Cabinet of Curiosities: Herbarium Collection
Wed, Feb 5 2025, 11am
Biological Sciences Building, room 875
St Paul campus
If you have ever pressed a flower, you know something of the pleasure and significance of keeping a record of these once living plants and their personal significance for you. Now imagine more than 950,000 specimen records that focus strongly on the Upper Midwest but with worldwide representation and special attention to areas where faculty have conducted research, most recently in Papua New Guinea. Tim Whifeld, Collections Manager of the University of Minnesota Herbarium, will share his knowledge of that amazing collection and explain its critical importance in the twenty-first century. Botanists study these pressed plants, individually and collectively, to estsblish a history of plant life, often over centuries, because they contain compelling evidence of the ever modulating geographical distribution of plants and evidence of how climate, pests, and other factors have changed species over time.
The Herbarium Collection, officially part of the Bell Museum, is tucked away in an upper story of the Biological Sciences Building on the St. Paul campus of the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, close to the students and faculty who use its specimens for teaching and research. For an example of its public impact, see https://mspmag.com/arts-and-culture/bell-museum-resident-artist-alicia-de-la-cruz/ . If you are curious about these historic and ongoing practices of collecting, preserving, and engaging with plant materials, including pine cones and seeds as well as leaves and flowers, plan to join us on February 5 at 11:00 am.
Registration will open in mid-November. Space is limited, so, if we have a significant registration, some of us will tour at 1:00 pm. There will be a $10 donation to the Herbarium, which will be used to help support student work. Further instructions with on timing, directions and parking will be sent to those signed up.
At noon those who are interested will convene at a nearby local restaurant for lunch.
Questions? Contact Sally Gregory Kohlstedt ([email protected]), Jan Morlock ([email protected]), or Cathy Lee Gierke ([email protected]).
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