For those who might not be familiar with Bailey he was an ornithologist, first curator of Louisiana State Museum, then curator of the Field Museum and the Chicago Academy of Sciences and in 1936 became curator then director of Denver Museum of Natural History now the Denver Museum of Nature and Science (DMNS) Almost single handedly he elevated the museum into the world class museum as we know it today. He traveled extensively around the world collecting natural history items for the museum. For example trekked 1600 mile through Ethiopia studying their natural history, 700 mile dogsled trip through northern Alaska, also to the Laysen Islands studying Albatrosses. Bailey and Neidrach in the early 1960s produced Birds of Colorado the sumptuous two volume set of books that most of us have or wished we did have.
He was an early innovator in how too use film in portraying natural history and made many films which the DMNS has fastidiously converted to digital format and last night the first of a series films was shown, his museum trip to New Zealand in the middle 1950's. The auditorium at the DMNS was packed with over-flowing crowds. Just to see what New Zealand was like in the early 50s was worth the price of admission. I've never been to New Zealand and was intrigued by the vegetation, dense tropical forest in the northern islands and in the southern island subtropical vegetation with gorgeous ,12,000' snow-capped peaks in the back ground. What glued the film together for me was Bailey's narration which was warm, inviting and informative. There was never a dull moment during the film.
Check with the DMNS and watch for the next film.
Bob Righter
Denver, CO
No comments:
Post a Comment