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…
Newton Horace Winchell
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…
The Survey, Year III
After a brief and hastily conducted “retrospective” survey in the fall of 1872, followed by a full year foray filled with salt determinations and peat assessments in 1873, Newton Horace Winchell, the director of the Minnesota Geological and Natural History…
The Survey, Year II: It could use a little salt…
In our previous post regarding the initial evaluation of the progress made by State Geologist Newton Horace Winchell in the first year of the implementation of the Minnesota Geological and Natural History Survey, we ended with the following question and…
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…
The General Museum
In addition to mandating an exhaustive study of the geological, botanical, and zoological phenomena of the state, the March 1, 1872 law that created the Minnesota Geological and Natural History Survey under the authority of the Board of Regents of…
Complementary Collections: A Survey Begins
On March 1, 1872 the legislature of the state of Minnesota approved a bill that ordered the commencement of a geological and natural history survey of the state, to be implemented and overseen by the Board of Regents of 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…
Laying the Foundation: Newton Horace Winchell
The first dedicated study of the geology of Minnesota – and the discovery of the outstanding natural features of the state – is largely attributed to Newton Horace Winchell, the first director of the Minnesota Geological and Natural History Survey….