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In 1929, the current Museums building was opened with great fanfare, and an improved facility was greatly appreciated by staff and curators. The period of 1929-1959 saw our collections grow at an astonishing rate due in part, to major acquisitions such as the E.B. Williamson Odonata Collection, The C.H. Kennedy Odonata Collection, and the major collectig trip taken by the various curators. T.H. Hubbell and Irving Cantrall collected enormous numbers of Orthoptera and other insects during these forays. Numerous expeditions conducted during this period obtained large collections from Mexico, South America, the western and southeastern United States, as well as from all over the Great Lakes region. Additional collections were obtained through gifts or exchanges which added to the Insect Division's depth in Southeast Asian material and broadened the general scope of the collection to include substantial collections of Palaearctic and African specimens as well. In the 1930's and 1940's, specimen acquisition concentrated on the Great Lakes fauna. However, several expeditions to the southwestern United States and Mexico also incorporated large collections, especially of Orthoptera and Odonata. Following the retirement of F.M. Gaige in 1945, J.S. Rogers and T.H. Hubbell returned to Michigan from their positions at the University of Florida to become Museum Director and Curator of Insects respectively. The following 10 years marked the tremendous expansion of the Diptera and Orthoptera collections through the efforts of Rogers and Hubbell and their students. Hubbell succeeded Rogers as museum director upon death of the latter in 1955. L.K. Gloyd (Odonata) and I.J. Cantrall (Orthoptera) began making significant additions as "honorary" curators, with Cantrall joining the permanent staff in 1948 as curator in charge of the E.S. George Reserve, a research tract which had been donated to the museum in 1930. |
The front of the Ruthven Museums Bldg. in 1996
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The Modern Era - Since 1955 The period since 1955 has seen the continued expansion of the collection through expeditions, gifts and exchanges. Collection growth has been concentrated in the areas of traditional strength, Orthoptera and Odonata, with new staff members also adding breadth in different groups. T.E. Moore (Homoptera) joined the curatorial staff in 1956, R.D. Alexander (Orthoptera) in 1957, and B.M. OConnor (Acari) in 1980. Alexander and Moore developed the collection of tape recorded insect sounds which now includes over 3500 recordings and voucher specimens. OConnor significantly increased the museum's holdings in Acari, especially parasites and commensals of vertebrates, insects, plants and fungi. Mark O'Brien, who joined the staff in 1981 as museum technician, has added to the Hymenoptera collections, concentrating on the fauna of the Great Lakes Region. In 2000 and 2001, respectively, Dr. Alexander and Dr. Moore retired from the University, and are now Emeritus Curators. In 2003, Dr. L. Lacey Knowles joined the UMMZ as the latest
Curator of Insects. |
The
Museum of Zoology was formally recognized as a separate unit of the
university in 1913 and organized into divisions with separate curators.
The present museums building was constructed in 1927. During the first
third of this century, the insect collection grew extensively as the
result of the combined efforts of the curators, graduate and undergraduate
students and especially through the efforts of unsalaried museum associates
and "honorary curators." These latter individuals were members
of the Detroit Naturalist's Club, an association of businessmen and
professionals united by an interest in natural history, taxonomy, and
collections. Most of the members were entomologists by avocation who
published numerous scientific papers and were major authorities on their
chosen groups of insects. The club itself later became the nucleus for
the Michigan Entomological Society. Individuals largely responsible
for this early growth of the insect collections included curator and
later museum director F.M. Gaige (Hymenoptera), students T.H. Hubbell
(Orthoptera), R.F. Hussey (Hemiptera) and M.T. Hatch (Coleoptera), and
honorary curators E.B. Williamson (Odonata), A.W. Andrews (Coleoptera),
W.W. Newcomb and Sherman Moore (Lepidoptera), and J.S. Rogers (Diptera).
That marked the early days of the museum, and the original building
near South State is shown above as it appeared around 1918.
