Carnegie Museum of Natural History

One of the Four Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh

Museum History

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Collected 189 Years Ago: Strawberry Bush

strawberry bush specimen

This is a special specimen. The Carnegie Museum of Natural History herbarium is full of specimens of scientific and historical importance. And this is a notable one, collected in June 1830 by William Darlington in West Chester, Pennsylvania. William Darlington (1782-1863) was an important figure in the history of Pennsylvania botany. Darlington was a physician, politician (US House of Representatives 1815-1823), and as you might guess – a botanist! At the University of Pennsylvania, Darlington studied botany under Benjamin Smith Barton, a well-known botanist who also trained Meriwether Lewis (of the Lewis & Clark Expedition). He spent most of his life in West Chester, PA. He wrote some of the earliest botanical works, including a flora of Chester County in 1826 and others on agriculture. Many of his specimens are among the earliest documentation of Pennsylvania’s flora and are preserved in the William Darlington herbarium at West Chester University.

This particular specimen is of the native shrub Euonymus americanus, commonly called “strawberry  bush.” Despite the name, it is not related to strawberries, but is in the bittersweet/spindle family, Celastraceae. You may recognize some similarities with the related species from East Asia, burning bush (Euonymus alatus), which is commonly planted due to its bright red fall color (around Cathedral of Learning in Pittsburgh, and many other places).  However, burning bush should not be planted, as it is invasive, spreading into natural areas.

label from strawberry bush specimen

In the Carnegie Museum herbarium, there are 62 specimens collected by Darlington between 1828 and 1840, mostly from Chester County, PA.

How’d some of Darlington’s specimens end up at the Carnegie Museum? This specimen is part of Jacob Wolle’s personal collection, who was the grandfather of William Holland, the first director of the museum.

This specimen image is now publicly available online.

Read more about Darlington and  other influential figures in the history of botany in Pennsylvania at Herbarium World.

Check back for more! Botanists at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History share digital specimens from the herbarium on dates they were collected. They have embarked on a three-year project to digitize nearly 190,000 plant specimens collected in the region, making images and other data publicly available online. This effort is part of the Mid-Atlantic Megalopolis Project (mamdigitization.org), a network of thirteen herbaria spanning the densely populated urban corridor from Washington, D.C. to New York City to achieve a greater understanding of our urban areas, including the unique industrial and environmental history of the greater Pittsburgh region. This project is made possible by the National Science Foundation under grant no. 1801022.  

Mason Heberling is Assistant Curator of Botany at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Museum employees are encouraged to blog about their unique experiences and knowledge gained from working at the museum.

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Otto Emery Jennings Honored in New Exhibit at Jennings Environmental Education Center

Carnegie Museum of Natural History herbarium specimen from Jennings EEC. (Photo credit: Bonnie Isaac)

I had the privilege of attending the opening of the new exhibit at Jennings Environmental Education Center on Saturday April 6th.  The new exhibit is in honor of our very own Otto Emery Jennings. The exhibit highlights Jennings and the research he did while employed by The Carnegie Museum.

Reproduction of Jennings’ desk. (Photo credit: Bonnie Isaac)

There is a desk with reproductions of items from Jennings’ career on it and a small speaker that plays an actual voice recording.  This was the first time I got to hear the voice of Otto.

Video of Bonnie Isaac talking about Otto Jennings. (Photo Credit: Bonnie Isaac)

There is also an interactive video with folks talking about why Jennings EEC is an important place. I am one of those talking heads, which is why I was invited to the opening. Secretary Cindy Adams Dunn of the Department of Conservation & Natural Resources attended to thank the people who helped with the exhibit, which took about 3 years to create.

Bonnie Isaac talking to DCNR Secretary Dunn. (Photo Credit: Joe Isaac)

It was an honor and a privilege for me to help these great folks.  Carnegie Museum of Natural History is given credit throughout the exhibit for helping with content.  If you get a chance to get out to Jennings EEC you should check out the exhibits about Otto and the prairie that is named after him. They did a great job!

Bonnie Isaac is the Collection Manager in the Section of Botany. Museum employees are encouraged to blog about their unique experiences and knowledge gained from working at the museum.

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Collected on This Day in 1995

by Mason Heberling

common ragweed

Fall allergies causing you grief?

Ragweed is a plant many people are (all too) familiar with.  Or at least their bodies are.  Common ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia) is actually native to North America, but has been introduced across the world.  In many cases, this plant (or other ragweed species) are to blame for seasonal pollen allergies known as “hay fever.”  In summer and early fall, ragweed plants produce copious numbers of pollen grains, which are dispersed in the wind.  Don’t blame those insect-pollinated plants with showy flowers for your allergy troubles.  Wind pollinated plants like ragweed are your culprit.

ragweed specimen

This ragweed specimen was collected by Bonnie and Joe Isaac in Lawrence county, Pennsylvania on October 8, 1995.  Bonnie is the collection manager in the Section of Botany at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, an active plant collector and field botanist, and an expert on the plants of Pennsylvania.

Although ragweed is native to the US, historical records (pollen deposited in sediment cores) suggest that this species was far less common in North America before European colonization.  This is perhaps not too surprising considering the species thrives in disturbed habitats that came with European colonization and urbanization.  A study published in 2014 by Martin and colleagues in the journal Molecular Ecology extracted DNA from nearly 500 historic herbarium specimens dating back to the 1800s to measure the genetic makeup prior to widespread changes to the landscape in the late 19th century. Combined with data from recent collections, they found shifts in the genetic makeup of ragweed populations as the species was expanding in the United States.

Botanists at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History share digital specimens from the herbarium on dates they were collected. They have embarked on a three-year project to digitize nearly 190,000 plant specimens collected in the region, making images and other data publicly available online. This effort is part of the Mid-Atlantic Megalopolis Project (mamdigitization.org), a network of thirteen herbaria spanning the densely populated urban corridor from Washington, D.C. to New York City to achieve a greater understanding of our urban areas, including the unique industrial and environmental history of the greater Pittsburgh region. This project is made possible by the National Science Foundation under grant no. 1801022.  

This specimen is now online: Ambrosia artemisiifolia.

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Celebrating Carnegie History: Dr. Andrey Avinoff

butterfly and moth collection

Since Carnegie Museum of Natural History was founded in the late 1800s, it has been the home of an impressive group of alumni scientists who made great progress in their fields. One in this group who stands out is Dr. Andrey Avinoff, the director of the museum from 1926-1946.

Dr. Avinoff’s career began in Russia, where he studied geographical variation in moths and butterflies across different mountain ranges in Asia. He studied how smaller sub-ranges of the Himalayas led to the prevention of interbreeding in some species, but allowed it in others, depending on the geography and geology of the specific area. As he put it, “the study of variation divorced from geographical distribution is futile.”

Throughout his studies, he amassed a huge collection of specimens, but his collection was appropriated and held by the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

When he began his tenure at Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Dr. Avinoff virtually replicated his moth and butterfly collection through financed expeditions and trades with other collectors.

Dr. Avinoff was also an avid artist; “I bow to scientific fact until 5 o’clock,” he said. In 1941, he brought his two passions together and began the ambitious project to collect, describe, and illustrate the flora of western Pennsylvania. Partnering with the curator of Botany at the time, Otto E. Jennings, living plants were found growing wild, then brought to the museum for Dr. Avinoff to capture in paint. When the specimens were no longer needed for painting, they were dried and pressed to be saved in the herbarium.

Dr. Avinoff’s paintings were published in the book Wildflowers of Western Pennsylvania and the Upper Ohio Basin, which was printed in 1953.

Throughout the month of September, Carnegie Museum of Natural History is celebrating Pittsburghers living longer and better through enriching cultural engagement. We will be reflecting on cool pieces of museum history on our blog and social media and offering a series of programming at the museum that will range from dancing to specialized tours, geared towards visitors who are 45 and older. Visit our website for more information and programming details.

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Carnegie Museum of Natural History has an extremely…

black and white photo of W.E. Clyde Todd with a drawer of large bird eggs

Carnegie Museum of Natural History has an extremely valuable collection of birds from northern South America because W.E. Clyde Todd, curator of ornithology, had an interest in the area and the ability to purchase specimens during the early years of the museum. We hold almost 59,000 specimens from the continent. Todd was curator from 1919–1944, but began at the museum in 1899 and continued to visit the museum as an emeritus until 1969—a full 70 years!

Picture above in 1966, Todd is shown with a drawer of bird eggs.

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About 130,000 unique and rare fossils

small fossils, still in stone, displayed in the museum

About 130,000 unique and rare fossils from western Europe were purchased by Andrew Carnegie in 1903 from Baron de Bayet, executive secretary to King Leopold II (at turn of last century) Belgium.

Examples of fossils on exhibit in our core exhibition Dinosaurs in Their Time are from Lyme Regis (England), Holzmaden (Germany), and Solnhofen (Germany).

The fossils were collected from famous paleontology sites in Europe and United States more than a century ago.