I thought the list-servers would like to see this item from the Ohio
Historical Society Collection's Blog. Our curator's meet over a couple
of months and selected the ten most embarrassing moments from Ohio
History. Entry number 5 relates to the Passenger Pigeon. I should add
(somehow it missed it in the editing) that "Buttons" - the last
documented wild Passenger Pigeon, is on exhibit at our museum in
Columbus. If you are not familiar with the story of Buttons, visit your
library or Amazon.com and pick up a copy of the book, Hope is the Thing
with Feathers, by Christopher Cokinos, 2000. It highlights the
extinction of several species of birds and has three chapters on the
Passenger Pigeon.
Bob Glotzhober
P.S. The photo attached is cited incorrectly. It is from a bird at the
Portsmouth Public Library, not from the OHS collections. I will be
notifying our web folks to correct the statement, and hopefully add a
photo of Buttons.
====================
Robert C. Glotzhober 614/ 298-2054
Senior Curator, Natural History [log in to unmask]
Ohio Historical Society Fax: 614/ 298-2098
________________________________
From: [log in to unmask] [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
On Behalf Of Ohio Historical Society Collections Blog
Sent: Wednesday, March 10, 2010 8:05 PM
To: Bob Glotzhober
Subject: Ohio Historical Society Collections Blog
Ohio Historical Society Collections Blog
<http://ohiohistory.wordpress.com>
<http://fusion.google.com/add?source=atgs&feedurl=http://feeds.feedburne
r.com/OhioHistoricalSocietyCollectionsBlog>
________________________________
Now for Number 5
<http://ohiohistory.wordpress.com/2010/03/10/now-for-number-5/>
Posted: 10 Mar 2010 05:52 AM PST
The 5th Most Embarrassing Moment of Ohio History is...
5. No One Believes the Passenger Pigeon Will Go Extinct ... Until it
Does
Cincinnati (1914). The Columbus medical doctor, John Maynard Wheaton was
a founder of the American Ornithological Union and author of two
important works on Ohio's birds. Wheaton was not immune however to the
prevailing lack of understanding of ecology and extinction. In his 1860
Catalogue of the Birds of Ohio he comments on the 1857 landmark Ohio
legislation that provided the first real protections for select game
birds, song birds and mammals. Among his comments was a terse and blunt
sentence: "The passenger pigeon needs no protection." Attesting to
Wheaton's lack of judgment, the last documented wild passenger pigeon
was shot in Ohio in 1900. Martha became the last of her species when she
died at the Cincinnati Zoo in 1914.
<http://www.ohiomemory.org/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/p267401coll36&
CISOPTR=17546&CISOBOX=1&REC=2>
Passenger pigeon from the collections of the Ohio Historical Society
Further Reading:
Ohio History Central: The Passenger Pigeon
Catalogue of the birds of Ohio. 1860. J.M. Wheaton. "From the Ohio
agricultural report for 1860." P 359-380.
Report on the birds of Ohio. 1879. J.M. Wheaton. From Report of the
Geological Survey of Ohio. 628 pp.
American Museum of Natural History.
Martha, the last ever, is now at the Smithsonian in Washington, D. C.
Come back tomorrow for more from The Most Embarrassing Moments of Ohio
History!
Number 10: Ohio Antiquities are Treasured ... in London
Number 9: Rhodes' Road to Canada
Number 8: Newark Board of Trade Finds a Curious Way to Save an Earthwork
<http://ohiohistory.wordpress.com/2010/03/04/now-for-number-8/>
Number 7: Presidents and Generals First
<http://ohiohistory.wordpress.com/2010/03/08/now-for-number-7/>
Number 6: Traitor Runs for Governor
<http://ohiohistory.wordpress.com/2010/03/09/now-for-number-6/>
<http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gocomments/ohiohistory.wordpress.com/155
6/>
<http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/godelicious/ohiohistory.wordpress.com/15
56/>
<http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gostumble/ohiohistory.wordpress.com/1556
/>
<http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/godigg/ohiohistory.wordpress.com/1556/>
<http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/goreddit/ohiohistory.wordpress.com/1556/
>
<http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=ohiohistory.wordpress.com&blog=33
98283&post=1556&subd=ohiohistory&ref=&feed=1>
You are subscribed to email updates from Ohio Historical Society
Collections Blog <http://ohiohistory.wordpress.com>
To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now
<http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailunsubscribe?k=aX06FVNI6San52C7JQX
Fxfs8wtU> .
Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610
______________________________________________________________________
Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society.
Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list.
Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/.
You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at:
http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS
Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]
|
