Upon first seeing the above image from the glass plate negatives in the Bell Museum collection, I was stunned. Dozens of dead birds stacked upon each other in a giant pile. The caption for this photograph reads, “Lapland Longspur,…
With State Ornithologist Thomas Sadler Roberts at the helm of the University’s natural history museum by 1915, you can be certain that birds were a primary focus of the museum program in the first quarter of the 20th century. Yet…
I wonder if it is harder to win a staring contest if you have more than two eyelids that you have to keep from blinking? Though humans don’t have that trouble, reptiles, birds, fish, and some mammals (ex: camels, polar…
There have been multiple occasions where I’ve gasped while reviewing the images from the glass plate negative collection of the Bell Museum of Natural History. I saved many of those gasp-worthy images to share for this very week because they…
With the recent cold snap and the ever changing colors of the leaves upon campus trees, we can’t help but to realize that soon it will be winter once again in Minnesota. To remind us what that will look like,…
As I was lying in bed, staring at the ceiling, holding a wet washcloth to my forehead in an attempt to reduce my fever, I remembered a series of letters I read last week from the correspondence files of the…
Yesterday, we shared images from the Training Course for Boy Scout Leaders in Forestry, Woodcraft, and Scouting that was held at Itasca State Park in August of 1920. Much of the instruction at the two-week course centered upon the identification,…
Ever since it was established as part of the Geological and Natural History Survey in 1872, the University of Minnesota’s natural history museum has provided instruction to citizens throughout the state to promote understanding and appreciation of our natural world….
– Painted turtle showing eggs, Long Meadow Gun Club, June, 8, 1900 – Painted turtle and eggs, Long Meadow Gun Club, June 8, 1900 – Painted turtle digging hole for nest, Long Meadow Gun Club, 1900 – Painted turtle…
Rose-breasted Grosbeak feeding young, Long Meadow Gun Club, June 8, 1900 (click on the image for a larger version)…