The Illinois Museum of Natural History was founded as the Museum of the Illinois State Natural History Society at the Illinois Normal School, Bloomington, Illinois, in 1858. The museum operated until 1877 on the third floor of what became Illinois State University Old Main building (which was razed in 1958). [1]
At the meeting of the Illinois State Teachers' Association in December, 1857 held at Decatur, Illinois, a paper was read by Cyrus Thomas of Carbondale, Jackson County suggesting the formation of a State Natural History Society and suggesting the State Normal School as its headquarters and the place for its museum. In accordance with this suggestion a meeting was called at the rooms of the Normal University in Bloomington on the 30th of June following when a plan of operations was agreed upon and officers elected of whom Professor J. B. Turner was elected president. Since that time two annual meetings were held and at each succeeding meeting the evidence of increasing interest was exhibited by increased numbers. Papers were presented by President J.B. Turner on "Microscopic Insects", by Dr. Frederick Brendel of Peoria, Illinois on "Forests or Forest Trees", etc. Following the original design of Cyrus Thomas, the Normal University building was planned with a large and beautiful hall one hundred feet by thirty three feet for the museum. Through the indefatigable exertions of Charles D. Wilber the agent of the society, and then its secretary, [2] the collection made within the first two years amounted to nearly sixty thousand specimens. The library of the society was planned to embrace everything that could be procured by gift, purchase or exchange upon Natural History in particular and Science in general. The library began with three hundred volumes with Ira Moore as Librarian. [3]
The State Normal University was made the depository for all collections in the various departments of Natural History under the auspices of the society and also for such collections as might be donated. For this purpose two large halls in the university building were united by an arch affording a spacious gallery one hundred feet in length and thirty three feet wide. This hall called the Museum of Geology and Natural History was built from plans furnished by Richard H. Holder of Bloomington who visited the Museums of the Philadelphia Academy of Sciences, the Boston Academy and the Salem Museum. The following is a brief outline of the plan adopted. Arranged along the floor in front near the windows were twelve glass structures each four feet by eight feet and ten feet high furnished with shelves and bases for the department of Ornithology. In these structures of pure French glass the birds were arranged in families each with its name and habitat. At first they are chiefly occupied by the Birds of Illinois. Across an aisle four feet in width were placed twelve structures made also of plate glass corresponding with the structures for Birds. These were in the form of parallelograms each three feet by twelve feet and surmounted by a glass show case of the same dimensions and eight inches in depth. In the lower spaces were placed specimens of coal fossil flora such as Lepidodendra Sigillaria etc. which were too large for shelves. [4]
Galena is the largest city in and the county seat of Jo Daviess County, Illinois, with a population of 3,429 at the 2010 census. A 581-acre (235 ha) section of the city is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Galena Historic District. The city is named for the mineral galena, which was in the ore that formed the basis for the region's early mining economy.
Bloomington is a city in – and the county seat of – McLean County, Illinois, United States. It is adjacent to the town of Normal, and is the more populous of the two principal municipalities of the Bloomington-Normal metropolitan area. Bloomington is 135 miles (217 km) southwest of Chicago, and 162 miles (261 km) northeast of St. Louis. The 2010 Census showed the city had a population of 76,610, making it the 12th most populated city in Illinois, and the fifth-most populous city in the state outside the Chicago Metropolitan Area. Combined with Normal, the twin cities have a population of roughly 130,000. Bloomington is home to State Farm Insurance and Country Financial.
Colfax is a village in McLean County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,061 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Bloomington–Normal Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Danvers is a village in McLean County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,154 as of the 2010 census. It is part of the Bloomington–Normal Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Normal is a town in McLean County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2010 census, the town's population was 52,497. Normal is the smaller of two principal municipalities of the Bloomington–Normal metropolitan area, and Illinois' seventh most populous community outside the Chicago metropolitan area. Normal's mayor is Chris Koos.
Towanda is a village in McLean County, Illinois, United States. The population was 480 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Bloomington–Normal Metropolitan Statistical Area.
John Wesley Powell was an American geologist, U.S. Army soldier, explorer of the American West, professor at Illinois Wesleyan University, and director of major scientific and cultural institutions. He is famous for his 1869 geographic expedition, a three-month river trip down the Green and Colorado rivers, including the first official U.S. government-sponsored passage through the Grand Canyon.
Illinois Wesleyan University is a private liberal arts college in Bloomington, Illinois. Founded in 1850, the central portion of the present campus was acquired in 1854 with the first building erected in 1856.
The Frederick C. Robie House is a U.S. National Historic Landmark now on the campus of the University of Chicago in the South Side neighborhood of Hyde Park in Chicago, Illinois. Built between 1909 and 1910, the building was designed as a single family home by architect Frank Lloyd Wright and is renowned as the greatest example of Prairie School, the first architectural style considered uniquely American. It was designated a National Historic Landmark on November 27, 1963, and was on the first National Register of Historic Places list of October 15, 1966. Robie House and a selection of other properties by Wright were inscribed on the World Heritage List under the title "The 20th-Century Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright" in July 2019.
Angel Mounds State Historic Site, an expression of the Mississippian culture, is an archaeological site managed by the Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites that includes more than 600 acres of land about 8 miles (13 km) southeast of present-day Evansville, in Vanderburgh and Warrick counties in Indiana. The large residential and agricultural community was constructed and inhabited from AD 1100 to AD 1450, and served as the political, cultural, and economic center of the Angel chiefdom. It extended within 120 miles (190 km) of the Ohio River valley to the Green River in present-day Kentucky. The town had as many as 1,000 inhabitants inside the walls at its peak, and included a complex of thirteen earthen mounds, hundreds of home sites, a palisade (stockade), and other structures.
The McLean County Courthouse and Square is located in downtown Bloomington, Illinois. The site is on the National Register of Historic Places and encompasses the old McLean County Courthouse and the courthouse-facing sides of three downtown blocks. All 4 floors of the building are now occupied by the McLean County Museum of History for exhibits, collections storage, and offices. The historic buildings at the other side of the square were destroyed by fire in the 1980s. The Square is bordered by four Bloomington streets: Main Street, Center Street, Jefferson Street and Washington Street. The site was home to three previous courthouses before the current one was completed in 1903. The first courthouse at the site was built in 1831, and the second in 1836. The third was built in 1868, but suffered major damage from fire on June 19, 1900.
Stephen Alfred Forbes was the first chief of the Illinois Natural History Survey, a founder of aquatic ecosystem science and a dominant figure in the rise of American ecology. His publications are striking for their merger of extensive field observations with conceptual insights. Forbes believed that ecological knowledge was fundamental for human well being. Forbes was important to the development of ecological theory. He was acknowledged by the National Academy of Sciences as "the founder of the science of ecology in the United States".
Benjamin Franklin Mudge was an American lawyer, geologist and teacher. Briefly the mayor of Lynn, Massachusetts, he later moved to Kansas where he was appointed the first State Geologist. He led the first geological survey of the state in 1864, and published the first book on the geology of Kansas. He lectured extensively, and was department chair at the Kansas State Agricultural College.
The Albany Institute of History & Art (AIHA) is a museum in Albany, New York, United States, "dedicated to collecting, preserving, interpreting and promoting interest in the history, art, and culture of Albany and the Upper Hudson Valley region". It is located on Washington Avenue in downtown Albany. Founded in 1791, it is among the oldest museums in the United States.
The Minnesota History Center is a museum and library that serves as the headquarters of the Minnesota Historical Society. It is near downtown Saint Paul, Minnesota, and is considered one of Minnesota's finest public buildings.
The Linnaean Society of New England (1814–1822) was established in Boston, Massachusetts, to promote natural history. The society organized a natural history museum and also arranged lectures and excursions for its members. In 1817 it became involved in the Gloucester sea serpent debate. Although the society itself did not last, its initial energy and rapid accomplishments helped shape the growing field of natural history in the early years of the United States.
Broadview Mansion, is a twenty-two room Edwardian style mansion located in Normal, Illinois, near Illinois Wesleyan University. The three-story estate, originally situated on five acres of land, was built in 1906 for Bird Calladay and Margaret VanLeer. The mansion was formerly known as the VanLeer mansion. It is currently owned and operated by the Immanuel Bible Foundation.
William Trabue Major (1790–1867) was a prominent religious leader in Bloomington, Illinois in the mid-19th century. He founded the First Christian Church and built the city's first public meeting hall, Major's Hall, which hosted an early convention of the Illinois branch of the Republican Party and became best known as the site of "Lincoln's Lost Speech".
Almon Harris Thompson, also known as A. H. Thompson, was an American topographer, geologist, explorer, educator and Civil War veteran. Often called "The Professor" or simply "Prof", Thompson is perhaps best known for being second in command of John Wesley Powell's Second Geographical Expedition (1871–1875), a federally funded scientific expedition that retraced the route of Powell's original expedition in order to further explore and map the drainages and canyons of the Green and Colorado Rivers in what is now southern Utah and northern Arizona. Thompson's diary of the expedition was originally published in the Utah Historical Quarterly in 1939. Through his work on the Powell expeditions and later as a geographer at the U.S. Geological Survey, he was responsible for naming many geographic locations in the Western United States. Thompson is also known for being a founding member of the National Geographic Society.
Sarah Woodruff Walker Davis was born in Lenox, Massachusetts to William Perrin Walker and Lucy Adam Walker. She was a fairly educated woman for her time, attending Hartford Female Seminary in Connecticut, where she studied under the tutelage of Catharine Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe. While she dropped out of school and returned to her hometown, Sarah remained an intellectual woman for her entire life. Back in Lenox, Sarah met David Davis, a young lawyer who was practicing in Bloomington, Illinois. They married in 1838 and had a long and loving marriage, evidenced by the many letters they sent each other while Judge Davis was working in Washington, DC and Sarah was at home in Bloomington. They built their dream home, Clover Lawn, now known as the David Davis Mansion, in Bloomington from 1870–1872. Two of their children, George and Sallie, lived to adulthood.
