THE NATURAL HISTORY COLLECTION
Our Natural History Collection is a wonderful depiction of the Victorian Cabinet of Curiosities in its scope and imagination. Though unsystematic in presentation, it assembles a profusion of like-specimens in a mind-boggling array of trees and dioramas, with many of the original descriptive names still intact.
Collected in the glory days of expedition and discovery, many of these specimens are geographical endemics, found only in regions that are now threatened or endangered from modern-day habitat loss and destruction. Several collections of importance, such as the Philippine birds purchased from the 1874 Steere Expedition and the Indian birds collected by an American missionary in the 1870s, are well documented and afford a glimpse into the unusual lives of zoological collectors and their quest for uncovering new fauna in exotic corners of the world.
The beautiful animal-group dioramas created in the late 19th century by the local Vermont taxidermist, William Everard Balch, rival anything comparable from that period. Mentored by C.W. Graham of St. Johnsbury, he brings whimsical detail to his habitat renditions.
Vermont fauna and flora is well-represented in our holdings, along with Arctic birds and mammals, some of whose Boreal species reach their southernmost limits in Vermont. The herbarium contains more than 1500 near-complete Vermont specimens collected in the 1890s by Dr. Ferdinand Blanchard of Peacham, as well as a comprehensive sample of New England herbaceous flora.
Roughly 85% of our Natural Science collection is on exhibit. The rest, including the insects, pickled specimens, eggs and mollusks, are stored in anticipation of new housing and a thorough assessment.
A variety of rocks, minerals and fossils from the Vermont Geological collection graces a portion of our balcony display cases, while many other samples remain buried in our basement awaiting further excavation.
For more information on and/or research-use of our collections, please contact the Director of Collections.
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