So then the one on the postcard I posted a few days ago has replaced these birds? Is there a passenger pigeon currently on display at the Bell Museum?
> Date: Tue, 16 Sep 2014 11:10:49 -0500 > From: [email protected] > Subject: [mou-net] Update on Stolen Passenger Pigeon > To: [email protected] > > Hello, MOUNet: > Below is a message sent by Sue Leaf, who wrote the biography of > Thomas Roberts, the first director of the Bell Museum, outlining > the theft of the museum's stuffed passenger pigeon (Sue tried > to send this herself, but it wouldn't work). MOUNetters will probably > be interested, because of the recent discussion about passenger > pigeons and speculation about the Bell's loss of its bird. > Thank you, > Val Cunningham > MOU member > > >> From: Susan Leaf <[email protected]> > >> Subject: stolen passenger pigeons > >> Date: September 15, 2014 6:51:31 PM CDT > >> To: [email protected] > >> > >> There is a letter date Dec. 15, 1943 from Roberts to James Ford Bell in > >> the U of M Archives in which Roberts tells him regretfully of the theft of > >> the display. The display case was positioned on the mezzanine in the > >> museum. The theft took place either on a Friday night or on the following > >> Saturday, probably either Dec. 3 or Dec. 10. Roberts saw the display at > >> 5:00 p.m. Friday. At 10:30 the next morning, he found out they were gone. > >> The crime rattled the museum staff, because either it was an inside job-- > >> someone had had a key, and they kept close track of their keys; or, the > >> their had been very bold and very quick and had taken the birds when the > >> museum was open and people roamed the building. > >> > >> The pigeons had been donated by Charles Deere Velie, a long-time patient > >> of Roberts. He might have shot them himself. He was an avid hunter. Or, he > >> could very likely have had them mounted and they were taken by a friend. > >> > >> They were not recovered in Roberts' lifetime (by 1946) and I believe they > >> were never found, given the interest of the present Bell staff in the > >> story. > > ---- > Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net > Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
