Collection Manager, Birds
Biography
Stephen Rogers is the collection manager for the Section of Birds at Carnegie Museum of Natural History. The collection is ranked approximately ninth or 10th largest in the country.
Rogers received his MS in zoology from Michigan State University in 1981. He also has practiced taxidermy for more than 40 years. Rogers’ interests focus on the history of scientific preparation and taxidermy, preparation techniques for vertebrates, and the care and preservation of natural history collections.
He has published on these topics and was also lead consultant for the temporary exhibition Stuffed Animals: The Art and Science of Taxidermy at Carnegie Museum of Natural History.
Turkeys
November is the month best known for the holiday celebrated on the fourth Thursday of the month, Thanksgiving, which revolves around one …
Halloween and Birds
Birds, being the happy creatures they are, don’t seem to me to connect with Halloween. Sure, death scenes in old movies, or …
Canada Goose
When I think of September and waterfowl, my first thoughts go to the Canada Goose (notice I did not say Canadian Goose …
Skeleton Preservation
by Stephen Rogers For many years beginning in the early 1980s, collection managers in Carnegie Museum of Natural History’s Section of Birds …
Poisons of the Carnegie: Timber Rattlesnake
by Patrick McShea Where timber rattlesnakes are concerned, the scientific collections at Carnegie Museum of Natural History have more specimens than any …
Alcohol House Improvements
by Kaylin Martin Tucked away under the public galleries of Carnegie Museum of Natural History are thousands of glass jars containing decades …
RELEVANT SCIENTIFIC PUBLICATIONS/PRESENTATIONS
Daley, K., S. P. Rogers, and D. S. Wood. 1988 The effects of chemicals used in specimen preparation on the colors of bird plumage. Paper presented by D. S. Wood at the 106th Stated Meeting of the American Ornithologist’s Union, 15-18 August 1988, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. (based on an unpublished manuscript: Rogers, S. P. and K. Daley The effect of preparation and preservation chemicals on plumage color and condition. Carnegie Museum of Natural History. 23 pp.)
Rogers, S. P., M. A. Schmidt, and T. Gütebier. 1989. Annotated Bibliography on Preparation, Taxidermy and Collection Management of Vertebrates with Emphasis on Birds. Carnegie Museum of Natural History Special Publication 15, 189 pp.
Rogers, S. P. and D. S. Wood (compilers). 1989 Notes from a Workshop on Bird Specimen Preparation. Section of Birds, Carnegie Museum of Natural History, 117 pp.
Rogers, S. P. 1989. Bird specimen labels: A visual world survey with analysis of data recorded on them. Poster presented at the 107th Stated Meeting of the American Ornithologist’s Union, 7-10 August 1989, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh.
Williams, S. L. and S. P. Rogers. 1989. Effects of initial preparation methods on dermestid cleaning of osteological material. Collection Forum, 5(1): 11-16.
Rogers, S. P. Rogers and A. V. Rogers 2007. Poster titled: HerpNET at Carnegie Museum of Natural History at the Pennsylvania Wildlife Society meetings at Penn State University March 16-17.
In press – Rogers, S. P., B. Shreckengast and E. Dorfman. 2017. Origins and Contemporary Status of Habitat Dioramas in the United States. A chapter in a second volume on Dioramas edited by Sue Dale Tunnicliffe and Annette Scheersoi, Springer.
POPULAR PUBLICATIONS (NOT REFEREED)
Rogers, S. P. 1986 The museum study skin. Breakthrough, 12:68-69, 71, 73.
Rogers, S. P. 1990 Evaluating taxidermy chemicals. Part 1: Their effect on feathers. Taxidermy Today, 12(3): 45-47, 49.
Rogers, S. P. 1990 Evaluating taxidermy chemicals. Part 2: Their effect on feathers. Taxidermy Today, 12(4): 59-65.
Rogers, S. P. 1990 We need a library…. Taxidermy Today, 12(1): 74 (reprinted in Canadian Taxidermist).
Rogers, S. P. 1992 A special offer…. (Concerning use by Pennsylvania taxidermists of the taxidermy library of S. P. Rogers). Pennsylvania Taxidermist Association Newsletter.
Rogers, S. P. 1993 A national library of taxidermy. Outlook (Newsletter of the National Taxidermists Association), Nov-Dec Issue: 22-24.
Rogers, S. P. 1994 A sense of history. Breakthrough No. 35: 108-109, 111.
Blomquist, L., S. P. Rogers and R. Connely. 1996 Bug-out, the new bug proofing compound. Breakthrough No. 43: 63-65.
Edwards, K and S. P. Rogers 2017. The Taxidermist’s Table 1898. Breakthrough 123:26-31.
SELECTED PRESS OR OTHER PR:
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette August 18, 1986 about the bird collection.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, May 21 2006. Art Preview: Taxidermy exhibit shows science through the ages: Hides, hair and all the stuffing
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, March 9 2008. Snakes on a shelf.
The section of Amphibians and Reptiles was mentioned and photographs published in the Fall-Winter edition of Keystone Wild Notes, a publication of the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.
Carnegie Magazine Fall 2008 – article titled the Herp House.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, April 2, 2009 Snowy owl visits Pittsburgh. Also mentioned in April 5 story.
Gigapan images of the collection in 2011.
Example of specimens used in 3-D scanning of Carnegie Museum Specimens. You can see the various ways the specimen is imaged by clicking this link and the on the Skeleton with Roll, Pitch, Yaw and the Dynamic Cutaway – Coronal, Horizontal and Sagittal
BioBlitz at Sinnemahoning State Park 2013
Holotype image of unique/one-of-a-kind specimen of Setopagis maculosa
Bird specimens were lent to the Hunt Institute for an exhibit in spring 2015
90.5 WESA Pittsburgh’s NPR News Station interview with Margaret J. Krauss, Oct 30, 2015 A Very Quiet Menagerie: Taxidermy At The Carnegie Museum Of Natural History
Carnegie Magazine article Windows into the Wild – Published Summer 2016
Mentioned in two articles in the Winter 2016 Carnegie Magazine
Part of this article referred to the lecture I gave to the Lion attacking the dromedary symposium.
