Publications
The Chicago Academy of Sciences disseminated scientific knowledge through its publications, which began with the Proceedings in 1866.
Scientific publications present detailed descriptions of species, field explorations, or ecosystems. Others are written for general audiences, brimming with information about urban nature in the Chicago region. Many of our historic publications are available digitally. Our current staff also publish in a diverse array of journals.
Bulletin was the longest running series, published from 1883 to 1995, and includes articles from W.K. Higley on local flora, H.K. Gloyd on rattlesnakes, and W.J. Beecher on local birds.
Bulletin of the Natural History Survey was published from 1896 to 1927. This series provides detailed scientific exploration into specific species and local ecology, and includes W.W. Calkins’ “The Lichen-flora of Chicago and Vicinity (1896) and Frank Baker’s “The Mollusca of the Chicago Area” (1898, 1902).
The Chicago Naturalist presented scientific articles, short notes about natural history subjects, museum activities, and even book reviews under one cover! This publication was first issued in 1938 and ran for ten years until 1948.
Leaflets were short articles published between 1938 and 1943 that presented fun topics such as “The Chicago Sky in the Atwood Celestial Sphere” and “Shipping Live Reptiles and Amphibians.”
Museum Activities documented the Academy’s educational and scientific activities from 1948 to 1979.
Natural History Miscellanea was shared for almost 40 years, from 1946 to 1982. The Miscellanea provided short, but highly informative, articles on a single subject – “The Umbilical Scar, a Sexually Dimorphic Character” by R.A. Edgren (1951); “Ecological Distribution of Small Mammals on the Pine Hills Field Station and Environs in Southwestern Illinois” by Krull and Bryant (1972); “A Comparison of the Past and Present Freshwater Mussel Fauna of the Kankakee River in Illinois” by Lewis and Brice (1980).
Proceedings was the Academy’s first publication, released in 1866. It includes information on meetings as well as scientific articles, such as “Descriptions of New Genera and Species of Macrurous Crustacea form the Coasts of North America” by W. Stimpson.
Program of Activities was a mix of topics including annual reports and scientific articles. The series was published from 1930 to 1937 and includes “Birds of the Chicago Region” by E.R. Ford and “Mammals of the Chicago Region” by T. Gregory.
Science Notes include 32 short articles published during 1959 for the public that presented numerous articles written by W.J. Beecher that explored the Indiana Dunes, how birds fly, and the Chicagoland prairie.
Special Publications were published between 1902 and 1959 and explored subjects in depth. These include H.K. Gloyd’s “The Rattlesnakes, genera Sistrurus and Crotalus,” O. Park’s studies of Neotropical Pselaphid beetles, and E.R. Ford’s “Birds of the Chicago Region.”
Transactions was another early series, published from 1867 to 1870, and include articles on the ecosystems of the Great Lakes region (Lapham, 1867; Andrews, 1870), collections made on the Russo-American Telegraph Expedition (Baird, 1869), and on anthropological topics (Foster, 1869).
Colby, J. (2009). Monographic revision of the genus Aegidinus Arrow (1904) and generic phylogeny of the world Orphninae (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Orphninae). Insecta Mundi, 0076, 1-41. Retrieved from https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/insectamundi/603/
Cook, K., Augustinsky, M., Dye, A., Flowers, J., & McGee, S. (2016). Monarchs and the Critical Zone: A New Spin on the Study of Butterflies. The Earth Scientist, XXXII(3), 4-6.
Ellwood, E., Kimberly, P., Guralnick, R., Flemons, P., Love, K., & Ellis, S. et al. (2018). Worldwide Engagement for Digitizing Biocollections (WeDigBio): The Biocollections Community’s Citizen-Science Space on the Calendar. Bioscience, 68(2), 112-124. doi: 10.1093/biosci/bix143 Retreieved from https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/advance-article/doi/10.1093/biosci/bix143/4797259
Kucherov, N., Minor, E., Johnson, P., Taron, D., & Matteson, K. (2021). Butterfly declines in protected areas of Illinois: Assessing the influence of two decades of climate and landscape change. PLOS ONE, 16(10), e0257889. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0257889 Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0257889
MATTESON, K., TARON, D., & MINOR, E. (2012). Assessing Citizen Contributions to Butterfly Monitoring in Two Large Cities. Conservation Biology, 26(3), 557-564. doi: 10.1111/j.1523-1739.2012.01825.x Retrieved from https://www.uic.edu/labs/minor/Matteson_etal_2012.pdf
BONIZZONI, M., BOURJEA, J., CHEN, B., CRAIN, B., CUI, L., & FIORENTINO, V. et al. (2011). Permanent Genetic Resources added to Molecular Ecology Resources Database 1 April 2011-31 May 2011. Molecular Ecology Resources, 11(5), 935-936. doi: 10.1111/j.1755-0998.2011.03046.x
Ries, L., K. Oberhauser, D. Taron, E. Rendón-Salinas. (2015). Connecting eastern monarch population dynamics across their migratory cycle. In Oberhauser, K., Altizer, S., Nail, K., & Oberhauser, K. (2015). Monarchs in a Changing World. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
Ries, L., Taron, D., & Rendón-Salinas, E. (2015). The Disconnect Between Summer and Winter Monarch Trends for the Eastern Migratory Population: Possible Links to Differing Drivers. Annals Of The Entomological Society Of America, 108(5), 691-699. doi: 10.1093/aesa/sav055
Rosa, R., & Elbert, J. (2011). From Free to Fee. Journal Of Museum Education, 36(1), 9-18.
Sacerdote-Velat, A., & King, R. (2022). Variation in Detection of Smooth Greensnake (Opheodrys vernalis) Nests and Adults with Artificial Cover Object Material. Herpetological Review, 53(1), 10-18. Retrieved from HR March 2022 Sacerdote Velat and King Overnalis detection
Schrementi, L. (2011). Museum Connections. Science And Children, 48(9), 38-43.
Smetana, L., Birmingham, D., Rouleau, H., Carlson, J., & Phillips, S. (2017). Cultural Institutions as Partners in Initial Elementary Science Teacher Preparation. Innovations In Science Teacher Education, 2(2).
Taron, D. (2015). Managing Land for Butterflies. In Daniels, J. Butterfly conservation in North America (1st ed.). Netherlands: Springer.
Taron, D. and L. Ries. (2015). Butterfly Monitoring for Conservation. In (Daniels, J. Butterfly conservation in North America (1st ed.). Springer.