The Avian Archives of Iowa Online is Live!

In 2016, the Iowa State University Library received a grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) through their Digitizing Hidden Special Collections and Archives program supported by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The grant funded a two-year effort (May 2017-May 2019) to digitize and describe nearly 10,000 objects related to ornithology and bird study…

National Wildlife Week with Frederic Leopold

Sometimes when digging through the archives, we find amazing connections from the past. While sorting through materials in the Frederic Leopold Papers collection for the AvIAn project, a letter written to Frederic Leopold from a student was found, discussing the day he had spent with the Sperry Elementary students during National Wildlife Week in 1973. Fortunately for…

Celebrating Women’s History Month With Mary Bailey

Women’s History Month has officially begun! Women’s History Month originated as “Women’s History Week” in 1982, and continued to be a week-long celebration until 1987, when the National Women’s History Project petitioned for a month long event. From then on March has officially been known as Women’s History Month. Here in Iowa, we have had…

New Digital Collection: September 29th Movement

The following was written by Cassandra Anderson, a student assistant who helped with the project: As students, we often walk by Catt Hall several times a day without even realizing the complex history behind the building itself. You might have heard a whisper or two from a professor or former student about the protests on…

History of the Great Backyard Bird Count

Are you looking for a last minute Valentine’s Day date idea? Why not bird watching? This year’s Great Backyard Bird Count falls on February 15th-18th, perfect timing for a late Valentines Day date! The Great Backyard Bird Count was started in 1998 by the Cornell Ornithology Lab and the National Audubon Society. The count was…

AvIAn collection spotlight: Philip DuMont

The AvIAn project consists of eight collections from the Iowa State Special Collections and University Archives. However, today we are focusing on one collection in particular, the Philip A. DuMont papers. Philip Atkinson DuMont was born on July 9th, 1903 in Rochester, Minnesota. DuMont and his family soon moved to Des Moines where he would…

History of the Christmas Bird Count

The Christmas Bird Count (CBC) started on Christmas Day in 1900 as an alternative to hunting during the holiday events. Typically, family and friends would gather for a large Christmas Hunt, bringing in whatever they could as a sort of competition. Frank M. Chapman suggested to his friends that maybe this year, instead of hunting,…

Happy 165th Birthday to Althea Sherman!

Althea Rosina Sherman was born October 10th, 1853 to Mark Bachelor Sherman and Melissa Clark Sherman in Farmersburg Township, Iowa. Althea’s home was built by her father in the middle of the prairie, where she and her four siblings would live for about 20 years until they decided to build a home closer to the up…

Celebrating World Animal Day with the birds of Iowa!

October 4th is World Animal Day, a world wide holiday celebrating our furry and feathered friends from across the globe. Originally founded by Heinrich Zimmermann in 1925 to celebrate and bring awareness to the lives of the animals around us. World Animal Day is always celebrated on October 4th, as it is also the day…

Flying into our history: How the American Goldfinch became the state bird of Iowa

When it comes to state symbols, Iowa has its fair share. From the geode being the state rock, to the oak tree being the state tree, we have just about everything covered. Something one might not realize however, is that the state of Iowa did not have a state bird until 1932, when members of…