…


Friday Flora: Valentine’s Day Delivery

I saw on the news this morning that winter storms in the southern United States could potentially cause delays in floral deliveries to the Twin Cities today. Apparently, in the floral industry, Atlanta is a major distribution city for flowers…


The Hasty Honeymoon, Part II

Yesterday we shared the wedding story of former Bell Museum preparator and director Walter J. Breckenridge and his wife Dorothy, who married within a moments notice in order for Dorothy to accompany her new husband on a planned field excursion…