ANNUAL REPORT
for 1969
of the
DENVER MUSEUM
of
NATURAL HISTORY
DENVER, COLORADO
DENVER MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
1969
President
HUDSON MOORE, JR.
First Vice President
ALLAN R. PHIPPS
Treasurer
JOHN A. FERGUSON, JR.
Second Vice President
CHARLES J. BEISE
Secretary
RICHARD M. DAVIS
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
His Honor
WILLIAM H. McNICHOLS, JR.
Mayor, City and County of Denver
Charles J. Beise
William W. Grant, III W. Scott Moore
Gilbert J. Mueller
Joseph G. Hodges
Richard M. Davis
Frank J. Johns
Aksel Nielsen
Bruce E. Dines
Arthur E. Johnson
C. Neil Norgren
Cris Dobbins
John Evans
Robert T. Person
Coloman Jonas*
Allan R. Phipps
John A. Ferguson, Jr. Frank A. Kemp
John A. Ferguson, III Roger D. Knight, Jr.
Frank H. Ricketson, Jr.
Charles C. Gates, Jr.
J. Kernan Weckbaugh
Walter K. Koch
John G. Gates*
Hudson Moore, Jr.
COMMITTEES
Executive-Hudson Moore, Jr., Allan R. Phipps, Charles J. Beise,
John A. Ferguson, Jr., Richard M. Davis, Cris Dobbins,
Charles C. Gates, Jr., Joseph G. Hodges, Gilbert J. Mueller,
Aksel Nielsen.
Auditorium-Allan R. Phipps, Alfred M. Bailey, John A. Ferguson,
Jr., W. Scott Moore, and Aksel Nielsen.
Building-Aksel Nielsen, Richard M. Davis, Charles C. Gates, Jr.,
Joseph G. Hodges, Frank J. Johns, Arthur E. Johnson, Frank
A. Kemp, C. Neil Norgren, and Allan R. Phipps.
Field-Charles J. Beise, Alfred M. Bailey, John A. Ferguson, III,
and J. Kernan Weckbaugh.
Finance-John A. Ferguson, Jr., Richard M. Davis, Roger D.
Knight, Jr., Gilbert J. Mueller, and Allan R. Phipps.
Insurance-John A. Ferguson, Jr., Joseph G. Hodges, and Walter
K. Koch.
Membership-John Evans, Cris Dobbins, and Joseph G. Hodges.
Nominating-Cris Dobbins, John A. Ferguson, Jr., and Joseph G.
Hodges.
Planetarium-Charles C. Gates, Jr., Bruce E. Dines, and Aksel
Nielsen.
Publications-John A. Ferguson, Jr., Alfred M. Bailey, Cris Dobbins, Walter K. Koch, Gilbert J. Mueller, and Robert T. Person.
Publicity-Frank J. Johns, Alfred M. Bailey, William W. Grant,
III, Roger D. Knight, Jr., and Frank H. Ricketson, Jr.
* Deceased
MUSEUM STAFF
Alfred M. Bailey ____________________________________ Director of the Museum
Roy E. Coy __________________________________________________________ Assistant Director
Julia Smead Rose ________________________________________ Administrative Assistant
Elizabeth L. D'Arcy ______________________________ Secretary to the Director
Margaret G. Bradley ______________________________________________ Office Secretary
Margaret Denny ____________________________________________________ Office Secretary
Susan G. Raymond ______________ Curator, Department of Anthropology
Division of American Ethnology
Mary W. A. Crane ________________________________________________ Honorary Curator
Christine A. Bonney __________________________________________________________ Assistant
E. H. Brunquist ____________ Honorary Curator, Department of Botany
Martha C. Nelson __________________ Curator, Department of Education
Dorothy K. Smith ______________________________________________ Assistant Curator
Calvin D. Berglund ______ Museum Coordinator, Denver Public Schools
Florian A. Cajori __________ Honorary Curator, Department of Geology
Jack A. Murphy ____________________________ Curator, Department of Geology
Arminta P. Neal ____________ Curator, Department of Graphic Design
Robert L. Akerley ________________________________________________ Assistant Curator
Catherine R. Van Skiver __________________________________________________ Assistant
Fred G. Brandenburg ____________ Curator, Library and Publications
Lena M. Fischer ________________________________________________ Assistant Librarian
E. E. Ahlberg ______________________________________________________________ Accountant
Donald M. Lunetta * ____________________________________ Curator, Planetarium
Mark B. Peterson ____________________________________________ Curator, Planetarium
Karen A. Noel __________________________________ Assistant Curator, Planetarium
Albert T. Minne ________________________________________ Planetarium Engineer
David L. Hartman ____________________________________ Planetarium Assistant
Marilyn H. Childs __________________________________________ Planetarium Assistant
Charles T. Crockett ________________ Curator, Department of Paleontology
Robert J. Niedrach ______________________ Curator, Department of Zoology
Norma Lovelace __________________________________________________________________ Assistant
Henry C. Wichers ____________________________ Curator, Division of Mammals
Jack D. Putnam ________________ Chief Preparator, Birds and Mammals
Ray Carrasco ____________________________________________________ Assistant Preparator
Robert R. Wright __________________ Curator, Department of Photography
William H. Traher ______________________________________________________ Staff Artist
Donald L. Malick ________________________________________________________ Staff Artist
Sharon Riddle Wolverton ________________________________________________ Staff Artist
Elsie K. Capella ________________________________________________________________________ Clerk
Beth E. Clark __________________________________________ In Charge, Kachina Shop
Margaret J. Witherspoon __________________________________________________ Assistant
BUILDING OPERA nON
Jack Conley ________________________________________________ Building Superintendent
Steven Suvada __________________________________________________ Museum Serviceman
Hilmar A. Lund ______________________________________________ Museum Serviceman
Robert E. Kelly ________________________________________________ Museum Serviceman
Ben Lewandowski ____________________________ Custodian, Phipps Auditorium
ATTENDANTS
*
Lyle L Caldwell
Byron H. Cliff
Joseph L. Daddow
Alvin E. Elliott
Resigned August 1
Donald P. Enright
Jennie H. S. Hauck
Harold H_ Hague
James E. Rodgers
Earl G_ Smith
Lee R. Southerland
John A_ Waldrep
George J. Williams
4
DENVER MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
January 1, 1970
The Board of Trustees
Denver Museum of Natural History
City Park
Denver, Colorado 80205
Gentlemen:
The past year has been one of great activity by staff members
of all departments. With the completion of the two new wings,
space has been made available not only for displays but also for the
extensive study collections of the Departments of Ethnology, Geology,
and Paleontology.
Plans were drawn for case construction in the Boettcher Foundation Wing, and five staff members spent more than four months
in Botswana, collecting specimens for the Helen and Arthur E.
Johnson African Hall, as is noted elsewhere in this report.
During the year the Trustees lost two longtime associates who
served on the board for many years, Coloman Jonas from 1940
and John G. Gates since 1954. Their contributions to the welfare
and growth of the Museum through the years were many, and
their advice and counsel will be sorely missed. Accounts of their many
contributions to their community are noted briefly later in this report.
Mrs. Julia Smead Rose, Secretary to the Director from April
1935 to May 1941, and Administrative Assistant from 1959 to
date, during which time she was responsible for the accounting of
expenditures of the Museum's expansion program, has resigned.
In addition to many other duties, for the past ten years she booked
the speakers for the Museum's successful membership lecture series
held annually in Phipps Auditorium.
After more than thirty-three years as Director of the Museum
Dr. Alfred M. Bailey has tendered his resignation to take effect at
year's end. It was accepted by the Board of Trustees with deep
regret and the Trustees unanimously adopted the resolution printed
on the opposite page. Dr. Bailey served this Museum over a period
of forty years: from 1921-1926 as Curator of Birds and Mammals
and from 1936 through 1969 as Director.
Mr. Roy E. Coy, Assistant Director of the Museum since
January 1968, has been appointed Director by the Board of Trustees. Mr. Coy has had wide experience in the museum field, having
been Director of the fine St. Joseph (Missouri) Museum for
twenty-seven years. He received his B.A. from the University of
Iowa, majoring in Geology and Museum Methods, and this past
summer headed the Museum's most successful expedition to Botswana.
Sincerely yours,
Hudson Moore, Jr.
President Board of Trustees
DENVER MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
DENVER MUSEUM oJNATURAL HISTORY
- CITY PARK ~
HUCSON MOORE, JI'II., PRIESIDENT
ALLAH R. PHIP,"S, VICE PRESIDENT
CHARLES J. BEISE, 2NO VICE PRESIDENT
JOHN A. FERGUSON, JR., TRI1: ... SURER
RICHARD M.
DENVER, COLORADO 80206
ALFREC M.
OAVIIS, SECRETARY
BAILEV, '''RECTOR
TELEPHONE: 32.Z-1808
AREA CODE 303
RESOLUTION
for
DR. ALFRED M. BAILEY
On the occasion of the retirement of DR. ALFRED
M. BAILEY as Director of the DENVER MUSEUM OF NATURAL
HISTORY, the Board of Trustees of the Museum here records,
with affection and respect, its deep appreciation and
gratitude for Dr. Bailey's thirty-three years of devoted
service to this institution.
Under Dr. Bailey's energetic leadership and
direction, the Denver Museum of Natural History has enjoyed
an unprecedented growth and development in its fine staff,
in the quality and extent of its physical facilities and in
its financial resources, which have made the Museum one of
the principal cultural assets of Denver and the Rocky Mountain
West, and have brought to the Museum a world-wide recognition
for excellence. The achievements of Dr. Bailey over this
long period of dedicated service to the Museum reflect great
credit upon him and upon all who have been associated with
him in the building of this great institution.
Unanimously adopted by the Board of Trustees at
Denver, Colorado, November 13, 1969.
Secretary
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DENVER MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
COLOMAN JONAS
Coloman Jonas, Trustee of the Museum since 1940, died
on January 23rd of this year at the age of 89. Coloman arrived in Colorado Springs in 1905 from his home in Budapest,
Hungary, and three years later he and his brother John founded
their firm of Jonas Brothers - which was to become the
outstanding taxidermy and furrier business in America, their
contacts and clients coming from all countries of the world.
It was truly a business of brothers, for five of the six joined
in the enterprise. Louis, the youngest and only surviving brother,
became an internationally known sculptor, his life-like figures
of animals ranging from one-tenth-of-an-inch scale models to
life-sized dinosaurs. His studio is in Hudson, New York, and
two small habitat groups of African animals recently modelled
to scale by Louis will serve as memorials to Coloman and to
former Trustee, the late Carl A. Norgren, when installed in
the African Hall now underway.
In addition to being a Trustee
Natural History, Col om on was on
the Denver Zoological Foundation,
the Denver Kiwanis Club and the
member of many civic organizations.
of the Denver Museum of
the Board of Directors of
was a charter member of
Shikar-Safari Club, and a
Coloman continued active as Chairman of the Board of
Jonas Brothers until his death, the firm located at 1937
Broadway, Denver, now being in the capable hands of Coloman's son Joe Jonas.
He is survived by two daughters, Mrs. Esther J. Fitzgerald, Orange, California, and Mrs. Helen Johnson, Denver;
a son, Joe, Denver; a brother, Louis Paul, Hudson, New York;
two sisters, Mrs. Gizella Benslyn, Penkridge, Staffordshire,
England, and Ethel Jonas, Budapest, Hungary; by seven grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.
DENVER MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
COLOMAN JONAS
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8
DENVER MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
JOHN GIDEON GATES
John G. Gates, Trustee of this Museum from 1954,
Denver industrialist, philanthropist, and civic leader, died April
30, 1969. He was secretary-treasurer of the Gates Rubber
Company which he and his late brother, Charles C. Gates, Sr.,
founded in 1911, the firm now being headed by Charles C.
Gates, Jr.
Born September 22, 1884, in Waterford, Michigan, Mr.
Gates attended the University of Michigan, receiving a B. S.
degree .in engineering mining from Michigan College of Mining and Technology of Houghton, Michigan, in 1911. Prior to
obtaining his degree, he worked for two years in Nevada with
his brother as a mining engineer.
In 1911, Charles Gates bought the Colorado Tire and
Leather Co., a Denver mail order firm specializing in leather
covers used on automobile tires, and he was joined by John
who became secretary-treasurer, a position he held throughout
his life. The two brothers developed the vulcanized rubber and
fabric V-belt to replace the inadequate rope belts used in the
pulleys of automobile cooling systems.
John Gates was active in community affairs; he was a
member of the Denver Chamber of Commerce and served as
vice-chairman of the Community Chest over a period of years
and as president from 1932 to 1934. He was named chairman
of the board of United Way, the first president of Junior
Achievement, and was long active in the Colorado Manufacturers Association, later known as the Colorado Association
of Commerce and Industry - which he served as president
in 1940-1941. He served as a director of the Mountain States
Tel. and Tel. Co., was president of the Denver Lions Club and
a member since 1913 of Union Lodge No.7, AF and AM,
and also a member of Denver Chapter No.2 of Royal Arch
Masons and Rocky Mountain Consistory.
He received the Honorary degree of Doctor of Public
Service from the University of Denver; recognition by the
University of Colorado as the Outstanding Business Man of
1958; Man of the Year in 1963 by the American Medical
Center; and the Brotherhood Award in 1964 by the National
Conference of Christians and Jews.
John Gates is survived by his widow and a nephew,
Charles C. Gates, Jr. (a Trustee of this Museum), and four
nieces, Mrs. James A. Woodruff and Mrs. Brown W. Cannon of
Denver, Mrs. Alexander S. Atherton of Honolulu, and Mrs.
Robert Hopper of Atherton, California.
DENVER MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
JOHN G. GATES
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10
DENVER MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
HARVEY C. MARKMAN
Harvey C. Markman, a staff member of the Museum from
1919 until his retirement in 1954, died March 11, 1969.
Markman was born in Richmond, Indiana, August 17, 1881
and moved to Denver with his parents in 1893. As a lad he
wandered along the banks of Cherry Creek, gaining first-hand
knowledge of the animal and plant life of the area, and in
the course of time he became acquainted with many of the
naturalists and enrolled in the University of Colorado as a
special student where, to quote him, he "crammed in all the
biology courses which were offered to undergraduates, along
with geology, philosophy, theory of education, and a few
other subjects which appeared to be more or less pertinent
to an understanding of nature."
His first job was with the Colorado (now Mountain States)
Telephone Co. Soon he became acquainted with Philip Reinheimer, skilled Museum preparator of fossil animals, an association which led to Markman's employment at the Museum
in 1919. One of his first field trips was in 1920 with Reinheimer when they discovered the rich quarry of Oligocene
mammals along Horsetail Creek in Weld County. The remarkable series of fossile secured from the deposit are now
on display in the Fossil Mammal Hall of the Museum.
Markman was a Charter and Honorary Life Member of
the Colorado Mineral Society and an early member of the
Society for Research on Meteorites. During the first years of
service for tris Museum he was often in the field collecting
geological and paleontological specimens and preparing them
in the laboratory for display.
One of the first actions of Director Bailey upon taking
office in 1936 was to appoint Mr. Markman Curator of Geology and Paleontology, and during the next eighteen years
until his retirement in 1954 because of ill health, he assembled
an excellent series of study and exhibit collections of rocks,
minerals and meteorites.
A skilled writer, Harvey Markman was the author of two
of the Museum's publications: Fossils and Fossil Mammals,
well illustrated with photographs of specimens from the Museum
exhibits.
Surviving is a brother, Stanley Markman, of La Habra,
California.
DENVER MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
11
MAR Y CHILTON GRAY
Mary Chilton Gray, who was an artist on the Museum staff
from 1943 to 1962, died on November 9, 1969 after a long
illness. She came to the Museum as a portrait painter and local
colorist, having had a studio in Taos, New Mexico, for more
than a decade, but her Museum work took her far from her
specialty. Her versatility met the challenge, resulting in a
significant contribution to five of the Museum's exhibit halls.
She painted the murals on the four walls of the Fossil
Mammal Hall above the exhibits of fossil skeletons. By combining sound scientific research with creative imagination her
murals, some as much as forty feet in length, depict a multitude of prehistoric animals as they appeared in real life; their
educational value was enhanced by using horses and camels to
illustrate evolution in size from the Eocene Age to the Pleistocene, and forms of the rhinoceros for changes of size from the
Oligocene to the Pliocene. On either side of the doorway into
the Dinosaur Hall Miss Gray painted two huge floor-to-ceiling
murals of dinosaurs in their natural habitat.
She contributed two backgrounds for the ecological habitats of game mammals in the Charles Boettcher Colorado Hall:
the scene of the Spanish Peaks for the Western White-tailed
Deer Group and the prairie and buttes of the northeast corner
of the state in Weld County for the American Antelope Group.
She created two ten-fa at-square pictorial maps to introduce
the Old World Hall, in preparation, and the Hall of Prehistoric
People of the Americas.
For this latter hall the painting of twenty-two murals above
the four alcoves of exhibit cases was projected, and Miss Gray
was able to complete twenty before ill health forced her to
stop work. The scenes depicted range from Folsom Man through
the Inca and Mayan civilizations to prehistoric Indians of the
U.S. in both the East and West. Her fine color sense, her choice
of design panels, the dramatic interest of the human scenes depicted have greatly enhanced the beauty of the Hall.
The Museum staff is deeply appreciative of Miss Gray's
contribution of many years. Her paintings on display will be
of educational value to Denver citizens, young and old, for
generations to come.
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PHIPPS AUDITORIUM
L. D'ARCY, Coordinator
MARGARET DENNY, Memberships
The 1969-1970 series of illustrated lectures is the thirty-first
to be held in Phipps Auditorium. All programs are being presented
in person by world travelers, naturalists, and photographers.
Although remuneration of speakers has increased by ten per
cent, memberships remain the same: Regular Membership for two
seats $18.00; Special Membership for two seats $30.00 (privilege
of attending any of the three different hours the programs are presented); Contributing Membership for two seats $30.00 ($12.00
above regular membership a charitable contribution). All seats are
reserved for members until five minutes before each performance
at 2:00 and 4:30 P.M. Sunday, 7:30 P.M. Monday; thereafter the
general public is welcome to fill the seats of absent members to the
capacity of the auditorium.
The 1969-1970 programs are as follows:
Nov. 2-3
Arizona through the Seasons ______ Alfred M. Bailey
Thailand ____________________________________ Kenneth Armstrong
Nov. 9-10
Nov. 16-17
Red Cbina _________________________________________ Jens Bjerre
Nov. 23-24
Incomparable Greece ________________________ John D. Craig
Nov. 30/Dec. 1 Wings to Puerto Rico ____________________ James Metcalf
Dec. 7-8
Scotland and Wales __________________________________ Ed Lark
Dec. 14-15
Czechoslovakia and the Ukraine __ Clay Francisco
Jan. 4-5
Warsaw Today __________________________________ Spence Crilly
Jan. 11-12
Portraits of Hawaii ____________________________ Curtis Nagel
Japan-as Japan sees it _________________ Ken Wolfgang
Jan. 18-19
Jan. 25-26
The Canadian West ________________ Don Cooper
Feb. 1-2
Railroads are Fun ___________________________ Thayer Soule
Feb. 8-9
Fiji, Western Samoa, and Tonga ________ Nicol Smith
Feb. 15-16
Ceylon ________________________________________________ Ralph Gerstle
Feb. 22-23
Turkey - Yesterday's Tomorrow ______ Neil Douglas
Mar. 1-2
Exploring India ______________________ Fran William Hall
The Glories of New Zealand __ Kenneth Richter
Mar. 8-9
Mar. 15-16
A Journey tl1rough Spain _________ Theodore Bumiller
Mar. 22-23
Mexico south into Guatemala ________ Philip Walker
Germany - Old and New __________________ Ray Green
Mar. 29-30
ELIZABETH
The Museum is sponsoring for the twenty-seventh season the
Audubon Wildlife Series, free to the public. The illustrated r.rograms given by outstanding naturalists and photographers at 7: 30
P.M., customarily on Friday evenings so that families may conveniently attend, are as follows:
Friday, Sept. 26
The Real Yellowstone __________ Fran William Hall
Thursday, Dec. 18 Our Unique Water Wilderness - The
Everglades ________________________ William A. Anderson
Manitoba Memories _______________ Roy E. Coy
Friday, Jan. 16
Journey in Time
Friday, Feb. 6
(Grand Canyon) _______________ Robert W. Davison
Friday, March 6 The Alpine Tundra ________________ H. Charles Laun
Friday, March 20 Ecuador's Enchanted Isles ____ Alfred M. Bailey
Attendance during the year at the Museum sponsored travel
lecture Series averaged 2500 each week (50000) with an additional
700 for each of the six Wildlife Programs for a total attendance
of 54_200 men, women, and children for the 1968-1969 season.
DENVER MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
13
WEST AUDITORIUM
The completion of the west auditorium, seating two hundred
and fifty people, has added greatly to the facilities of the Museum.
With Phipps Auditorium seating 962, a new banquet hall on the
third floor of the Northwest Wing with a capacity of 350-400, the
new small auditorium with its ground floor entrance on the west
(next to front entrance to the Museum), a study room in the "Bird
Hall", and additional study areas adjacent to the Charles C. Gates
Planetarium, the Museum is in a position to give service to many
organizations. As an example, the Olympic Committee, interested
in bringing the Winter Olympic games to Denver in 1976, held a
banquet in the lobby of the Planetarium, honoring overseas guests,
and the staff of the Parks and Recreation Department held its
annual Christmas party in the new banquet hall.
STAFF CHANGES
Several staff changes occurred during the year. Susan G. Raymond has been appointed Curator of Anthropology, Jack A. Murphy, Curator of Geology, Martha C. Nelson, Curator of the Department of Education, with Dorothy K. Smith, Assistant Curator,
Robert Akerley was promoted to Assistant Curator of the Department of Graphic Design and Catherine R. Van Skiver as an assistant. Mark B. Peterson, formerly Assistant Curator in the Charles
C. Gates Planetarium, replaced Curator Donald M. Lunetta who
resigned in August, and Karen Noel returned to the Museum as
Assistant Curator. The Department of Paleontology was reactivated
with the appointment of Charles T. Crockett as Curator, and Roy
E. Coy, who has served as Assistant Director for the past two years,
was named Director by the Board of Trustees to take effect January 1, 1970 upon the retirement of Director Alfred M. Bailey.
Julia Smead Rose resigned at year's end after fifteen years
of service (1935-1941; 1959-1969). She was one of three who were
members of the staff at the time of Director Bailey's appointment
in 1936, the others being Dr. Robert J. Niedrach and Fred G.
Brandenburg. Julia Smead became Secretary to the Director of the
Denver Museum of Natural History in April 1935, resigning in
May 194 J, to go with the U.S. Army Engineers in the Caribbean
area, serving in the Engineering Division in San Juan. Puerto Rico,
in French Guiana, and in Port of Spain, Trinidad, B.W.!., for a
period of three and a half years.
In August, 1959, after an absence of eighteen years, which included marriage and children, Julia Smead Rose returned to the
Denver Museum as Administrative Assistant. She was responsible
for maintaining financial records on the three-million-dollar expansion program of the last four years, as well as continuing her
other duties, such as scheduling speakers for the Museum's winter
lecture series; keeping track of the capital appropriations from the
City and County of Denver for building improvements and equipment; submitting special reports on funds invested, historical data
required, computing and submitting various tax returns and reports.
She served the Museum well during the strategic years of growth.
14
DENVER MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
SOME THOUGHTS ON RETIREMENT
ALFRED M. BAILEY, Director
L.o.oking back thr.ough the years as a naturalist, starting as
a y.oungster m.ore than six decades ag.o, with fifty-f.our c.ontinu.ous
years .of museum w.ork behind me, p.ossibly I may be excused f.or
presenting the f.oll.owing brief resume .of my activities. I realize
how f.ortunate I have been t.o c.ontinue a lifetime .of empl.oyment far
l.onger than is usual in educati.on fields.
I recall nights al.ong the Iowa River in 1910 with Halley's
C.omet bright in the darkness overhead during high sch.ool days, and
as an ardent y.oung taxidermist my friendship with Dr. Homer R.
Dill, the Director of the fine University .of Iowa Museum. It was
natural that I sh.ould study museum meth.ods under his directi.on
when I attended c.ollege, and he sent me during my s.oph.om.ore
year .on my first extensive field trip - a U. S. Bi.ol.ogical Survey
expediti.on t.o little Laysan Island, eight hundred miles n.orthwest .of
H.on.olulu in the Leeward Chain .of the Hawaiian Islands t.o
aid in the eliminati.on .of rabbits which were destroying the vegetation. The leader .of the party .of f.our was C.omm.od.ore G. R.
Salisbury and I was the camp c.o.ok - and I venture that in the
hist.ory .of camp c.o.oks I am the .only .one wh.o had a C.omm.od.ore .of
the U. S. Navy t.o split kindling w.o.od f.or him each morning.
Three m.onths were spent .on that is.olated little island, tw.o
miles l.ong and .one wide, where I became acquainted with the
thousands .of seabirds - induding tw.o species .of albatr.osses, and
the five species .of endemic birds f.or which the island was n.oted:
flightless rails, red h.oneyeaters, millerbirds, finches, and teal. I
c.ollected some .of the unique birds - three species n.ow extinct and fifty years later d.onated specimens t.o this Museum which are
n.ow installed in the beautiful Laysan Island display.
On graduating fr.om c.ollege in 1916, I displayed a remarkable
str.oke .of genius in c.onvincing Muriel Eggenberg - in my estimati.on the prettiest girl .on the campus - t.o share her life with
me. That she als.o was interested in museum and field :w.ork is just
further proof .of my f.oresight.
We lived in New Orleans for three years, my first p.ositi.on
being Curat.or .of Birds and Mammals in the L.ouisiana State Museum
fr.om 1916-1919; we lived in Juneau, Alaska f.or tw.o years where
I was the first representative of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
(1919-1921); and f.or six years based in Denver (1921-1926) as
Curat.or .of Birds and Mammals with this Museum, which included
sixteen m.onths .of field work in Arctic Alaska before the day .of
radi.o and airplane in that part .of the w.orld, making a 750-mile
d.ogsled j.ourney from n.orthernm.ost Alaska t.o westernmost, and
w.orking in the spring with Eskimos on Bering Strait and eastern
Siberia. Seven large groups .of birds and mammals c.ollected on the
expedition are on display. For a year I was a staff member .of the
Field Museum, taking a n.otable 2000-mile muleback j.ourney through
Abyssinia (1926-1927), and on my return spent the next ten years in
Chicag.o as Director of the Chicago Academy of Sciences (19271936) .
DENVER MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
15
In 1936 I returned to Denver as Director of the Denver
Museum of Natural History, continuing in that capacity for thirtyfour years until retirement at the end of 1969. It was my privilege
to become Director during a time of transition from old methods
when displays were dependent upon light through windows to the
new when all exhibits were illuminated by electricity. The windows
were closed, electric lighting was made available, and all old habitat
groups were reinstalled in new cases with curved and domed backgrounds. Many new halls were added during the ensuing years the first installation being the ecological groups in the Walter C.
Mead Hall, followed by the displays in the Joseph Standley Hall
of large mammals and birds collected on my sixteen-month expedition to Arctic Alaska.
Four additions were made to the building during my tenure:
beautiful Phipps Auditorium in 1940; a west central structure in
1954, and just completed in 1968, the Boettcher Foundation Wing
and the Northwest Wing, the construction through the years being
financed by generous grants from Denver Foundations and private
citizens, and help from City appropriations. The fine Charles C.
Gates Planetarium has been installed on the ground floor of the
Boettcher Foundation Wing, and case construction for the Helen
and Arthur E. Johnson African Hall on the top floor is under
contract.
Field work being the life blood of natural history museums,
staff members of the Denver Museum have collected specimens on
six continents and on islands of the Pacific - groups being secured
in areas not worked by other Museums. Notable are the displays
from Australia, Subantarctic New Zealand, and South America,
and as a result of field work during the past summer in Botswana specimens have been collected for a fine African Hall. It
seemed a fitting climax to my field work through the years to have
traveled this past summer with Trustee Charles Beise to Salisbury,
Rhodesia, to meet our friend Reay H. N. Smithers, Director of the
three fine Rhodesian Museums. He gave us a 2500-mile conducted
tour, via four-wheel-drive trucks with three African helpers, across
western Rhodesia to visit Victoria Falls and then to join the Museum's field party along the Savuti River in northwestern Botswana
where we saw a cross section of the interesting game animals and
birds of the area. As I crawled out of my sleeping bag the last
morning of the trip - on the edge of the Kalahari Desert - I
realized it was probably the last time I would do extensive field
work.
Few Museum Directors have been so fortunate as to work with
a staff and with a Board of Trustees unexcelled elsewhere, and I
wish to express my appreciation to all my associates of the years
past and my personal friends of the City Administration.
I!
I
i'I.
j
;r
16
DENVER MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY
SUSAN GRANT RAYMOND, Curator
Division of American Ethnology
MARY W. A. CRANE, Honorary Curator
CHRISTINE A. BONNEY, Assistant
The Department of Anthropology was established in mid-1969
and one of its main activities has been resumption of work on the
Ancient Cultures of the Old World Hall. Work had been temporarily postponed in order to devote full time to the installation of
the Introauctory Exhibit of the Mary W. A. and Francis V. Crane
American Indian Collection (see Graphic Design report for full
details). Upon opening of the latter and formation of the Anthropology Department, Mrs. Raymond assumed responsibility for label
wriling and further planning of exhibits for Ancient Cultures Hall.
Considerable time has been spent on this project which will be completed in the coming year. The staff is indebted to Mr. Reed Neal
of Rochester, N. Y. for contributing radiographs to be used in the
physical evolution case, and to Sergeant James Grady of Lowry
Air Force Base for the loan of his Paleolithic artifacts. Mrs. Thomas
Starzl and Mrs. Bruce Maupin have continued their research on the
Classical World.
Mrs. Raymond made several slide presentations and talks to
groups that included the Cherokee Trails Chapter of the Wyoming
Archaeological Society, The Kent School, Senior Girl Scout Troop
No. 1040, and several sections of Cherry Creek Jr. High School
social studies classes.
As many people visit or write the Museum seeking information
or identification of specimens, considerable time was spent satisfying their queries. Collections and records were made available to
qualified students. Andrian Anderson and Linda Novak, graduate
anthropology students from the University of Colorado, used the
Department's resources for projects on Early Man.
Mrs. Christine Bonney, formerly with the Crane .Foundation
at Marathon, Florida, has accessioned the materials received from
Mrs. Crane during the year and has worked diligently on the card
catalogue and needed paperwork.
Progress has been made toward completion of the study area
designed for the Crane Collection. Robert Akerley, assisted by Cathi
Van Skiver and Joe Craighead, built shelves on the second tier of
the study room; peg-board panels were designed and built for storage
of the masks, after cleaning and wrapping in plastic by the volunteer
help of Mrs. Diane Vigil. Mr. Conley and assistants built and
delivered nine cabinets of the thirty planned for storage materials,
and surplus metal card file cabinets were received from the Denver
Police Department which will be useful in providing storage for
small objects of the Crane Collection, the unpacking of Jndian items
remaining in cartons being contingent upon completion of storage
facilities.
Baskets in the Crane Collection have received the expert attention of Mrs. Laurence Herold. well known for her work on
DENVER MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
17
American Indian basketry. She has been sorting baskets to facilitate
their storage, checking identifications, and contributing data on pieces
previously of questionable status. By identifying bird feathers on rare
Porno feather baskets, Dr. Niedrach has assisted Mrs. Herold in her
analysis.
Mrs. Bruce Dines, also a volunteer, has been coordinating
specimen slides with the appropriate catalogue cards in the Collection; she also applied her time and talents to writing labels
for the Pre-Columbian case in the Introductory Exhibit. Volunteer
Christine Robinson has been cleaning Plains Indian saddles and
intends to study them for a school research project.
The staff is indebted to the Thomas M. and Sarah J. Workman
family for the generous donation of fifty Eskimo items, some of
which they personally collected on St. Lawrence Island. Included
are toys, clothing, jewelry, carved ivory, and hunting equipment
- all of which will greatly enhance the scope of the Museum's
material on Eskimo culture.
Mrs. Florence Neece of Empire, Colorado, and her daughter
Mrs. Walter Maulis of Denver have given the Museum historic
Indian materials originally collected by Mrs. Lula Middleton who,
in 1954, presented the Museum with a fine collection of seventytwo baskets. The gift of Mrs. Neece and Mrs. Maulis is intended
to supplement the Lula Middleton contribution.
The members of the staff are most appreciative of Mr. Walter
E. Klein's gift of a Navajo doll from Shiprock, New Mexico, which
has been credited to Elizabeth Baldwin Klein. Thanks are due to
Joseph B. Garthan for his gift of artifacts from Pennsylvania, to
Charles T. Crockett for an Eskimo bone knife, to Mr. and Mrs.
Jack Pierson of Louisiana for a Mexican doll, and to Mrs. Alma
Thomas for a number of historic Plains Indian horse accessories.
An anonymous missionary gave the Museum some material from
Mozambique, Mrs. Katherine Stine donated pre-Columbian figurines and other pottery items collected by her late son, and Mr.
Fred A. Rosenstock gave the Museum a Bodmer reproduction of
"The Big Soldier". Mr. Sigmund Herzstein donated several projectile points as well as a bison scapula with a point imbedded in it.
Mr. Clinton B. Thomas has given the Museum some Brazilian material which includes a most interesting manioc squeezer.
Through the interest of Colonel E. M. Altfather, Colonel
Carroll DeForest Buck has donated twenty-two Philippine textiles
which he collected in the islands in the early 1900's. Also from the
Philippines, a Bontoc Jgarot helmet has been given by Mrs. John
R. Stryker. In the early 1800's, John Hester (a tea merchant) collected ethnological materials from New Zealand and gave them to his
niece. Marguerite Hester, who presented them to her cousin, Mrs.
Ardath Leuty, a Museum staff member, who in turn donated the
materials to the department.
Mrs. J. S. Y. Ivins of Grassy Key, Florida, presented the
Museum with fifteen American Indian artifacts in memory of
her late husband, Judge James Sterling Yard Ivins. These items,
formerly on loan to the Crane Collection while it comprised the
18
DENVER MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
Southeast Museum of the American Indian, mainly include historic
Sioux materials such as a buckskin dress with beaded yoke, a boy's
suit, beaded moccasins and leggings. Other historic materials as
well as two prehistoric Peruvian pots were given by Mrs. Ivins.
For the Crane Foundation's gift of 1969, the Trustees of the
Museum are profoundly grateful. This gift includes numerous
American Indian articles of wide variety and high quality: South
American pottery and clothing, Mexican and Central American
artifacts, photographs, and documents, as well as many Eskimo and
Northwest Coast materials and a large number of California baskets.
Southwestern pottery, clothing, Navajo rugs, Kachinas, and baskets
are part of this very generous gift. From the Southeast, baskets,
a blowgun, Caddo and Caloosa articles have been included, and
from the Northeast - baskets, gambling items and bags. A large
number of other artifacts, a painting of "Red Cloud", and a New
Guinea shield have also been given. The staff is eager to begin work
on the permanent Mary W. A. and Francis V. Crane Hall where
a larger number of these items, so significant to American past and
present, will be available to the public and to students. It is impossible for the staff of the Museum, in fact for the people of
Denver. to thank adequately the Crane Foundation and Mrs.
Mary W. A. Crane for so vastly expanding the cultural resources
of this area.
DEPARTMENT OF BOTANY
E. H. BRUNQUIST, Honorary Curator
High priority has been given to visits to plains, foothills and
mountains for plant identification and for discussion of basic features of plant evolution. physiology and ecology. Such trips are
publicized and open to the public; they have been frequently conducted on alternate Wednesdays, beginning in April. Roadside botanizing has been the rule, with occasional longer walks. Staff memb~rs
of the Denver Botanic Gardens have shared in the responsibility
and sponsorship of this program.
The Museum acknowledges responsibility for adding its bit
to arousing widespread public appreciation of the fact that organism
and environment are inseparable, so that prevention of air and
water pollutions is caIled for as a matter of self-interest as well as
one of good sportsmanship.
The Curator has continued to be available for advice regarding Museum exhibits which include plants. He has also made contributions to plant-life programs of schools in counties adjacent to
Denver. and is available for talks and demonstrations for lowvision or blind youngsters. The Department of Botany continues the
prncess of building up a colored-slide library of wild and cultivated plants; contributions are solicited.
DENVER MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
19
DEPAR TMENT OF GEOLOGY
A.
Honorary Curator
Curator
During the past twelve months the staff of the Geology Department completed renovating the mineral exhibits in the first
alcove of the mineral hall. This project, under the direction of Dr.
Florian Cajori, included cleaning, re-labeling, and exhibiting some
500 fine mineral specimens. The curators are grateful to Miss Armint a Neal and Mr. Robert Akerley of the Graphic Design Department for re-modeling the seven wall cases in the hall, and other assistance given, and thanks to Mrs. Catherine Van Skiver for excellent
work preparing the labels for the specimens.
The mineral exhibits had not received a complete cleaning and
relabeling since the hall was first opened in 1955. Previously the
wall exhibits, which are arranged in order according to Dana's System of Mineral Classification, contained one continuous panel with
no physical break between mineral classes. Now each case has several freshly painted panels that better display the fine large specimens and differentiate the mineral classes.
Besides the renovation of the wall exhibits much time has
been spent re-arranging and cleaning the Systematic Mineral Study
Series which comprises forty floor display cases. They have been
cleaned and re-Iabeled, new backgrounds have been added to display the minerals better, and many new specimens have been added.
Previously the Economic Minerals Series filled sixteen floor cases,
and Dr. Cajori and Mr. Murphy removed duplicate materials, gaining eight cases to expand the systematic study collection and to add
special exhibits.
Two of these special exhibits are educational in nature and
apply to field tests and streak and luster of minerals. Two others are
of particular interest to visitors, one showing beautiful copper carbonate, azurite and malachite specimens from Bisbee, Arizona, which
were donated by William Church in 1912; the other exhibiting recently acquired specimens, mainly those donated or purchased in
1969. Donations to the Museum are listed at the end of this Annual Report.
The renovation of the mineral exhibits has made a great improvement in the appearance of the mineral hall, which includes not
only the common minerals of general interest to the visitor, but also
varieties within a species showing differences due to locality. New
specimens are added when available to present the best and most interesting mineral specimens.
In the future Messrs. Cajori and Murphy plan a major
program of completely redesigning and building new exhibits with
a continuous educational theme and to add many interpretive displays on the various aspects of mineralogy and geology.
Much of the work in the Geology Department is carried on
behind the scenes and is not realized by visitors. It is an essential
part of the departmental program, including such activities as constant attention to the mineral reference collection and the geology
FLORIAN
CAJORI,
JACK A. MURPHY,
20
DENVER MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
library, the identification, classification, and cataloging of specimens that are being removed from storage plus newly acquired
specimens. As always the curators are available to answer questions and identify specimens for visitors. Thanks to Dr. Cajori's
constant attention to the details, the department has achieved more
progress in the past year than previously had been anticipated. Especially important has been the complete inventory of all minerals
and the start of a new card index reference system.
The curators are grateful for the volunteer assistance of Mrs.
Andrew Anderson who has helped in the past few months with the
mineral inventory, cleaning of the gem stone exhibit, and the cataloging of the Education Department's rock and mineral collection. Mrs.
Anderson will be working in the future typing the mineral index
cards.
In June of 1969 Dr. Cajori at his own expense attended the
American Federation of Mineral Societies Mineral Show in Salt
Lake City, Utah. He obtained several outstanding new specimens that
add to the variety and quality of our collections and exhibit material.
During the summer months he visited the American Museum of
Natural History in New York, and conferred with curators on department procedures. Curator Murphy, also at his own expense,
visited the Field Museum of Natural History, the Chicago Academy
of Sciences, Royal Ontario Museum, American Museum of Natural
History, the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology, the Smithsonian Institute, the Cincinnati Museum of Natural History, and the
Natural Science Museum in Cleveland. He was priviledged to meet
many of the Directors and members of the staff of the above fine
museums.
Among the acquisitions obtained by purchase the last year are
several very fine specimens which should be mentioned. Notable are
the minerals acquired by Dr. Cajori at Salt Lake City, including:
brazilianite, Brazil; mimetite, South West Africa; adamite, Mexico;
siderocalcite, Iowa; and a quartz cast after fluorite, from Ouray,
Colorado. Other fine specimens purchased include: a columbite
crystal, Brazil; tarnowitzite from South West Africa; a beautiful
wolframite crystal from Panasquera, Portugal; and amazonite and
a smoky quartz specimen from the Pikes Peak region, Colorado.
Tre curators are particularly grateful to donors who add to
the collection for present prices of minerals are so high that their
ability to acquire new specimens by purchase is very limited.
METEORITES
One of the Department's current projects is the re-organization
of the meteorite collection. The bulk of this material has been in
storage for several years, and the old method of cataloging the meteorites with the minerals always has caused confusion. The extensive task of re-cataloging and classifying over 500 individual
specimens (representing about 140 falls) into a separate catalog
and card index system is now under way, and the curators would
like to thank Mrs. William Snare for h~r volunteer assistance in
helping with the preliminary inventory and compiling the needed list
of names and accession numbers of specimens.
DENVER MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
21
The Museum has a very fine collection of meteorites, the
majority obtained by Dr. Harvey Nininger at the time he served as
Curator, and by the donation of Mr. Dean Gillespie's most excellent collection of meteorites in ] 955. It is hoped that many new
meteorites will be added to the series, especially specimens from
Colorado and neighboring states.
A new meteorite received and accessioned this year is of
particular interest due to its location in Baca County in the near
vicinity of another known meteorite find (Springfield) . After a
complete chemical analysis by Dr. Edward Olsen, Field Museum of
Natural History, and Dr. D. Heymann, Rice University, it has been
determined that this is a new meteorite designated as Two Buttes.
The Two Buttes meteorite was found in 1962 by Mr. William
Fischer of Great Bend, Kansas. A small piece was brought to the
Museum by Mr. Fischer's daughter in the summer of 1968 for
identification, and the large piece was purchased by Mr. Glenn Huss,
American Meteorite Laboratory, Denver, Colorado. On February
26, 1969 the Museum purchased half of the specimen (end piece: 20
lbs. 7.5 oz.) for our collection. A slab weighing 1 lb. 6.5 oz. was
donated to the Field Museum for services rendered.
Mr. Huss reported, for the international listing, this new Colorado Meteorite to Dr. Krinov, Chairman, Committee on Meteorites
of the Academy of Science of the USSR on September 5, 1969, as
follows:
TWO BUTTES, Baca County, Colorado
Lat. 3r 38' N., Long. lOZO 25' W.
Found: 1962. Recognized 1968.
Stony. Chondrite
Number of Specimens: One individual
Total Known Weight: 19.7 Kg.
Circumstances of fall or discovery: Plowed up in field.
It is planned, as an outcome of the meteorite reorganization,
to publish an index with all pertinent scientific data for each specimen, in accord with the policy of other institutions, such an index
being of value in compiling data and comparing records on meteorite falls and finds.
Among the reference texts added to the departmental library
to aid in meteorite research were the Catalog of Meteorites, by Max
H. Hey, British Museum of Natural History, Meteorites, by Dr. Brian
Mason, American Museum of Natural History, and Meteorites, by
Fritz Herde, the latter a gift from Mrs. William Snare. The Curators are indebted to Jack Conley and Hilmar Lund for the construction on the new meteorite study room, and to Charles Crockett
for his help in building a new cabinet to hold the meteorite study
collection.
They are also grateful to Mr. Glenn Huss of the American
Meteorite Laboratory, Denver, Colorado, for his professional assistance and advice, to Dr. Harvey Nininger, former Curator of
Meteorites of this Museum, and to Dr. Edward Olsen of the Field
Museum of Natural History, Chicago, Illinois, for meteorite identifications and helpful advice.
22
DENVER MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
DEPARTMENT OF GRAPHIC DESIGN
ARMINTA NEAL, Curator
ROBERT AKERLEY, Assistant Curator
MRS. CATHERINE VAN SKIVER, Assistant
The major achievement of the Graphic Design department this
year was the opening of a new hall - the temporary installation
of the Crane Collection of Historic North American Indian cultures.
Following approval of a floor plan drawn up late the previous year, Miss Neal, Mr. Akerley and Mrs. Raymond conferred
to reach decisions regarding the use of texture and color in the
hall. The basic approach was to emphasize man's adaptation to and
use of his environment and to use artifacts from the Crane
Collection to illustrate the different ways of life in aboriginal
and early historic times in North America, north of Mexico.
Detailed plans were made in which the number of plyboard
panels and the amount of framing lumber to be required were
worked out, colors selected and ordered. The eighteen cases which
were shipped with the collection from Florida were completely rewired to conform to City Code. Concurrently, Miss Neal listed the
general categories of articles desired and Mrs. Christine Bonney,
Custodian of the Crane Collection, tracked down the specific items.
As the study collection had yet to be unpacked, the catalogue
number of each desired artifact had to be checked with the carton
lists, and then it was necessary to find the particular box out of
more than 500. That the hall was opened during the year is due,
in no small way, to Mrs. Bonney's efforts.
The eighteen exhibits are introduced by a small map which
delineates seven culture areas north of Mexico. These are: The
Arctic and Sub-Arctic, Northwest Coast, California-Intermountain,
Southwest, Great Plains and Prairie, Northeastern Woodlands, and
Southeast Woodlands. Each is introduced with a panel on which
a map of North America locates the area in question and a label
gives the basic facts of physical topography, climate, and plants and
animals available to the people. Colors used both for introductory
panels and for case exhibits have been chosen to enhance the
materials exhibited and to suggest something of the environment
in which the cultures were located. Thus, the Northwest Coast
cases combine a driftwood-gray stain with forest green and light
green colors; the Southwest displays use a red-buff sandstone color;
the Great Plains exhibits use a light yellow reminiscent of bright
sunshine, and the Northeastern Woodlands show a light, leaf-green.
These colors help to tie several cases together where more than one
is used for a specific culture area. Textures of rough-sawed plyboard
and planking also contribute to a subliminal appeal to the tactile
sense.
To introduce the Plains section an effective miniature diorama
of bison in an area just east of the Cherry Creek Reservoir was
constructed by Mrs. Raymond and Mrs. Edwin H. Grant, assisted
by Mrs. Adolph Coors, III. Dr. Niedrach guided the trio in a
correct approximation of the pattern of ecology in the virgin prairie.
DENVER MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
23
Bison were constructed of wire, styrofoam, cotton and wax, and
flock; the ground vegetation of chopped tow simulates clumps of
yarrow, lichen, and buckwheat. Both the cottonwood tree and
peach-leaf willow are "portraits" of existing trees and were made
with wire, styrofoam, cotton and wax, and spackling paste. The
effectiveness of the scene was proved when one small visitor was
overheard asking her mother, "Are they real?"
Mrs. Raymond and Mr. Akerley were responsible for the research and the building of the two Plains Indian cases, the one
dealing with the bison being Mr. Akerley's task and telling the
story of the introduction, spread, and importance of the horse, that
of Mrs. Raymond.
During the summer, Miss Anne Douden was again a student
assistant in the department, and her enthusiasm and skill contributed
much to the success of the hall.
Several cases make use of photostat prints copied from the
Crane Collection Library copies of Schoolcraft's works on the
American Indian. The Graphic Design department acknowledges with
thanks the contributions made by Mrs. Virginia Brunsfeld of Pick
Photo, and of our own photographer, Robert Wright, both of whom
showed skill and creativity in the project.
The appeal of the hall to the visitor was highlighted in an
article which appeared in the Travel Section of the August 3rd
issue of the New York Times.
Mrs. Catherine Van Skiver joined the department in the fall
as an apprentice preparator. Since that time she has completed a
great number of hand-lettered labels for newly arranged mineral displays, has worked with three-dimensional letters in gluing main labels
in the new mineral cases, has helped Mrs. Herold with her work
with the Crane Collection baskets, and has assumed responsibility
for a regularly-changing Planetarium bulletin board.
The Curator's duties have induded drawing up revised floor
plans for various new halls now under construction in the Museum,
research and label writing, and design development of the Indian
exhibits. She has acted as guest lecturer at Denver's Abraham
Lincoln High School, Regis College, and as a faculty member in a
seminar for History Museum Administrators sponsored by the
A merican Association for State and Local History. Exhibits which
she designed received recognition early in the year when she was
awarded third-place honors in the Museum category of the Nineteenth Annual International Design Competition sponsored by Display World magazine. Institutions requesting her advice as a consultant included the Colorado Aviation Historical Society, the Puebl~
Metropolitan Museum. the museum at Trinidad State Junior College, the Environmental Center for Creative Learning of the Lander,
Wyoming School District, and the Littleton Historical Society.
24
DENVER MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
DEPARTMENT OF PALEONTOLOGY
CHARLES T. CROCKETT, Curator
The paleontology department was reactivated in March, and
work was started assembling the study collection of fossils which
have been stored in various parts of the museum building into a
laboratory ideally located adjacent to the fossil exhibit halls. Storage
cases were moved from the second and third floors to house the
specimens.
During the first week of April, while the Curator was driving
one of the Museum's trucks to the east coast for shipment to
Africa, Dr. J. R. MacDonald, Curator of Paleontology at the Los
Angeles County Museum, and his assistant, Miss Laurie Bryant,
made a brief stay at the Museum and roughly identified and labeled
many of the fossil specimens.
Curator Crockett assisted Dr. Niedrach with the collection and
installation of material for some of his habitat dioramas; this involved several trips throughQut the summer months - to Guanella
Pass, to Wray, and to Beecher's Island, the site of one of the Museum's fossil quarries (1918 and 1919). In the latter area Mr.
Crockett found a very large Pliocene fossil turtle; three days were
needed to excavate it, and its preparation in the laboratory is now
underway. Assisting in collecting these materials were Messrs. Lund,
Carrasco, and Mark Petrun.
Several other trips in various parts of the state were of interest,
including some very fragmentary Cretaceous fish fossils found
near Canon City and some mammoth bone fragments near Brush;
and on a field trip with staff artist Sharon Riddle Wolverton to Baca
County a nicely articulated bison backbone and some Cretaceous
clams and isolated Pleistocene horse teeth were located.
The Curators of Paleontology and Geology have had helpful
exchanges of labor, Jack Murphy helping in identifications of stored
invertebrate fossil materials and in paleontology library references
and Charles Crockett lending a hand in the construction of a meteorite case and meteorite study room.
The Museum's collection of modern sea shells, in storage for
many years, is being unpacked, sorted, and identified. New cases
have been designed for the study series, and plans are being made
for placing some of the fine specimens on exhibit in the near future.
Four small cases have been designed and built for sorting and
storage of fossils, molds, and casts, and one very large case for fossil elephant leg bones and tusks. The large Triceratops skull secured last year was moved by Superintendent Jack Conley and his
crew to space adjoining the museum building where preliminary
preparation work can be made. The modern mammal bones that
have been in storage have been sorted and placed on shelving where
they will form the basis of a very fine osteological collection of
modern animals useful for comparison with fossil bone~.
Thanks are due many people for help throughout the year to Mr. and Mrs. Donald Gibson and R. R. Rutherford for their
TRICERATOPS SKULL
Encased in burlap and plaster for protection during transportation
hospitality on the occasion of the field trip to Baca Co.; to Mr.
Jim Wagner of Schultz & Lindsey Construction Co. and Mr. Lester
Van Kalkeren of the Colorado Highway Department who reported
a fossil find near Sedgewick, Colorado; to Dr. Peter Robinson,
Curator of Geology at the University of Colorado, who assisted in
specimen and locality identification and has offered many useful suggestions in organization, repairs, and specialized techniques; and
to Mr. Reed Neal, brother of the Curator of Graphic Design, who
contributed two weeks of his Denver visit to preparatory work on
a Ground Sloth pelvis. Miss Ann Douden (of Graphic Design) repaired and restored several Tyrannosaur teeth; Jim Otis, a senior
at Hinckley High School, worked on a fossil turtle; during the summer Mark Petrun cleaned all the dinosaur and elephant skeletons
and Mike Clarke, a high school student from Georgetown, gave
them their winter cleaning as well as doing preparatory work on
various fossils. Always when needed the Curator's wife Cynthia has
volunteered her assistance.
Members of the Museum staff without exception have aided the
work of the Department, but special mention should be made of the
assistance given by Miss Arminta Neal, Mrs. Susan Raymond, and
Robert Akerley of Graphic Design and Miss Martha Nelson and
Mrs. Dorothy Smith of the Education Department during Dr. MacDonald's visit, and thanks are due to Jack Murphy, Curator of
Geology, Building Superintendent Jack Conley, and Messrs. Hilmar Lund, Robert Kelly, and Steven Suvada.
26
DENVER MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
DEPARTMENT
OF ZOOLOGY
Division of Birds
ROBERT J. NIEDRACH, Curator
NORMA LOVELACE, Assistant
The Curator has catalogued numerous accessions, attended to
loans to other institutions, and conducted routine departmental affairs. Being an ecologist, much of his time was spent installing foregrounds for the habitat groups in the Frederick C. Bonfils Hall.
Artist Donald L. Malick had started painting the background
for a Sandhill Crane Group but was interrupted by the trip this
summer to Botswana. During his four months of field work there
he collected many species of African birds and made background
sketches for the planned African Hall habitat groups. His observations on Botswana birds are included in the account of the Museum's expedition.
Division of Mammals
HENRY C. WICHERS, Curator
Curator Wichers and Chief Preparator Jack Putnam were
members of the Museum's Botswana expedition where they secured fine specimens of game and small mammals to be exhibited in
the new Helen and Arthur E. Johnson African Hall. A short narrative
of the expedition is noted below.
EXPEDITION TO BOTSWANA, AFRICA
Roy E. COY, Assistant Director*
Through the years, members of the staff have interviewed numerous authorities on the present stat.. of the wildlife of Africa, for
with the vanishing of game animals in many areas of the great "dark
continent" it seemed desirable that an expedition should be organized as soon as possible to secure specimens for an African
Hall. Fortunately Mr. Reay H. N. Smithers, Director of the National Museums of Rhodesia, a personal friend of Dr. Bailey, visited
Denver twice in the past ten years, and he strongly r~commended
the Republic of Botswana as an ideal place to secure in a comparatively limited range the variety of animals and plants needed
for such displays. Mr. Smithers, an authority on the natural history
of Botswana as a result of numerous expeditions, is the author of
publications covering birds, mammals, and plants of all parts of
that interesting country formerly known as Bechuanaland.
In the summer of 1968 Mr. Alec C. Campbell, Senior Game
Warden of Botswana, visited Denver, and he not only agreed with
Mr. Smithers but also extended an invitation on behalf of Chief
Game Warden L. H. Tennant and the Department of Wildlife and
National Parks for representatives of this Museum to do field work
in the Republic.
It was a timely invitation, for two new additions to the Museum building were being completed, and the entire top floor of the
Boettcher Foundation Wing had been reserved for Jarge habitat
displays of Africa. the hall to be named the Helen and Arthur E.
Johnson African Hall.
* Appointed Director as of January I, 1970
DENVER MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
27
As a result, plans matured quickly. Two Ford four-wheel-drive
trucks, one a gift of Henry Ford II through Trustee Aksel Nielsen,
were shipped from New York to Cape Town and Henry C. Wichers,
Curator of Mammals, and Donald L. Malick, staff artist, left Denver the latter part of April for South Africa to see the equipment
through customs and drive the trucks north to Gaberones, the
capitol of Botswana. There Mr. Campbell aided Wichers and Malick in securing supplies and skilled African helpers (camp men and
trained skinners).
Roy E. Coy, Assistant Director and leader of the expedition,
Robert R. Wright, Curator of the Photographic Department, and
Jack A. Putnam, Chief Preparator, flew to Salisbury, Rhodesia,
where Director Smithers loaned them one of his trained prep arators ,
helped secure supplies, and arranged transport by truck west to
Bulawayo, the site of one of Rhodesia's three fine Museums, and
then on to Francistown, Botswana, to meet Malick and Wichers.
The expedition was literally hand led, for Game Warden Alec
Campbell personally conducted the Denver men to strategic collecting places, left them for a period of time, and then took them to
another spot - numerous camps with many interesting species of
game, smaller mammals, and birds differing in each locality.
The five Museum representatives spent four to five months
studying, photographing, sketching, and making scientific collections
of natural history specimens throughout Botswana. They covered
three major ecological areas: the Chobe River area of veldt or
savannah land, the famous Okavango Swamp, and the equally famous Kalahari Desert. Practically every species of large mammal occurring in the various habitats except some of the most endangered
ones, were collected. Specimens also were secured of the great
variety of bird life represented in this country which has seemingly
unlimited numb(:rs of beautiful birds ranging from the tiny Cordon
Blue Finches to the large Kori Bustards.
Thousands of feet of movie film were exposed for educational
purposes and hundreds of still pictures for the Museum files and
for exhibition use. Mr. Malick not only made color notes and sketch~s of the various landscapes but also approximately 190 beautiful
field sketches of Botswana birds. Messrs. Coy and Wright were
fortunate to obtain motion film of Bushmen in their Kalahari Desert
surroundings.
Botswana is a difficult land to traverse, for there are few roads,
four-wheel-drive vehicles being advisable. Almost the entire country
is covered with Triassic sand, the grains of which are perfectly
round. Outcroppings of rock seem to be a few and scattered small
hills of Pre-Cambrian basalt with white quartzite intrusions. It is
in these hills that the ancestors of the present very primitive Bushmen made drawings on the rock-face of human, animal, and other
designs. Even today they remain somewhat of a mystery.
BUSHMEN
Only about 5000 Bushmen of pure blood strain remain, and
it is thought by most experts that within only a few years they will
be absorbed by modern civilization, and thus will pass away people
who are believed to be the original or first inhabitants of South
Africa. From encounters with the Bushmen the expedition members
were able to collect ethnological items for exhibit in the Museum
hall.
In the Okavango and Moremi areas the tsetse fly made life
uncomfortable, but fortunately no one became seriously ill. This
fly and the mosquito were the only very dangerous animals the staff
had to face. There were a few brushes with lion and buffalo, and
some staff members were chased by elephants, but nothing serious
in outcome.
In July, Director A. M. Bailey and Charles J. Beise, Second
Vice-President of the Board of Trustees, with Reay H. N. Smithers
of Rhodesia paid the group a visit. At that time the Museum
camp was moving from the Okavango Swamp area near Kwaai to
what proved to be a very fine camp along the Savuti River in
Chobe National Park. Dr. Bailey and Mr. Beise returned to Denver
with some very fine pictures and an excellent idea of the animal
and plant life of that part of Africa.
DENVER MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
29
The expedition had the expert assistance of Taxidermy Enterprises of Bulawayo, particularly the help of Jack Halfpenny in trucking from the various camps and packing and shipping to Denver the
many specimens collected - 100 cases in all. By October all staff
members had returned to the Museum and a very successful expedition had ended.
In the near future the Museum will have outstanding ecological
exhibits of game animals and associated forms of life of the Republic
of Botswana; a Museum Pictorial will be published that will document its flora and fauna; and the motion film will be compiled for
presentation to interested and professional groups.
The Museum is indebted to virtually every resident of Botswana
encountered by members of the expedition. The interest and cooperation of the staffs of the Rhodesian Museums and of Taxidermy
Enterprises are greatly appreciated. The generous assistance of Mr.
Smithers and Jack Halfpenny will be difficult to repay. Lastly,
without the confidence and goodwill of Mr. L. H. Tennant, Chief
Game Warden, Department of Wildlife and National Parks, and of
Mr. Alec C. Campbell, Senior Game Warden, the expedition could
not have been made.
Observations on the Birds of Botswana
DONALD L. MALICK, Staff Artist
Anyone reading publications dealing with African bird life is
usually left with two very distinct impressions: (1) the abundance
of birds in Africa, and (2) the profusion of exotic and colorful
species on this continent - impressions fully confirmed by members
of the Museum's expedition to the Republic of Botswana.
The abundance of bird life was evident every morning at the
various campsites. The variety of bird songs was outdone only by
the sheer volume of the performers! Doves (Ring-necked, Laughing, Emerald-spotted, Namaqua, and Red-eyed) were extremely
abundant and were common to every area visited with the exception of the campsite in the Kalahari that was located sixty miles
north of Tshabong. This was the only place where doves were absent
during the four months of field work.
One's attention is always held by birds of prey. Vultures in
very large flocks - sometimes as many as five hundred - were
seen, and along with these carrion seekers large numbers of eagles,
hawks, and falcons were also in evidence. With few exceptions the
eagles encountered in Botswana came to carrion as regularly as
vultures. Among species of eagles the Bateleur was the most common and conspicuous. The Bateleur has a very wide distribution
and was seen at all the areas visited but less frequently in the
Kalahari Desert. The Bateleur spends a great part of the day on
the wing, and the field party never tired of observing its aerial
mastery. It was an extremely difficult bird to collect.
In Botswana there are extreme differences in size among the
birds of prey, ranging from the large, magnificent, and powerful Martial Eagle (a bird strong enough to capture monkeys and such
30
DENVER MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
small antelope as the Steinbok) to the diminutive Pygmy Falcon,
hardly larger than the bluebird of our country.
It is certainly true that Africa has numerous brilliantly plumaged
birds but it also has a great number of somber-colored species,
probably far outnumbering the more colorful birds. The most conspicuous of the brilliant species were the Lilac-breasted Rollers, the
Bee-eaters (Carmine, Swallow-tailed, and Little Bee-eater), the
Black-collared Barbet, and the Blue-eared Glossy Starling.
Kingfishers offer a good illustration of the extremes in size to
be found in Botswana's birds. The Giant Kingfisher is aptly named,
a very large (for a Kingfisher), quail-sized species; at the other
extreme is the Malachite Kingfisher, a tiny, beautifully plumaged
species, roughly the size of the Pygmy Nuthatch of Colorado's foothills.
The largest concentration of birds was found in and near the
Okavango Swamp in the northern part of Botswana. Anhingas,
herons, ducks, kites, kingfishers, jacanas, fish eagles, and the bird
life of the savannah-woodlands bordering the waters occur in staggering numbers.
The time spent in Botswana by the Museum field party coincided with winter below the equator, so many European migrant
species that occur in Botswana were absent, such as the European
Bee-Eater and a number of buzzards and eagles, even though the
vanguard of these species was starting to appear in October shortly
before the departure of the field men.
Much of the country still is a wildnerness and little is known,
but the present list of recorded species totals more than four hundred. For anyone interested in birds, Botswana surely must qualify
as one of the world's foremost areas for study.
Observations upon the Mammals of Botswana
HENRY
C.
WICHERS,
Curator of Mammals
During the 22 years of the Curator's association with the
Denver Museum he has had the privilege of collecting specimens and
exhibit materials on ten expeditions in six areas of the world. In
the COUfse of these trips there has never been a serious injury, though
remembrance is vivid of some rather tight situations.
In the Galapagos Islands (1960), for example, there was a
tense period for some of the Museum party during the worst storm
of the century in a 30-ft. boat off Hood Island. On Subantarctic
Campbell Island (1958) a clear fall of several hundred feet through
a vegetation-concealed hole was halted only by the reflexive throwing out of arms, and while collecting goats on a snow-covered mountain in Alaska (1967) only slight injury was sustained during a
fall and slide that luckily stopped at the edge of a cliff.
Each expedition to a different geographical area has had some
particularly interesting aspect. For number of species and ease of
collecting, the 1969 expedition to the Republic of Botswana was
unique. This African country was especially interesting because of
DENVER MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
31
the many varieties of antelope in relatively small areas and their
interrelationships to the total environment. The Chobe region was a
good example of this association between species; if groups of
baboons were seen, it was virtually certain Bushbuck would be associated. This togetherness is mutually beneficial, since survival
often depends on whatever detection of danger the group can provide.
The dominant mammals of Africa, other than man, are the
elephants. Even though fully aware of their own great strength,
they are not aggressive toward other mammals; however, they can
be dangerous when provoked or if they remember a past experience
which resulted in an injury to them.
While sleeping in the open or in flimsy tents members of the
party had elephants on numerous occasions within a few yards,
their close proximity in the darkness making the field men realize
how helpless and insignificant man can be.
One night in the area between Savuti and Chobe camp was
made near a spring-fed waterhole (about 50 feet in diameter) in an
otherwise dry river bed many miles from water. Elephant, buffalo,
zebra, antelope, and some predators were using this water source in
moderate numbers. Toward evening elephants could be heard and
seen moving into the area in unusual numbers accompanied with an
occasional lion's roar for good measure.
The sky was cloudless and the moon came up full, brightly
bathing the landscape with its glow. As night progressed, the whole
area became a bedlam of sound as herd after herd of elephants
kept arriving; they had traveled long and far, and each group
was frenzied with heat and thirst. Because competition for space at
the small waterhole was severe, there was screaming, roaring, and
rumbling on all sides. As each new herd came in, they would rush
into the water, draw it into their trunks, and squirt it into their
mouths; a satisfactory quantity of water having been consumed, some
would flail the already muddied water to a froth with their trunks,
while others sprayed it over their heated bodies.
About one hundred and fifty yards from the waterhole lions
had killed a buffalo during the night and next morning two females were observed feeding on the remains, with three beautiful
full-maned lions in the brush some sixty yards from the kill and
an undetermined number of others were in the scrub nearby. It was
amazing that lions could kill a powerful 2000 lb. buffalo with apparent ease - but sometimes they do miscalculate and are injured
- as was observed on one occasion.
At the waterhole were pieces of elephant tusks which had
been broken off by the fighting and digging in the rocky soil while
trying to enlarge and deepen the existing spring holes. Botswana
elephants usually have short tusks, often due to this continual chipping and breaking which occurs as the animal gets older.
The first impressions of wart hogs are likely to be repulsive, but after several months of almost daily observations one
comes to see them in a different light. When unmolested, they
seem quite unconcerned by the presence of people, but if they have
DENVER MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
33
had adverse contacts, they are among the wariest of Botswana game.
Whereas other mammals out of curiosity may stand around sizing
up a situation before fleeing, the wart hogs make up their minds
quickly. They are alert, have an interesting bearing, and are so
homely as to be almost attractive.
Antelope are the most numerous of Botswana's large game
mammals. The most impressive of this group are the longer horned
ones, such as the greater kudu, sable, roan, and gemsbok. Most
antelope occur in association with one another or with giraffe and
zebra.
During this expedition a fine cross section of the larger mammals of the Republic was secured which will allow versatility in
choosing specimens for each new ecological display in the Helen
and Arthur E. Johnson African Hall.
Observations on Photographing in Botswana
ROBERT R. WRIGHT, Curator
Five members of the museum staff worked from four to five
months collecting and photographing the natural history of this
fascinating area of 220,000 square miles, more than twice the size
of the United Kingdom.
Although all members of the staff carried cameras, the bulk
of the photographic work was done by Messrs. Roy E. Coy and
Robert R. Wright. More than 10,000 feet of motion picture film
was exposed and over 2000 still pictures, both black and white and
color, were taken and are now in the museum files.
The spectacular sounds of the cool African nights and early
mornings were also recorded by Curator Wright. The regal rumble
of the lions' roar, the laughing of the hyena, the calls of jackals,
the elephants' trumpets, the shrill cries of birds-of-prey, and the
early morning chatter of the many colorful song birds are but a
few memorable sounds recorded on many feet of magnetic ribbon to
be used with audio-phone commentary in our new African hall.
The five members of the African party met in Francistown,
Botswana, the morning of the 27th of May. By noon the overloaded caravan of two three-quarter-ton Ford trucks, one five-ton
Bedford truck and a small Landrover headed northwest into the
bush for Maun, a town of 6,000 people, three hundred miles
into Ngamiland.
Ngamiland, in northwestern Botswana, an area of 35,000
square miles, is noted for the abundance of wildlife surrounding
the Okavango Delta. Maun, on the banks of the Thamalakane River,
is located at the edge of the 6500 square mile Okavango Swamp
and sixty-five miles to the north is the Moremi Wildlife Reserve,
which the Batawana people are developing as Africa's first tribally
owned and managed game reserve open to tourists.
At Moremi, excellent opportunities existed for game and
bird photography. Close-ups of elephant, kudu, giraffe, tessebe,
wildebeest and others were obtained, all except for the elephant,
II
34
DENVER MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
LECHWE
DENVER MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
35
taken from the back of our truck. The first photographs of the latter were secured in the depths of a Mopane forest, where a herd of
thirty or forty elephants slowly moved towards us. With a favorable wind, they passed within thirty feet and excellent motion pictures and stills were made.
Curator Wright constructed blinds on several water holes and
outstanding photographs of impala, warthogs and baboons were secured, as well as the abundant birdlife which gathered at the watering
places. Birds were photographed along the reeded channels and on
the many islands of the Okavango Delta including the Saddle-billed
and Marabou storks, Wattled Cranes, ibises, geese of several species,
herons and kingfishers. Overhead could be heard the unforgettable
cries of the magnificent Fish Eagles, wary prey for the camera.
Waterfowl and thousands of flamingos were seen and photographed
at Lake Ngami, along with springbok and gemsbok.
Away from the lake and swamp waters were bustards, shrikes,
plovers, hornbills, secretary-birds, rollers, guineafowl and ostriches,
just to mention a few that were photographed.
Camp was set in the northern area of Ngamiland along the
Savuti Channel, which leads off from the Chobe River and eventually dies at the northern rim of the Mababe Depression. Here game
was photographed at close range including elephant, buffalo, giraffe,
and numerous species of antelope.
About one-eighth of the country's area is designated as Game
Reserve. The center of development for tourists is on the 4500
square mile Chobe National Park. At Kasane, in the extreme
northern tip of Botswana, is the main entrance to the park which
runs along the banks of the Chobe River. This region is blessed with
an abundance of grazing land and water. By the first of September,
when the water holes of the inland pans have dried up, the wildlife
moves to the river and there they thrive on the evergreen flood
plain known as the Chobe Flats. Messrs. Coy and Wright spent
several days at Chobe Park photographing large herds of elephants
crossing the Chobe River to graze on these flats. Here also were
photographed waterbuck. rhinos, lions, puku and other species of
game including the unique Chobe Bushbuck. Only the birdlife in
the Okavango Delta compares with that in the Chobe National
Park.
The Chobe River provides an excellent game photographic highway. With the splendid co-operation of Game Warden John Hornstead, Coy and Wright traveled the twenty miles upstream from
Kasane on two different occasions, adding to the photographic records close-ups of elephants swimming, hippos and crocodile and
the many forms of animal and bird life among the Chobe Flats.
There is endless photographic material in this country other
than.its wildlife, including its variety of peoples. There are the
picturesque Herero women in their Victorian tight-waisted, anklelength dress of many colors, and minerva cap. Batawana villages
can be found along the well-traveled roads of Ngamiland, the River
Bushmen are found only in the remote parts of the Okavango Delta,
and in the Kalahari Desert are the Bushmen. the most primitive of
the native people.
-
36
DENVER MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
Observations on Field Work in Botswana
JACK D. PUTNAM,
Chief Preparator
.
It has been my privilege to collect specimens for the Denver
Museum from Alaska south to Subantarctic New Zealand, care of
specimens differing according to the facilities available. In Botswana
conditions were ideal. We had a dry climate, African helpers trained
by skilled Museum men, truck transportation, and ample supplies.
The Botswana Game Department, through Mr. Alec Campbell, furnished three African scouts (equivalent of game wardens) who were
skilled trackers. They spoke English, knew the country, and were
familiar with the mammals and birds and so were of great value.
The majority of the birds were collected by Don Malick and
were made into fine scientific skins by one of Mr. Reay Smithers'
trained men. Putnam and Wichers collected the mammals, and the
procedure was usually the same, varying only in detail.
Working seven days a week and often many hours at night
to collect nocturnal mammals and to prepare specimens became a
routine. The moment a specimen was collected the face was photographed to record nose, eye and skin color, and a mold was then
made of the face over the hair.
Many measurements were made before and after skinning.
Most skins were removed from one incision on the stomach, and
the legs were cased with no cuts through the skin which would be
hard to conceal in the mounted specimens. A plaster and burlap
mold was then made over the carcass; the complete skeleton was
cleaned, poisoned, tagged and saved. All skins were marked immediately with plastic numbered tags, then salted and left to dry
in the shade. When a skin was nearly dry, it was folded into a neat
square, with hair on the inside for protection. The skins and bones
were placed well out of reach of hyenas and other predators for
we had many nocturnal visitors.
Specimens were secured in three ecological areas. Crocodiles
and sitatunga were taken in the Okavango Swamp environment; from
the Savuti camp many species typical of plains regions were collected - sable, kudu, impala, and other antelope; and from the Kalahari
D~sert the magnificent gemsbok, springbok, and lion. We are indebted to Jack Halfpenny of Taxidermy Enterprises who made three
1200-mile round trips by truck to pick up the specimens and transport them back to Bulawayo to be packed and shipped to Denver
- where eventually the fine animals will be placed on exhibition in
large habitat groups in the Helen and Arthur E. Johnson African
Hall - to be viewed by millions of visitors through the years.
DENVER MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
ZOOLOGY
37
EXHIBITS
JACK D. PUTNAM, Chief Preparator, Birds and Mammals
WILLIAM H. TRAHER, DONALD L. MALICK, SHARON RIDDLE
WOLVERTON, Staff Artists
RAY CARRASCO, Assistant Preparator
NORTH AMERICAN MAMMAL HALL
Nearing completion at year's end is the third of the four
planned Museum halls exhibiting North American game and fur
bearing animals in their ecological habitats, each background depicting a specific place. The Museum received a generous gift from
Mr. and Mrs. C. E. M. Stanton for case construction in the hall
now receiving attention which will be dedicated to the memory of
Mrs. Stanton's father, Frederick G. Bonfils.
Ecologist Robert J. Niedrach installed the foregrounds and except
as noted below under group headings, the specimens were collected
by Jack A. Putnam and Henry C. Wichers as a result of several
field trips to Alaska and elsewhere - which have been described
in previous Annual Reports. Four artists painted the pictorial backgrounds from photographs made in the field.
The Museum is indebted in years past to Alaska Commissioners
J<\mes W. Brooks and Urban C. Nelson of the Department of Fish
and Game for permits to collect specimens in Alaska, to biologist
John S. Vania, Supervisor of Alaska Wildlife Refuges, and biologists James G. King and LeRoy Sowl of the U. S. Fish and
Wildlife Service for help in the field.
Ward I. Gay of the Sea-Airmotive Corporation of Anchorage
made field work in out-of-the-way places of Alaska possible, not
only by furnishing air transportation to remote areas, but also by his
personal interest in securing outstanding examples of big game
species which now would be difficult to obtain. With his thorough
knowledge of Alaska game and their preferred habitats he was able
to place Putnam and Wichers in strategic collecting places. Also
asssisting was Mr. Keith Young, formerly an associate of Mr. Gay.
The groups in the Frederick G. Bonfils Hall are:
38
DENVER MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
Detail from
Alaska Mountain Goat Group
(Oreamnos americanus kennedyi)
The range of this race of mountain goat is restricted to the
southeastern coastal mountains of Alaska and to Kenai Peninsula,
with marginal records from Cook Inlet and the Chugach Mountains. The background painted by John P. Boone depicts the Harding Icefield on Kenai Peninsula, and the tundra foreground of about
4000 feet in elevation indicates the grass, sedges, and other plants
typical of the Arctic-Alpine habitat of these sturdy animals. Below
timberline (which averages about 3500 feet at this latitude) the
growth is western hemlock, alder, and willow shrubbery.
DENVER MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
39
Gray Tundra Wolf Group
(Canis lupus tundrarum)
Gray Wolves are widely distributed throughout Alaska, three
sub-species being recognized. Canis lupus alees is restricted to the
Ket;lai Peninsula; Canis 1. pambasileus occurs north into the Brooks
Range; and Canis J. tundrarum over the tundra country of the Arctic Slope.
Wolves prey upon game and small mammals, and the group
shows various color phases of these hardy carnivores on the tundra
north of the Brooks Range, the background being a scene near
Anaktuvuk village, north of Anaktuvuk Pass. The high knoll depicted is a favorite vantage point where the Eskimos watch for
migrating caribou. The specimens were collected with the assistance
of Kenneth Westenbarger. Robert J. Niedrach installed the foreground, and the background was painted by Staff Artist William
H. Traher from photographs made in the field by Curator Henry
C. Wichers.
40
DENVER MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
Detail from
Arctic Muskox Group
(Ovibos moschatus wardi)
Muskoxen formerly ranged in historic times from Arctic Alaska
eastward to Greenland but now have been extirpated from Alaska
as wild animals and are scarce in northern Canada, ranging in small
bands on the northeast islands of high latitudes. The specimens
are from Nunivak Island in Bering Sea where introduced animals of
this race have increased under protection. Curator Wichers secured
them with the help of biologist James G. King. The White Arctic
Wolves in the group (Canis lupus arctos) were collected on Ellesmere
DENVER MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
41
Detail from
Muskox Group
Arctic White Wolf
Island and donated to the Museum by Floyd Wilson of Denver who
spent several seasons at the Eureka Weather Station.
The background by John Boone, reproduced from his photographs, depicts a scene where numerous muskoxen occur on the
west side of Ellesmere Island in the vicinity of the Weather Station
at 80° north, looking due north at midnight on April 22, a date
after which the sun would soon stay above the horizon for 24 hours
a day until August 24.
42
DENVER MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
Detail from
Dall's Bighorn Sheep Group
(Ovis dalli dalli)
The white sheep of Alaska are represented by four especially
fine rams which were collected in 1959 by Messrs. Putnam, Wichers,
and Dr. G. T. Jim Foust of Denver in the Wrangell Mountains of
Alaska, air transportation being furnished by Ward I. Gay. The
setting for the group was placed in Mt. McKinley National Park
on a ridge (5600 ft.) looking south toward the Alaska Range, dominated on the right by magnificent Mt. McKinley, the mightiest mountain of the continent (20,320 ft.). The background was painted by
John P. Boone from photographs taken personally, the area being
in the Arctic-Alpine Zone where timberline at that latitude is at
elevations of about 3000 ft.
DENVER MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
43
Detail from
Stone's Bighorn Sheep
(Ovis dalli stonei)
This dark sheep with the light face is considered a race of the
white sheep of Alaska (Ovis dalli) , Ovis dalli stonei ranging
from British Columbia northward to about 64 N. where possibly
there is intergradation between the races. The specimens were collected on Sharkstooth Mountain in the Cassiar Range in British
Columbia and mounted by Jack A. Putnam and Henry C. Wichers.
The pictorial background was painted by artist John P. Boone
from field photographs and the foreground was installed by Robert
J. Niedrach and Charles T. Crockett.
0
44
DENVER MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
Barren Ground Caribou Group
(Rangifer tarandus arcticus)
The range of the Barren Ground Caribou extends along the
Arctic Slope of Canada and Alaska, the animals of this tundra
country north of Brooks Range being much smaller than Stone's
Caribou (R. t. stone i) of central and southern Alaska.
The specimens in the group were collected 100 miles inland
from Wainwright, Alaska, along the Kuk River by Russell W. Hendee and Alfred M. Bailey in October 1921, one of the four large
DENVER MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
45
Detail from Caribou Group
mammal groups resulting from this Museum's Arctic Expedition of
1921-1922. The male is an exceptionally fine specimen of this
small race.
They were mounted by the late Albert C. Rogers, for many
years an outstanding mammalogist and Museum preparator; the
flock of Willow Ptarmigan are in white plumage so characteristic of
late October. The background was painted by Staff Artist Donald
L. Malick, and the foreground installed by Robert J. Niedrach.
46
DENVER MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
Mink Group
(Mustela vison letifera)
This species, belonging to the Family Mustelidae which includes
weasels, martens, minks, otters, badgers, and wolverines, is wide
ranging throughout North America, with fifteen races recognized.
The Colorado form letifera occurs in all counties, ranging upward
to 10,000 feet in suitable habitat. All members of the Family are
carnivores and the majority valuable fur-bearers.
The scene from along the San Miguel River in western Colorado, where in autumn the cottonwoods and aspens are at the
height of their beauty, was painted by Staff Artist Sharon Riddle, the
animals mounted by Henry C. Wichers, and the foreground installed
by Robert J. Niedrach with Charles T. Crockett assisting.
DENVER MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
47
Wolverine Group
(Gulo luscus luscus)
The powerful wolverine formerly ranged across Alaska and
Canada southward to our northern states, but there are few recent
records from Colorado, Utah, and California. The specimens in the
group were collected by Henry C. Wichers and Ward 1. Gay from
the Alaska Range about 150 miles north of Anchorage. The background was painted by Donald L. Malick and the foreground installed by Robert 1. Niedrach.
The wolverine is the largest and most powerful member of the
Family Mustelidae, a carnivore which on occasion will attack animals as large as deer and caribou. Usually solitary wanderers, pairs
are seen rarely.
48
DENVER MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
Canada Lynx Group
(Lynx canadensis canadensis)
The Canada Lynx inhabits forested areas of Alaska and Canada, ranging northwest beyond tree limit along brush-grown streams
of the Arctic tundra and southward into the northern states, with
rare occurrence in Colorado. They are carnivores, feeding upon
small mammals and birds, the snowshoe rabbit being their principal
food item and the abundance of the lynx dependent upon the food
available. Possibly the occurrence of lynx straggling into the southern areas of the range may indicate a decline in rabbit populations
in the North.
The background by Artist Marilyn E. Thomas represents a
bush-clad drainage system adjacent to Anaktuvuk Pass of the
Brooks Range.
Fisher Group
(Martes pennanti)
The one uncompleted exhibit in this third Hall of North
American Game and Fur-bearing Mammals to be dedicated to the
memory of Frederick G. Bonfils is that of the Fisher which belongs
to the Family Procyonidae (raccoons and their allies). This carnivore
ranges from British Columbia across Canada, southward rarely
into extreme western and eastern states, and down the Rocky
Mountains into Wyoming and Utah.
The background, being painted by Staff Artist William H.
Traher, depicts the Falls of the Yellowstone, one of the scenic highlights of Yellowstone National Park.
LIBRARY & PUBLICATIONS
FRED G. BRANDENBURG, Curator
LENA M. FISCHER, Assistant Librarian
Numerous publications were added to the departmentalized
library, each Curator being responsible for the publications in his
or her care. Included were important references covering the fields
of Anthropology, Ethnology, Geology, and Paleontology. The most
important accession of recent years was the fine series of books
on the American Indian mentioned in the last Annual Report the collection consisting of more than one thousand books, pamphlets, and magazines covering all phases of Indian life, to be known
as the Mary W. A. and Francis V. Crane Library of the American
Indian, in honor of the generous donors.
PHOTOGRAPHIC
DEPARTMENT
Curator
Color transparencies of many of the Museum's exhibits were
made by the Curator during the year, and many requests have been
filled for photographs of the Museum, its displays and field photographs.
The operation and care of the audio and visual equipment in
Phipps Auditorium and in our newly constructed smaller auditorium
of 250 seats have taken the usual toll of hours. A total of 294,000
feet of motion picture film and countless numbers of slides have
been shown to the audiences in both auditoriums during the past
year.
Several hundred feet of nature film footage of Colorado, exposed during the year, have been added to the Museum's film library, and the Curator and Assistant Director Roy E. Coy completed a one-hour-and-a-half lecture film, titled "Botswana", covering the field activities of the Museum's African expedition.
Aside from the usual routine of photographing, filming, and
processing of prints in the darkroom, the Curator secured supplies
and packed photographic equipment to be shipped halfway around
the world to Botswana in southern Africa, and Curator Wright's
observations are noted in the account of the expedition given under
the Department of Zoology heading.
ROBERT R. WRIGHT,
Field and Museum photographs in the report
by Robert R. Wright
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50
DENVER MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
SCHOOL SER VICES
Denver Public Schools
CALVIN D. BERGLUND
Instructional Materials Coordinator, Denver Public Schools
Calvin D. Berglund again was assigned to the Museum to continue the educational program under the direction of Nicholas G.
Tacinas, Director of Instructional Materials for the Denver Public
Schools and in cooperation with the Denver Museum of Natural
History.
One might think that after the attendance of the Denver Public
Schools has reflected an increase year after year, a leveling off might
occur; however, the attendance figures for the school year of 19681969 will show an increase of 8,930 when compared with the attendance during 1967-1968.
This substantial gain resulted from an increase of 2,386 students attending programs in the expanded facilities of the Charles
C. Gates Planetarium; an increase of 4,653 students taking unguided
excursions and a gain of 1,891 students on guided tours.
Due to more teachers requesting guided excursions, the coordinator during the second semester of the 1969-1970 season will
add two additional tours a day. This will result in a substantial gain
in the attendance record for next year.
The records of attendance of the Denver Public School pupils
on excursions to the Denver Museum of Natural History are as
19671968follows:
1968
1969
September ____________________________________________________________ 544
355
October _____________________________________________________________ 3,254
4,094
November _________________________________________________________ 3,426
3,974
December ____________________________________________________________ 2,801
2,559
January ________________________________________________________________ 2,678
3,616
February ______________________________________________________________ 3,414
5,198
March __________________________________________________________________ 4,749
6,837
April ____________________________________________________________________ 5,159
6,947
May _________________________________________________________________ ___ 6,134
6,971
June ____________________________________________________________________ 000
536
TOTALS ____________________________________________________________ 32,157
41,087
The increase in attendance for the School Year 1968-1969
shows an approximate gain of 28 % over the comparable period for
the School Year 1967-1968:
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
COUNTY SCHOOL SERVICES
MARTHA C. NELSON, Curator
DOROTHY K. SMITH, Assistant Curator
Increased use of Museum facilities by school groups prompted
the decision to separate County School Services from the Planetarium Department in March 1969. In order to fill the demand by
county schools for more guided Museum tours, Miss Nelson and
Mrs. Smith now devote all of their time to this service.
Curator
MARTHA NELSON AND SCHOOL CHILDREN
In 1969, Museum tours were given to 606 school and private
groups with a total attendance of 19,744. This is a substantial increase over 1968, when 414 Museum tours were given to 14,892
people. These figures do not include planetarium programs, Denver
Public school tours, nor unguided tour attendance. Total school
involvement in Museum programs and facilities for 1969 approached
100,000.
So that guided tours might grow in quality as well as quantity,
Miss Nelson and Mrs. Smith spent much time updating existing
tours and researching and designing new ones. A new tour brochure
was written describing the enlarged program, and 9,000 copies were
distributed to schools in the greater metropolitan area so that every
teacher might have one. A set of models was constructed showing
step-by-step the taxidermy process, to be used for the Behind-TheScenes visits. This project could not have been carried out without
the assistance of Ray Carrasco, who did most of the model building.
Mrs. Smith designed and gave a series of tours for retarded groups
which proved very successful, and they will be continued in 1970.
The high point of this experience was a fossil hunting expedition
to the foothills west of Denver with a group of children from
Scottsdale School.
Miss Nelson and Mrs. Smith would like to thank the entire
Museum staff for their generous gifts of time, knowledge and materials to further the work of this department. Special thanks go to
Arminta Neal, Susan Raymond, Bob Akerley, Henry Wichers, Jack
Putnam, Ray Carrasco, Dr. Niedrach, Charles Crockett, and Jack
Murphy.
52
DENVER MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
CHARLES
C.
GATES
PLANETARIUM
Curator*
B. PETERSON, Curator
A. NOEL, Assistant Curator
DONALD LUNETTA,
MARK
KAREN
During 1969 the staff of the Charles C. Gates Planetarium
presented fIve public programs under the following titles: 'The Constellations", "A Mountain Night", "Apollo 11: Destination Moon",
"The Star of our Show: The Sun", and concluded with the Christmas program "A Star in the East", and a series of school programs: 'The Solar System", "The Moon", "The Celestial Sphere",
and "The Sun". In addition, a non-credit course in descriptive astronomy was taught through Metropolitan State College, and staff
members lectured at various service clubs and seminars throughout
the year.
The staff of the Planetarium shared in the excitement of the
U.S. Space Program achievements by providing televised moon pictures and simulations for the National Broadcasting Company during the flights of Apollo 10, 11 and 12. For these coverages the
Planetarium received as an honorarium a studio model video tape
recorder which has been used on the occasion of the first moonwalk, to record the eclipse of the sun which occurred this past autumn, and sunspots and flare activity during the Apollo 12 flight, as
well as many excellent views of the moon, planets, and clusters as
seen through the 22" telescope. The equipment also allows commercial television stations to play Planetarium tapes in association with
any unusual astronomical event.
In August the staff was host to some 240 people attending
the American Astronomical Society National Convention held in
Denver. Attractive program pamphlets were printed for "The Star
of our Show: The Sun" and for following programs to distribute to
Planetarium visitors, the pamphlets giving appropriate credit to the
many persons and organizations who make each program possible. Also beginning with "The Sun" show was a new special effects selection system, designed and installed by Gates Planetarium
technicians Al Minne and David Hartman, which in its completed
form will store a number of public and school programs, so that
many different shows may be offered to teachers during the school
year.
Numerous donations were made by individuals and organizations which are greatly appreciated. Owens-Illinois Glass Co. and
Celestron-Pacific donated new mirrors for the 22" telescope, made
of non-expansive Cer-Vit glass; Mr. Bernard Raizen presented the
Planetarium with a design of welded metal sculpture for display in
the lobby, and Empire Audio Exchange donated pre-recorded music
tapes of the last two public programs. NASA contributed ten large
* Resigned August
1, 1969
DENVER MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
53
color poster photographs of the earth and moon, taken during recent
space flights; Mr. David Baysinger donated his time to narrate and
create program tapes for Planetarium presentations; Mr. Merwin
Smith of KLZ and Mr. Michael Boyle of KFML also assisted in
taping the narrative for public shows.
The staff changes that occurred during the year included the
resignation of Curator Donald Lunetta in August, to accept a position with McGraw-Hill, Inc. to design and build a planetarium
theatre in the new McGraw-Hill building in Rockefeller Center, New
York City.
Mr. Lunetta served the Museum well. He became a staff
member in 1960, coming from Sacramento Junior Museum and
Sacramento State College as Assistant under Mr. Robert Samples.
When Mr. Samples resigned, Mr. Lunetta was appointed Curator and
at that time started an accelerated planetarium and county school
education program which became so successful that a separate Education Department was formed to handle the increased school use.
The planning for the present Charles C. Gates Planetarium began in 1965 and the dedication of the fine installation designed by
Curator Lunetta was held last year.
Assistant Curator Mark B. Peterson was appointed Curator to
replace Mr. Lunetta. He is a graduate of the University of Utah
and has had experience in the planetarium field, formerly being a
staff member of the Hansen Planetarium in Salt Lake City.
Miss Karen Noel, formerly a Museum staff member here,
returned to the Planetarium after serving as Assistant Director of
the Planetarium at the Children's Museum of Hartford. Others joining the staff were Mr. David Hartman, technician, Mr. David Baysinger, guest lecturer, and Mrs. Marilyn Thomas, artist on part-time
service.
Additional staff members naturally allowed greater diversification and success in planetarium programing. Total attendance increased from 67,708 in 1968 to 109,120 in 1969, 24,883 being the
number of students and teachers attending school programs - as
contrasted with 10,836 in 1968. Miss Noel initiated new programs in
the late fall and school attendance increased from 2,967 last year
to 5,360 in 1969, during the period October 15 - December 31.
Special recognition should be given to the following persons
who assisted greatly during the year: Staff artist Sharon Riddle
Wolverton, Marilyn Childs, Roy Nelan, Judy Walker, Margaret
Wilson, and Peter Berg. Miss Martha Nelson and Mrs. Dorothy
Smith gave numerous school programs in the Planetarium until
they took charge of the Museum's new Education Department.
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DENVER MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
fi:
III
1 1'1
SALES
DE PAR TMENT
Kachina Shop
ELSIE K. CAPELLA, Publications and Souvenirs
This Museum, and the majority of others throughout the
United States, maintain sales departments. All profits from this
Museum's sales revert to a special fund to continue the publication programs, to further field work, and to support the many other
activIties not financed by the City budget.
Publications covering many fields of natural history are available at the south counter of the front lobby, and also by mail
order. Two series of Museum publications are available - the
Proceedings, covering technical reports for the most part, and the
Museum Pictorial, restricted to popular subjects and covering accounts of Museum field expeditions to far and near places, photography techniques, life histories of birds and mammals, ecology,
and other studies. Possibly the most popular have been the four
botanical Pictorials in color: No.8, Colorado Wild Flowers, by
Harold and Rhoda Roberts: No. 13, Mountain Wild Flowers
of Colorado, by Rhoda N. Roberts and Ruth Ashton Nelson, 64 pp.;
No. 16, Native Orchids of Colorado, by Dr. John C. Long, 36 pp.;
and No. 17, Colorado Mushrooms, by M. H. Wells and Dr. D. H.
Mitchel, 80 pp.
Recent special publications by the Museum include the twovolume Birds of Colorado (1965) by Alfred M. Bailey and Robert
J. Niedrach, illustrated by 124 plates depicting 420 species in color,
and more than 400 black and white photographs, and the Pictorial
Checklist of Colorado Birds, a condensed version of the above in
one volume but with all color plates included. Price lists of Museum
publications may be obtained from the librarian.
BETH E. CLARK,
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KACHINA
SHOP
Devoted to the arts and crafts of the American Indian, the
Museum encourages the talented Indian craftsmen of the Southwest by making a market for their beautiful silver work, rugs,
basket work, kachinas and pottery. Only authentic genuine handmade Indian materials in the variety of crafts are handled, ranging
from the silver and turquoise work of the Navajo and Zuni people
of New Mexico and the Hopi of Arizona to the baskets of the
Papago in southern Arizona.
During the summer, the staff of the Kachina Shop, Margaret
Witherspoon, Ardath Leuty, Thielma Gamewell and Barbara Wells
assisted Mrs. Clark in arranging a two-week display, from July 13th
through the 26th, of the Hopi Indian arts and crafts in the Mary
and Francis V. Crane Hall. Arriving from the Mesas of the Hopi
reservation were Richard and Gladys Kagenvema, silversmith and
basket weaver, as well as Carol Nanmoki, potter and Roy Youvella,
skilled kachina carver. The Hopi, a Shoshonean tribe of Pueblo
Indians known as the "Peaceful People," dwell on the mesa tops
of desert country of Northern Arizona, east of the Grand Canyon
of the Colorado. They are noted for their pottery making, jewelry,
DENVER MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
55
baskets and kachinas and for their religious ceremonies. Walpi, on
the First (easternmost) Mesa, is well known as one of the sites
of the famous "Snake Dance" held annually as a religious rite to
assure an abundance of rainfall and fine harvest. Skilled craftsmen,
th,eir works of art rapidly are becoming collectors' items.
Thousands of visitors were attracted to this display and interest
was high, watching these marvelous craftsmen demonstrate their
skill.
Once again, by popular demand and interest our beautiful
Navajo rugs were put on display, during this two-week period, on
the third floor in the art room. Through the fine cooperation of
traders from Gallup and Shiprock, our own Navajo rugs were
augmented so that a fine collection was exhibited excellent
examples of a disappearing craft, including the Two Gray Hills,
Teec Nos Pos, Coal Mine Mesa, Nazlini, Ganado, Chinle, Klagetoh,
Wide Ruins, Lukachukai, Shiprock and Crystal area types.
GIFTS TO THE MUSEUM
Through the years many individuals have contributed to the
development of the Museum. This is especially true of dedicated
people who have performed services without pay. Honorary Curators E. H. Brunquist and Florian A. Cajori of the Departments of
Botany and Geology, respectively, have been in daily attendance. The
time of numerous volunteer workers has been generously donated in
the Museum's behalf and the names of these are listed in the departmental reports.
Memorial gifts were made for former Trustee Coloman Jonas
by Mr. and Mrs. John Evans, Mr. and Mrs. John Evans, Jr., Mr.
and Mrs. F. B. Freyer II, and Mr. and Mrs. Hudson Moore, Jr.
through the Tremont Foundation, and by Julia Smead Rose and
A. M. Bailey; for former Trustee Carl A. Norgren by Julia S.
Rose; for Henry E. Kugeler by Mr. and Mrs. Cris Dobbins and
Joseph G. Hodges; and for Larry Wilkinson and for Persis McMurtrie Owen by Mrs. Newall W. McIntyre; and a gift toward a memorial for Mrs. Elizabeth D. Hodges by Trustee John Evans.
A gift of $5000 was made by Be1co, Inc., through Mr. and
Mrs. William Grant and Mrs. Edwin H. Grant and $2500 to be
paid in annual amounts of $500 by Mrs. Uvedale (Melanie Grant)
Lambert and her husband, which will be used toward the construction of a Beaver Group to be installed in memory of Edwin H.
Grant, former Museum Trustee. The site of the exhibit will be
adjacent to the Grant Ranch near Steamboat Springs, the setting
being in autumn when foliage is at the height of its beauty. Staff
Artist William H. Traher will paint the pictorial background and
Robert J. Niedrach will install the colorful foreground vegetation.
Mrs. F. C. Beutler of Switzerland, through her son Warren J.
Oakes of Cheyenne, Wyoming, and the Trust Department of the
Denver U. S. National Bank, made a gift of stock in memory of
her father Harry C. James, who served as a Museum Trustee from
1910 to 1932. The few staff members still with the Museum who
56
DENVER MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
were privileged to know Mr. J ames remember with pleasure their
hunting trips with him in Colorado.
Harry C. James and his sister Mrs. Elsie James Lemen in
1928 financed the erection of the second addition to the Museum,
its south wing, in memory of their father William H. J ames, one of
the Founders of the Museum, and it is fitting that the Trustees of
the Museum dedicate two of the alcoves in the beautiful mineral
hall on the ground floor of the William H. James Memorial Wing to
former Trustee Harry C. James.
The Boettcher Foundation made the final payment of $250,000
toward the $1,000,000 pledge for construction of the new Boettcher
Foundation Wing which was completed last year. The Lawrence
Phipps Foundation pledged $200,000 as an unrestricted gift to the
Museum, making an initial donation this year of $75,000, and in
addition Gerald and Allan Phipps, the latter the First Vice-President
of the Museum Board of Trustees, made a gift of the Kimball Pipe
Organ and Musicale formerly in the home of Senator and Mrs.
Phipps. The reinstallation, under contract with Meunier Associates,
was nearly completed at year's end. Needless to say, this fine
organ will enhance the musical facilities of Phipps Auditorium.
This year, as in previous ones, the Museum has been the
recipient of cash donations, and listed here alphabetically are the
names of individuals and organizations who have aided Museum
activities in many fields. The Trustees acknowledge with thanks
financial aid from the Allstate Foundation and Denver Regional
Office of Allstate Insurance; a gift from Leona Basset in appreciation of the Museum's lecture series; the grant mentioned above from
the Boettcher Foundation; annual gifts from the Bosworth Foundation through Mrs. Arthur H. Bosworth and Mr. and Mrs. Barry M.
Sullivan, and from the Dobbins Foundation through Mr. and Mrs.
Cris Dobbins. A tenth annual grant was received from the John
G. Duncan Trust, administered by The First National Bank of
Denver; the wives of the Faculty Club of the University of Colorado
School of Medicine, through Mrs. Charles Austin, in making a gift
expressed the wish that "our few dollars will help continue your
good work." Other donors were the Garden Club of Denver; Trustee Joseph G. Hodges; Mrs. Julia Smead Rose; the Sprigs and
Sprouts Garden Club; the Midwest Oil Foundation - through Gilbert J. Mueller, Museum Trustee; and Mr. Carl E. Swanson.
BEQUESTS
The Denver Museum of Natural History was named the
beneficiary of sizeable bequests by the terms of the wilIs of Carl
A. Norgren, a Trustee of the Museum for twenty-four years and
President of the Board from 1955 to 1963 (see Annual Report for
1968) and of Trustee John G. Gates, who served the Museum from
1954 to the time of his death on April 30, 1969 - as is mentioned elsewhere in this report.
The Museum is the legatee of one-half the residue of the Estate of Irene L. Marshall. In her wiII the testatrix stated: "This beguest is made in the name of my husband, Reginald A. Marshall,
DENVER MUSEUM OF NATURAL HrSTORY
57
in grateful appreciation of the privileges and advantages afforded
to him as a citizen for many years of the City of Denver and the
State of Colorado."
Mr. and Mrs. Marshall attended the Museum lecture series
regularly, often with their friends Mr. and Mrs. Jacob V. Schaetzel.
Mrs. Schaetzel kindly has supplied the following brief biographical
sketch, stating that she and her husband, like the Marshall's, "have
truly enjoyed the wonderful travel pictures which you have arranged for us."
R. A. MARSHALL
Reginald A. Marshall was born on May 9, 1882 in Peterborough, England. His family came to Denver in 1893, where he
lived the remainder of his life. He and his two sisters were educated in the Denver schools.
Following his school days he was employed by the Denver
& Rio Grande Railroad. Some years later he established his own
business, the R. S. Marshall real estate firm, which enjoyed a fine
reputation all through the years.
His wife was the former Irene Lorig of Los Angeles, who had
previously lived in Denver and whose family had owned one of the
well-known restaurants of early Denver. The Marshall's were residents for many years of the Park Hill area of Denver and then lived
briefly in North Denver before moving to 740 Monaco Parkway,
where Mr. Marshall passed away on September 20, 1955.
They had no children. The only surviving relatives at the present
time are a sister, Miss Freda Marshall of Denver; two nieces, Mrs.
James Blaser of Alexandria, Virginia, and Mrs. Jacqueline Tempest
of Casper, Wyoming; and a nephew, Richard Shadford of North
Granby, Connecticut.
Mr. Marshall was a longtime member of the Denver Board of
Realtors and belonged when it was the Real Estate Exchange. He
was also a member of the Mile High Club and was one of the
founders of the Men's Garden Club of Denver.
The Museum also was made a beneficiary of the Estate of
Augustus Hann with funds probably becoming available in 1972.
Colonel Hann, who died January 6, 1966, served in both World
Wars, meeting his wife in France during the first war. He was a
Branch Manager of General Motors until his retirement, after
which as an ardent sportsman he spent many days in the field. He
was a Commissioner of the Colorado Department of Game, Fish
and Parks, and his interest in the Museum was the result of his
many visits and his attendance at the Museum lecture series.
The most recent bequest was from John J. Davis, originally
of Fort Wayne, Indiana, a longtime employee of the Norfolk &
Western Railroad until his retirement in 1932. He came to Denver
in that year and made his home at 2585 Albion Street until his
death October 1, 1969 at the age of 94. Living close to the Museum,
he spent many hours in the exhibition halls and attended lectures
in Phipps Auditorium. Because of his interest in the work of the
staff he left a generous amount to the Museum, "the only nonhealth agency mentioned in the will," according to Attorney Jack
Dwyer. Mr. Davis is survived by a few distant relatives and by a
second cousin, Robert Giem of Denver.
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58
DENVER MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
NEW CONSTRUCTION
Work has been completed upon the shells of the Boettcher
Foundation Wing and the new Northwest Wing. A beautiful small
auditorium, offices, and exhibits of American Indian material have
been installed on the ground floor of the latter; a study and storage
area for the vast Mary W. A. and Francis V. Crane American Indian Collection has been built on the second floor, and tentative plans
have been made for the cases which will be built to display the
specimens; and a banquet hall and meeting place seating 350 to
400 people has been completed on the third floor.
The Charles C. Gates Planetarium on the ground floor of the
Boettcher Foundation Wing was dedicated in 1968 and has rendered
valuable service during the past year. Plans were drawn by Architects Wright and White for case construction for the North American Mammal Hall to be installed on the second floor and for the
Helen and Arthur E. Johnson African Hall on the third floor. Bids
were opened December 26 and the Edward Tamminga Construction Co. was awarded the contract, construction to start in late
January 1970.
The Museum received two Capital Improvement Grants during the year for reroofing the Central Addition and for approximately
200 additional parking spaces north and south of the Museum
building, work which was completed under the supervision of the
Department of Public Works. In addition, irrigation and landscaping work was completed, and the Trustees of the Museum are indebted to Manager Richard S. Shannon, Jr. and to E. W. Lewan
of the Department of Public Works and to Lloyd M. Adams,
Architectural Design Engineer.
As through the years, the staff of the Parks and Recreation
Department has given continuous cooperation, and thanks are due
to Manager Joe Ciancio, Jr., Director of Parks, J. A. Bible, to
Director of Planning and Engineering Edgar A. Johnson, and to
Roger Sherman and George Atencio. As in previous years Frank
Honeyman has rendered valuable services.
BUILDING MAINTENANCE
Building Superintendent Jack Conley and his able assistants
Robert E. Kelly, Hilmar A. Lund, and Steven Suvada have had
many tasks to perform. It is their responsibility to supervise the
maintenance of the building, to see that equipment is functioning
perfectly, and to protect the Museum against all hazards - fire,
water damage, and sheer vandalism - tasks well performed. All
skilled craftsmen, they have helped with the installation of the
Kimball Pipe Organ, built storage cabinets, attended to the airconditioning and heating equipment, and have supervised the work
of the guards and maintenance men.
One of the valued facilities of the Museum is the Audio-Tour
System installed in front of many displays - where visitors may
plug in an ear phone and receive a commentary covering in detail
important information concerning the Group before them. The
equipment has been tested daily and kept in perfect working order
by Byron H. Cliff.
DENVER MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
59
ATTENDANCE
Museum attendance records have been given in Annual Reports since 1912, the counts based on a doorman using a handchecker until 1954 when turnstiles were installed. The number of
visitors through 1968 totalled 26,468,633.
Turnstile counts for 1969 amounted to 707,095; 54,040 people
attended Museum sponsored programs in Phipps Auditorium and
the new West Auditorium; special planetarium programs were given
to 8089, and an additional 158, I 75 people were checked at other
programs given by the numerous organizations using Museum facilities during 1969. The total count for the year is 927,399 - bringing the grand total of guests recorded during the Museum's years of
service to 27,396,032.
DONATIONS
DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY
2050 American artifacts and 1 New Guinea shield by Deed of Gift
of the Crane Foundation for the Mary W. A. and Francis
V. Crane American Indian Collection.
15 American Indian items-Mrs. J. S. Y. Ivins, Grassy Key, Florida, in memory of her husband Judge J. S. W. Ivins for the
Mary W. A. and Francis V. Crane American Indian Collection.
Mozambique ethnological materials-An anonymous Missionary.
An Eskimo bone knife-Mr. Charles T. Crockett, Denver, Colo.
22 Philippine textiles-Col. Carroll DeForest Buck, Denver, Colo.
Artifacts from Pennsylvania-Mr. Joseph B. Garthan, Denver, Colo.
Projectile points and a bison scapula with imbedded point-Mr.
Sigmund Herzstein, Denver, Colo.
A Navajo doll-Mr. Walter E. Klein, Wheat Ridge, Colo.
New Zealand ethnological material~Mrs. Ardath Leuty, Denver,
Colo.
Southwest Indian material (supplementing Lula Middleton 1954
donation)-Mrs. Florence Neece, Empire, Colo. and daughter
Mrs. Walter Maulis, Denver, Colo.
A Mexican doll-Mr. and Mrs. Jack Pierson, Slidell, Louisiana.
Reproduction of Bodmer's "The Big Soldier"-Mr. Fred A. Rosenstock, Denver, Colo.
Pre-Columbian figurines and other pottery items-Mrs. Katherine
Stine, Englewood, Colo.
Philippine Bontoc Igarot helmet-Mrs. John R. Stryker, Denver,
Colo.
Historic Plains Indian horse accessories-Mrs. Alma Thomas, Denver, Colo.
Brazilian ethnological material-Mr. Clinton B. Thomas, Denver,
Colo.
50 Eskimo items-Sarah J. and Thomas M. Workman family,
Englewood, Colo.
Caribou parka worn in Arctic Alaska by A. M. Bailey in 1921-1922
Alfred M. Bailey, Denver Colo.
60
DENVER MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
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DEPARTMENT OF GEOLOGY
Ore samples from Cripple Creek and Leadville, including gold,
silver and Telluride minerals and several volumes of the
United States Geological Survey Bulletin. Other varieties of
mineral specimens, agate and petrified wood. Much material
has been used in our study collection, some is on exhibit, and
some was used for the Rock and Mineral Collection for the
Education Department-Mrs. J. P. Wood, Cypress Towers,
Denver, Colo.
Two "Cold Water Agates" from Benton County, Iowa-Mr. Truman Ramsell, Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Very complete collection of sands from all over the world plus
quartz geods and variety of other mineral specimens - Miss
Virginia Moore, Denver, Colo.
Two beautiful large double refractory calcite crystals. One specimen
has a water drop inclusion that is interesting-Henry Salcedo,
Torreon, Mexico, and J. A. Hendrix, Brighton, Colo.
Four gypsum crystals from Bond, Colorado-Mr. Jack Conley,
Denver Museum.
Two large selenite clusters from New Mexico-Mr. Tom Addenbrooke, Denver, Colo.
Several "Hourglass selenites" from Cherokee, Oklahoma ,and invertebrate fossils from Turkey-Mr. Paul J. Martinez, Aurora,
Colo.
Several rock samples characteristic of Tasmania, and a book on the
geology and landscapes of that island.-Miss Ester Holt, Hobart,
Tasmania.
An interesting blue halite crystal and potash products from the mines
of the Potash Company of America, Carlsbad, New MexicoMr. W. Scott Moore, Denver, Colo.
DEPARTMENT OF PALEONTOLOGY
Slab with fossil shells (Wyandotte County, Kansas)-K. T. DeGraw, Golden, Colo.
Nannipus tooth (fossil horse )-Philip McCormick, Sedgewick, Colo.
Hypertragulid jaw with teeth (primitive deer )-Shelby Grant, J acksonville, Illinois.
Merychippus tooth (fossil horse) -Ray B. Curtiss, Sterling, Colo.
Cephalopod and clam-Richard Capia, Denver, Colo.
Fossil leaf impression-J. Dixon, Park Superintendent, Denver,
Colo.
Fossil Fruit from Florissant fossil beds-F. White, Denver, Colo.
PHOTOGRAPHIC DEPARTMENT
14-inch Goerz portrait lens-Alfred Wands, Denver, Colo.
38 Kodachrome slides (Indian rug show)-Ivan Iwachiw, Denver,
Colo.
DENVER MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
61
DEPARTMENT OF ZOOLOGY
Birds
Red-tailed Hawk (held in captivity for 14 years since downy
young)-Barry Watson, Denver, Colo.
Bohemian Waxwing-Mark Akerley, Aurora, Colo.
Blue Grouse (partial albino)-Colorado Game & Fish Dept., C. E.
Brawn, Denver, Colo.
Ruffed Grouse from Iron County, Michigan-Bruno Pirolo, Arvada,
Colo.
White-winged Scoter-Louis D. Halsell, Jr., Denver, Colo.
Whistling (3) and Trumpeter (1) Swans-U.S. Fish & Wildlife
Service, Charles Hayes, Denver, Colo.
Oregon Junco and Rufous-sided Towhee-Mrs. C. N. Snyder,
Aurora, Colo.
Toucan and Crowned Crane-Denver Zoological Society, Denver,
Colo.
Mammals
Young Leopard-Denver Zoological Society, Denver, Colo.
Tenrec (H emicentetes semispinosus) and Nile Lechwe (male and
female) -San Diego Zoological Society through the courtesy
of Clyde A. Hill, San Diego, California.
Young Bison (skin, leg bones & skull)-Howard A. McCaughey,
Phoenix Ariz.
Red Fox (2)-Dave Howe, Henderson, Colo.
Fish
Sailfish (mounted)-Kathryn and David F. Finnigan, Denver, Colo.
Rainbow Trout (2)-Colorado Game, Fish, and Parks Dept., Denver, Colo.
Reptiles
Boa Constrictor-The Fidler Children, Denver, Colo.
Iguana skin, mounted iguana, and alligator skin-H. A. McCaughey,
Phoenix, Ariz.
Insects
Mr. William H. Howe of Kansas City, Missouri, author of the
beautifully illustrated Our Butterflies and Moths in color presented
the Museum with six original Colorado and Wyoming paintings
of the butterflies of the Rocky Mountains area-where he is accustomed to paint each summer.
Mr. Howe's paintings have been exhibited in many museums and
galleries, including a one-man show at the Denver Museum of Natural History in 1962. His beautiful water colors have been featured
in the Denver Post's Empire Magazine on several occasions.
Ford four-wheel-drive truck through Trustee Aksel NielsenHenry Ford, II, Detroit, Mich.
Divan and chair for West AuditoriumW. H. Jackson Camera Color Club, Denver, Colo.
62
DENVER MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
DENVER MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
(Left) Northwest Wing and entrance West Auditorium
(Center) Main Museum entrance
(Right) Boettcher Foundation WingEntrance to Charles C. Gates Planetarium
DENVER MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
STATEMENT OF RECEIPTS AND DISBURSEMENTS
YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 1969
GENERAL FUND
BALANcE-Unused portion of appropriation for the
38.27
year 1968 _______________________________________________________________ $
Appropriation by the City and County of Denver ____ 322,500.00
Amount transferred from Construction Fund
(Note No.1) _____________________________________________________
5,000.00
Total _________________________________________________ ____________ $327,538.27
DISBURSEMENTS:
Operation and maintenance of building $114,943.98
Administrative expense ________________________ 84,546.07
Exhibits (birds, mammals, geology) ___ 122,375.46
2,810.50
Building improvements ________________________
Capitol equipment ____________________________
1,042.42
Total ________________________________________________________________ 325,718.43
Balance forward to 1970 _________ .' __________________________ $ 1,819.84
CAPITOL APPROPRIA TrONS
CAPITOL IMPROVEMENTS:
ApPROPRIATIONS:
Ancient Cultures of Old World HallBalance ________________________________________ $ 12,649.80
Fossil Mammal Hall-Balance ____________
5,223.36
Construction-North Parking Lot ____ 25,000.00
Replace Roof-West Wing ________________ 14,500.00
Total _______________________________________________________________ $ 57,373.16
DISBURSEMENTS:
Fossil Mammal Hall __________________________ $ 1,191.27
Construction-North Parking Lot ____
18,474.31
14,490.02
Replace Roof-West Wing ___________
Total ______________________________________________________________ 34,155.60
Balance forward to 1970 ____________________________________ $ 23,217.56
NEW WINGS: Denver Museum of Natural History
Construction Fund
RECEIPTS:
Balance forward from 1968 _______________ $ 79,141.00
Boettcher Foundation-gift _______________ 15,000.00
Sales Tax refund-State of Colo. ____ 15,769.94
Total _________________________________________ ___________________ $109,910.94
DISB URSE ME NTS:
Wright & White-Architects _____________ $
316.00
H. H. Hammond Co. _____________________
75,894.00
15,586.63
Parks & Recreation Rev. Fund
Brannan Sand & Gravel Co. ______________
3,247.00
Daily Journal _____________________________________
44.18
Total ________________________________________________________________ $ 95,087.81
Balance __________________________________________________________ _ 14,823.13
Transferred to Fund No. 205 ____________________ _ 5,000.00
Balance forward to 1970 ___________________________ $ 9,823.13
Note No. 1-$5,000 in transit Dec. 31, 1969
deposited to fund No. 205 Jan. 2, 1970
CERTIFICATE
In our opinion, the above statements, prepared by Museum Accountant
E. E. Ahlberg, present fairly the receipts and disbursements of the General
Fund and Capital Improvements Appropriations of the Denver Museum of
Natural History, received from the City and County of Denver for the year
ended December 31,1969.
CHARLES D. BYRNE, A udit()r
JOHN A. FERGUSON, JR., Treasurer
City and County of Denver
Denver Museum of Natural History