It’s been a very busy season here at the Natick Historical
Society! After the very successful series of school programs that we finished
this spring, this summer has been filled with new projects. We’ve been
renovating, researching and even getting in a little seasonal cleaning! This
post should bring our readers up to date on some of our more recent projects
and what you can look forward to seeing the next time you visit our museum.
The Natick Historical Society- Now with More Room! |
it previously housed, “Project Passenger Pigeon” has temporarily flown the coop, so to speak. However, a new exhibit, focusing on our passenger pigeon specimen, conservation and the history of birds in America will be opening this fall at the Morse Institute Library in Natick Center.
Our bird specimens, patiently waiting to be cleaned |
A Golden Olive Woodpecker, previously called a Guyana Woodpecker, after being cleaned |
One particularly interesting part of this case re-installation was researching the new labels for each of our specimens. Many of the scientific and common names for our birds have changed since 1880. A number of the birds were labeled using the names found in James Audubon’s The Birds of America, which are no longer in use in the scientific community. Discovering the exact identities of many of our birds proved to be quite the challenge! But, with a good deal of research and some help from our friends at the Broadmoor Audubon Wildlife sanctuary, we have been able to successfully identify all of our birds. To learn more about the early history of the society and some of our bird specimens you can read previous blog entries here.
The next exhibit change that is already underway is our new
hallway exhibit. This exhibit, titled “Our Story” will be making its debut this fall. This exhibit will feature several items from our collection
and will tell the history of the Natick Historical society as well our
building, the Bacon Free Library. Exhibit construction is already underway and
we are excited to be able to share the history of our museum with as many
people as possible.
We have a very busy fall planned here at the Historical
Society, with events every month and several other new exhibits in the works.
Be sure to check our Facebook page for updates as they develop and we hope
to see you this fall!