In 1944, the Chicago Academy of Sciences’ Honorary Curator of Botany, Anna Pedersen Kummer, reflected on recent developments to the Academy’s Herbarium in The Chicago Naturalist: “Much excellent materials been […]
Collections Reveal Traces of Living Animals
What if there were a way to look back in time and observe living animals interacting directly with their environment? Natural history collections preserve the remains of organisms and the […]
The Ghosts of Prairies Past: Uncovering Yesterday’s Truths with Museum Collections
From expansive cities to agricultural fields, it may come as a surprise that Illinois was once covered in millions of acres of prairies and forests. In 1820, about 22 million […]
Women in Science: Anna Pedersen Kummer
As Women’s History Month comes to an end, we’re taking a closer look at Anna Pedersen Kummer, former honorary curator of botany and a lover of all plants! She was a […]
The Great Chicago Fire of 1871
The Great Chicago Fire started on the evening of Sunday, October 8, 1871. Rumors started almost immediately that the fire was caused by Mrs. O’Leary’s cow kicking over a lantern left in […]
Witnessing the Great Chicago Fire
It’s hard to imagine experiencing the Great Chicago Fire firsthand, but many Chicagoans left incredible accounts of those three tumultuous days. In fact, Nature Museum Interpretive Programs Coordinator Marjorie Hoffman […]
Herman Silas Pepoon
Herman Silas Pepoon (1860-1941) was a physician, teacher, botanist, and naturalist with a particular focus on the plants of Illinois and the Midwest. He was born in Warren, Illinois to […]
Taking animal self portraits with Tappan Gregory
A. Tappan Gregory (1886-1961) was devoted to natural studies, but professionally followed in his father’s footsteps and became a lawyer. He received his A.B. from Yale University in 1910 and […]
Making observations with William Dreuth
Documented bird observations are incredibly useful for understanding species migration and shifts in species populations or range as well as phenology (the timing of seasonal natural events such as plants […]
Margaret Morse Nice
In honor of Women’s History Month, we’re taking a closer look at the life and work of some of the women who were important figures in the history of the […]
