Jeff Smith
Jeff Smith, a volunteer at the Bohart Museum of Entomology for 27 years, has devoted thousands of
hours of service as a skilled entomologist and ambassador for the world of butterflies and moths. He is
being honored as a “Friend of the College” with a CA&ES Award of Distinction.
Over the years Smith took on curation of the museum’s collection of Lepidoptera, the taxonomic order
of butterflies and moths. He completely reorganized the collection, which contains more than 400,000
specimens. He spent an estimated 33,000 hours treating thousands of field-collected specimens with
humidifying chambers to spread the insects’ wings and reveal their features. This skill has helped
integrate thousands of donated specimens into the museum’s collection.
About a decade ago, Smith began assembling specimen drawers from kits, which substantially lowered
curatorial costs. More recently he’s applied his expert woodworking skills to scrap lumber to make the
drawers himself — more than 2,000 drawers so far at no cost to the university. He also makes smaller
specimen boxes for students to use in entomology field classes.
Smith has a phenomenal knowledge of urban insect and spider pests, and frequently fields questions
about them. He is a familiar face at open houses and interacts easily and enthusiastically with children
and adults. He and his wife have also made financial contributions toward the museum’s endowment.
“Jeff has made major contributions in his work with the museum collections and his tremendous public
outreach and education efforts. For him it’s a labor of love. For us he’s the best thing that ever
happened.”
—Lynn S. Kimsey, director
Bohart Museum of Entomology