Chicago Academy of Sciences Blog

June 10, 2021

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 his L.L.B from Northwestern University in 1912. He practiced law in the firm of Bayley, Webster, Gregory, and Hunter which later became Gregory, Gilruth, and Hunter. He was the president of the Chicago Bar Association from 1939-1940, the Illinois State Bar Association from 1945-1946, and the American Bar Association from 1947-1948. He only stopped practicing law during World War I. From 1917-1919 he served in the army as a 1st Lieutenant in the 313th Field Artillery in the American Expeditionary Forces. In addition to his work in the law, Tappan was a successful mammalogist and nature photographer. He blended his love of photography with his mammal research and was one of the first photographers to use “self-portrait flash photography” to capture the movement of animals in the wild. Each animal would trigger a tripwire connected to the camera after being lured by a tasty treat. The photo below features a skunk who was caught on film in 1928.

April 11, 2014

Motion Film Collection Highlight: Leon F. Urbain (1887-ca. 1980)

Leon F. Urbain, through his association with the Microscopal Society of Illinois, gave free classes for students in the 1960s at the Chicago Academy of Sciences' museum (the old Laflin Memorial Building). An architect by trade, he had a passion for photography, especially photomicrography, whereby he could bring the smallest worlds to life. His motion films include studies of minerals, plants, insects, aquatic life, and ecology. The Academy's collections include personal papers, photographs, motion film, and microscope slides from Urbain. Here is a sample of those tiny worlds Urbain captured and shared with others.