The Survey: Year V
On the cover page of each Annual Report of The Geological and Natural History Survey of Minnesota, a list of the “Officers of the Survey” is printed. The first year, the only name that appears is that of State Geologist…
annual reports
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…
Retrospective Reconnaissance: Assessing the First Year of the Survey, 1872
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…
Natural Sciences: Instruction
In addition to carrying out explorations and documenting the unique geologic formations of the state for the Minnesota Geologic and Natural History Survey, State Geologist Newton Horace Winchell (pictured at left) also assumed the responsibility of providing initial instruction in…
Annual Report: Live beavers
To begin research on the history of the Bell Museum of Natural History, which originated from the collected geological specimens of the 1872 Minnesota Geology and Natural History Survey, the first resource I turned to was the Annals of the…