WildLife and Times

Miss Winters... The Delights of Conversation

2009-07-31T21:32:00Z

How I love conversing with visitors in the diorama halls! And the dioramas themselves are a delightful improvement to how the halls looked in 1908. Why, when I first visited the museum then, the halls were lined with glass cases and shelves of mounted birds and animals, all carefully displayed in order of scientific category. The very idea of putting plants and animals and birds in the same grouping and creating natural settings - ‘habitats’ I believe you call them today - this was not considered good science if one wanted to show off a collection. For instance, I carry with me a photograph of the early museum’s egg collection, said to be the finest in North America. The collection was displayed as groups of eggs in little wooden cubicles, with not a bird or a nest in sight! Where were these eggs found in nature? What was the particular grace and attitude of the bird that laid them? These dioramas of today, where birds and their nests and their eggs are all together in an artistic scene that mimics the natural world are much more pleasing and more instructive as well. I feel as if I have truly encountered a moment in the natural world, and the visitors I speak with agree.

And just today I spoke with a family from Boston, Massachusetts. They had little knowledge of what one might encounter at the top of our Rocky Mountains. We sat near the alpine tundra diorama and talked about the animals one might encounter, such as the pica or marmot, both depicted there. I shared the story of Julia Archibald Holmes, the first woman to climb Pike’s Peak and the first to record, in letters to her family back east, the glorious sights available from that vantage point. Her letters describe what few had ever seen. I daresay for all of the photography that exists today, nothing replaces truly being there in person, being out in nature for yourself. The visitors from Boston, which, by the way, was Julia’s hometown, were inspired to make a trip to the top of Pike’s Peak, though I warned them that they should take plenty of wraps against a turn in the weather. Julia wrote of being caught in a snow squall up there when she climbed in August of 1858. It would seem that Colorado weather remains unpredictable no matter what the era!

One day, I was contemplating the great bison diorama – many call those animals ‘buffalo’. An interesting moving picture device with a talking narration that tells the story of the bison plays continually there. As I listened to the story of the bison’s journey to near extinction and how in the years since the museum opened in 1908 much has been done to save this creature, I was reminded of a woman long ago who had a similar thought in mind. It seems that back in the early 1870s, Colorado cowboy Charles Goodnight bought a ranch in west Texas in Palo Dura Canyon and took his new wife, Mary Ann, and plunked her there to keep house while he and his hands worked cattle. This was at the time when the great bison herds were being slaughtered for their hides and to make way for progress. Buffalo hunters wouldn’t waste a good bullet on killing calves, as they would eventually starve without their mothers, so amid the carnage, baby bison were left to their own devices. Mary Ann said she would lay awake at night listening to the calves crying, and finally she could stand it no longer. She told her husband to bring her the bison calves, and she’d raise them. He did, and she did, and the Goodnight Bison Herd was formed. I understand that herd still exists today on the very ground where Mary Ann raised them, the very ground that bison have inhabited since prehistoric times. Women with sensitivities for the natural world have been contributing, unsung, for many generations, and Mary Ann was one of them. Thanks to her foresight, many bison were saved.

I could write on and on of the interesting encounters I have daily with visitors. How eager they are to understand more, and if they do not excuse themselves and move on, I’ll keep telling stories for a good long time! I encourage people to know more about the amazing natural world, and all that science has learned about it. Then we shall be assured that 100 years from now, this museum and the natural world it supports will still be here for others to enjoy.

Mr A. J. Rappaport... For Posterity

2009-06-22T16:52:00Z

First of all, allow me to introduce myself. My name is A.J. Rappaport. Now, how I came to have that name is a story in its self. You see my Daddy’s name is Joshua, and his Daddy’s name is Joshua, so, they called me A.J. - just ‘another Joshua.’ I am in the News Paper game. I was first sent to this fine Establishment on July the first in the Year of our Lord 1908. I came here to write a report for the Herald Democrat. Only one of the most respected periodicals in Leadville, Colorado, if I do say so myself. You see, I’m a freelance writer whose interests include science and nature, so it would seem a most natural fit, which indeed it is. However, at this moment I find myself in another Time, and this place has changed quite a bit. A reporter’s paradise, to be sure.

On my initial visit in 1908, the Exhibits were not as realistic –not as close to nature, perhaps you might say - as they seem to be in your more modern time. One could examine a Particular Species by looking at it perched on a stand and reading a plaque. Now as I gaze upon the fauna and flora in the dioramas it is more like being at a very particular spot in our great State, a true depiction of nature. The visitors are treated to a sight one can only see if one is able to sit quietly, and for longer than I am capable, for certain. And how the art of Taxidermy has advanced! In my day the animals looked much starker, impressive, no doubt, but perhaps a little… dry. But today, it is as if they stand ready to pounce or to retreat, as the case may be for the individual.

I have enjoyed many conversations with the people of Modern Day Denver, as well as other parts of this Wonderful Country of ours. What a World you live in! I am forever amazed at the Technology of the modern time. I understand that the flying contraption of the Wright brothers is a common form of transportation - will wonders never cease? It also has been brought to my attention that most families have at least one horseless carriage with the rather swift name of “cars.” Want is more, I understand the people of today are able to talk on the telephone while they drive in that very same car, my my! Cars and airplanes, and even ships to space! I learn something new most every day, and jot it down, for posterity, you understand.

I look forward to using this most unique and heretofore unknown form of communication as a means to report to all of you about my continued education in matters of Scientific Advancement, as well as some of my more interesting conversations with the visitors of your time. If there is one thing that has not changed over the century, it is this: folk are as strange and curious as ever. So until the next time, I shall bid you all a fond farewell.

A.J.

Miss Florence Epp......explorer, storyteller

2009-06-02T18:05:00Z

Habari!

Miss Florence Epp is my name, and though just 28 and a woman, I have seen much of the world on the soles of my worn out boots (which currently do need new laces). My father was a great doctor of the 1890’s, you see, and his gifts and talents were far reaching to others: helping colonize parts of western Africa and serving as a doctor and storyteller for many.

His greatest gift, to me that is, I believe stems from his great love and fascination for the people of Africa. Observing and absorbing everything he could, he and I became like sponges to this culture and its magnificent backdrop. No doubt out of place we were, me with no mother, and hair as blond as can be; it was a strange and yet wonderfully unorthodox way of growing up as a girl. When I was six my father said to me “Were going to live on the other side of the world, what do you think about that?” And to him I replied in the only way I knew how, “Will we have to walk upside down?”

Indeed, his answer should have been “yes,” for it was as if we were learning how to “walk” all over again; moving from our English comforts to scorching hot weather, a multitude of different languages, others’ lack of clothing, and peculiar food. However on that note my father used to say I would eat anything, and try anything, and well, I guess I still do. He loved to tell the story of how when we first arrived to Johannesburg, I was handed a plate of fried grasshoppers and before his hand could reach the plate, I had devoured them. He said, “Do you even know what you ate, my dear?” and without a moment passing, I licked my fingers and said, “They tasted like crunchy bugs!” I laugh as I write this but I really think it was at that moment he felt confident in his decision to move us to a different continent. He knew I was ready to try anything, fear nothing, and take whatever challenge came my way. And I did.

This place, this strange new magical world I discovered when I was just six, twenty-two years later I do call Makazi (home), and the people, I grew to know them as Nuzuri Rafiki ( good friends). Now my boots in their travels have found their way here to 2009, and I must admit, finding myself here seems as though I am walking upside down all over again. There are such advances in science and a delight of wonderful inventions, and well… truly unusual fashions. Perhaps if our paths cross you can share your stories with me, and I with you, as I am in need not only of new laces, but of some Nuzuri Rafiki’s, too.

Miss Margaret Winters... an Introduction

2009-05-05T18:32:00Z

My name is Margaret Winters, and I recall how thrilled we all were that the Museum of Natural History would be opening that summer of 1908. The Women’s Club of Denver had a Department of Literature and Science and we felt that this museum would be a wonderful place for those of us interested in the natural sciences to study and learn, perhaps even contribute. Academic and scientific education for women was gaining acceptance – just look how far women have come. Colorado gave its women the right to vote in 1893. Every year women were making inroads into society, politics and education, and that has clearly continued. What advancements this museum has brought in all regards!

I remember those first displays, specimens in glass cases, all labeled by taxonomy and looking quite sterile compared to the stunning dioramas of 2009. We were quite proud of our science in 1908 and to see how far science has come in showing visitors what it knows is quite remarkable.

I do not begin to understand all the technology at the disposal of science in 2009, though I can observe the results of it. At the heart of it, though, remains the quest to understand the natural world, whether with binoculars and microscopes, or with the new fangled instruments of the modern age. Understanding the natural world is essential if it is to be preserved.

Standing in front of the diorama of the passenger pigeon, how saddened I was to read that the last one died in 1914. We knew, of course, that these birds were doomed in 1908. There were just a handful left, and nothing could be done to inspire them to reproduce. We realized too late one does not have to kill the last of a species in order for it to go extinct. We just did not understand quickly enough how to prevent the demise of this beautiful bird.

Today, I came upon two brothers drawing in front of the alpine tundra diorama. What a treat to join them in drawing and observing the picas and marmots, and talking about the notes we naturalists need to make about what we were seeing, labeling every detail so that later the notes might actually be used by science to learn about nature. Some things do not change – I understand that with all the advancements in photography today, what the eye can observe and the hand can draw are still important components for recording nature, that photographs have not supplanted the human eye for scientific accuracy. How I would love to have more visitors join me in the halls for some observing and drawing.

Another conversation brought a smile, and I found it to be quite accurate for 1908 – perhaps it still is. A young visitor, about 7 years old, and I were discussing the relationship between prey animals and those that feed upon them. We stood in front of the diorama with the wild turkeys and talked about how these birds can be observed at dusk, taking a drink of water from a stream before walking up a ravine to their favorite tree and flying up to roost for the night. “Why would that be good for the turkey to roost high in a tree for the night?” I asked. “Well,” he replied, ”That way the creditors don’t find him and eat him.” Indeed.

WildLife and Times: The World of 1908 Returns to the Museum with Historical Enactors

2009-05-05T18:13:00Z

How times have changed! When the Museum first opened its doors to the public in 1908, William Taft was elected president, the world’s first major commercial oil field was discovered in Iran, and for the first time ever the ball dropped in Time Square to herald the New Year. Ford Motor Company produced the first Model T, the Chicago Cubs won the World Series, and “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” was America’s favorite song. In Tunguska, Russia, 80 million trees over 830 square miles were flattened when a meteoroid hit the atmosphere, the largest impact event in recent Earth history. Denver was host to the Democratic National Convention, where women participated as delegates for the first time and Mayor Speer built an elaborate fountain, complete with lights, in City Park. At the same time, ranchers drove their cattle to market along the dirt road called Colorado Boulevard.

This was the Denver, and indeed the world, to which the Colorado Museum of Natural History opened its brand new doors. Inspired by Edwin Carter, naturalist and pioneer, and his extensive Rocky Mountain bird and mammal collection, the building was opened to the public on July 1, 1908. “As Denver is destined to be among the great Cities of the Continent, so will a museum here founded… grow up to be one of the great entertaining and educational institutions of the country.” Visitors – ladies in butterfly jackets and feathered hats and gentlemen in high collars and bowlers – arrived at the Museum to enjoy the sights of Edwin Carter’s animals, art collections donated by prominent Colorado citizens including Margaret “Molly” Brown, and, shortly thereafter, John T. Mason’s butterflies and John F. Campion’s crystalline gold.

What would it be like to speak with those early visitors? What would they say about the Museum, indeed the world, of today? How has technology changed, and what has history shown to be enduring? We decided to bring these ideas to life. Now, as you round the corner of diorama halls, you may just see our 1908 “visitors” standing in wonderment at suddenly finding themselves in the modern world, and pondering, in conversation with visitors, how everything from taxidermy methods and conservation techniques to scientific advances and politics have changed over time. Perhaps as you enter Botswana Hall, you’ll see the silhouetted outline of “Miss Florence Epp”, whose large pack is filled with the trappings of her travels through Africa – a horsehair fly whisk, a Masai blanket, an African doll. Will you learn to play Achi with her? Perhaps the marmots and coyotes of Explore Colorado are more your style If so, you may see “Miss Margaret Winters,” a naturalist of 1908 whose demure style and turn-of-the-century dress belie a forward-thinking woman of her time, pressing for women’s votes and eagerly studying the natural world like so many of those early conservation-minded “club women.” Or maybe you’ll overhear the leisurely Old West accent of Leadville newspaper reporter “Mr. A. J. Rappaport”, who feels that the new Museum is a “fine institution,” and is hoping to track down the founding curators to get a quote, “for posterity.” A. J. is particularly delightful to those who remember visiting the Museum as a child and love to muse over how it has changed – he carries photos of the original Museum and can point out the hidden secrets left over from the original architecture.

These 1908 “visitors” are quite at ease in the Museum 100 years beyond their time; perhaps it is no great surprise, therefore, that they would explore the world of the internet blog. A new adventure, Miss Epp? Another voice for women in science, Miss Winters? The ultimate reporter’s scoop, Mr. Rappaport? Read on…