Scientist Emil O. Deere
The Bethany College Museum was on a par with other American...college/university museums ... having been influenced by the Victorian Era.
"The museum which was largely the result of his [Deere's] efforts has no peer among the mid-western Liberal Arts colleges."
-- Carl Swenson's, January 11, 1966
"The museum which was largely the result of his [Deere's] efforts has no peer among the mid-western Liberal Arts colleges."
-- Carl Swenson's, January 11, 1966
Deere's Swensson's "Bethany College Museum"
1882 - 1966
1882 - 1966
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- A RARE AND UNKNOWN 1990 BOOK ON BETHANY COLLEGE -
by
Swede Dr. Leon Lungstrom
- Giving, among other facts, perhaps, the "only" personal first-hand account on the Bethany College Museum -
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Bethany College Museum Professor Udden's
American Indian Cliff Dweller Pottery Collection
- part of his collection of 300 items -
Bethany College Museum Professor Udden's
American Indian Cliff Dweller Pottery Collection
- part of his collection of 300 items -
Source: "FORGET-ME-NOT," The Annual of Bethany College, 1902
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- Bethany College Museum Early Swedish Collectors - *
Johan August Udden, Dr. John Rundstrom, Professor Lindholm, Otto Hawkinson, George Sohlberg,
Luther Dahlsten, A. Agrelius, Oscar Hubbard, Luther Swenson, Hugo Jacobson, David Bjorn, J. A. Anderson
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- Bethany College Museum Early Swedish Collectors - *
Johan August Udden, Dr. John Rundstrom, Professor Lindholm, Otto Hawkinson, George Sohlberg,
Luther Dahlsten, A. Agrelius, Oscar Hubbard, Luther Swenson, Hugo Jacobson, David Bjorn, J. A. Anderson
* * *
- The Bethany College Swedish Museum Curators -
First Swedish teacher professor of Bethany College Johan August Udden founded the Bethany College Museum in 1882. A self-taught geologist and gifted scientist, this first Museum curator would lay a firm and visionary foundation for that institution's growth to be ensured by its successor curators.
After Udden's departure from Bethany College in 1888, Swede Jacob Westlund became the second curator of the Bethany College Museum for three years, when Swede John Eric Welin in 1891, a professor of Emil O. Deere's, became the third curator until 1908 at which time Swede Emil O. Deere became the fourth and last curator until his death fifty-eight (58) years later, in January of 1966.
By default, then, Swede Leon Lungstrom became the unofficial "acting curator" during the Bethany College Museum Collection move of approximately 5,000 items which were going to the McPherson County Old Mill Museum collection, which at that time contained a collection of about 500 items.
After Udden's departure from Bethany College in 1888, Swede Jacob Westlund became the second curator of the Bethany College Museum for three years, when Swede John Eric Welin in 1891, a professor of Emil O. Deere's, became the third curator until 1908 at which time Swede Emil O. Deere became the fourth and last curator until his death fifty-eight (58) years later, in January of 1966.
By default, then, Swede Leon Lungstrom became the unofficial "acting curator" during the Bethany College Museum Collection move of approximately 5,000 items which were going to the McPherson County Old Mill Museum collection, which at that time contained a collection of about 500 items.
- Their Years as Curators -
Udden Westlund Welin
1882 - 1888 1888 - 1891 1891 - 1908
Deere
Source: Sohlberg Deere Estate
1908 - 1966
Lungstrom
Source: The Cochran Papers
- 1966 -
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Dr. Lungstrom, in 1992, would write about three of these four Bethany College Swedish Museum Curators: Udden, Welin and Deere, in a Kansas Academy of Science Transaction titled "Recognition of Three Pioneer Scientists of Swedish Descent," which can be found HERE. Also, for more information on his 1990 book, go HERE to Their friend, Leon Lungstrom and his "History of Natural Science and Mathematics at Bethany College, Lindsborg, Kansas"
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- A College Museum at its Beginnings and at its Endings -
Under Swedish American Bethany College founder and second president Rev. Carl Aaron Swensson, the first organized society at Bethany College was not in the field of Art or Music. It was in the field of Science, establishing the Linnean Association in 1884! Later it was referred to as the Linnean Society of Science.
- In Deere's Old Main Classroom -
- Dean Deere and the Linnean Society of Science members with Carnegie Library in background -
Source: 1919 "Bethany Daisy"
From page 11 of fourth Swedish American Bethany College President Emory Lindquist's 1975 book, Bethany in Kansas, the history of a college, we read the following:
"...The Linnean Association, organized in 1884, was the first society established on the campus. Named after Carl von Linnaeus [1707-1778], the famous Swedish botanist, the organization was designed to promote interest in scientific knowledge among its members and to collect specimens for the museum. The first leader was first [Swedish American] Bethany College President Edward Nelander. The corresponding secretary was J. A. Udden, founder of the museum and first Bethany teacher. "
As the first professor at Bethany College, Udden taught classes in Natural Science and Civics from 1881 to 1888. In that year, he returned to his alma mater, Augustana College, in Rock Island, Illinois, where he became a professor of Natural History and Geology until 1911. During that time he was well-connected to geological survey organizations in Iowa, Illinois and Texas and was a Special Agent for the U.S. Geological Survey. From 1911 to his death in 1932, his work was devoted to the University of Texas where he became a geologist in the Bureau of Economic Geology and Technology and a director in 1915. He was the first to suggest the possibility of finding oil on the university lands in West Texas after his discovery of potash in the Premian Basin of Texas.
Born in Lekasa, Västergötland, Sweden, in 1859, Johan August Udden would be knighted for these American accomplishments in 1911 by the Swedish Crown!
From its "Bethany Academy" beginnings to its "Old Main" endings, the Bethany College Museum's development and ongoing preservation by the other curators must have been due, in part, by the example of its founder, this first Bethany College professor, this remarkable self-taught geologist and man of science, who began to lay the field of science study firmly into the curriculum at Bethany College. A commitment to teaching science and to the Bethany College Museum followed by the successor Swedish curator professors and their student collectors, all of whom would grow that institution!
During the Deere era of the Museum's care from 1908 to 1966, word must have initially spread about it by Deere himself as he was very well-connected with the scientific community outside of Lindsborg, i.e. from Topeka, the Kansas Academy of Science (KAS) (established at Lincoln (Washburn) College in 1869), to the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) (established in 1848) and to the Ithaca, New York Sigma Xi Research Society (established at Cornell University in 1886). Correspondence, as well, must have been flowing back and forth from and to Deere with other scientists elsewhere in Kansas and beyond, discussing museum exhibits and new finds during the beginning and into the mid 20th century.
There is no doubt that the 1882 Bethany College Museum was on a par with other American college and university museums also in their beginnings. Most likely they all had been influenced by the museums of the Victorian Era and were designed accordingly to collect examples of the different fields of knowledge and to classify them for research and display purposes. This was especially true in developing their "natural history" collections for the students to use.** And, this was particularly true of the Bethany College Museum.
At its end, in its preparation for the move, the Bethany College Museum inventory was over 5,000 items which would be added to the 500 items at the McPherson County Old Mill Museum. The College Museum contribution would be substantial for the County Museum, for a future opportunity for it, to "stand out," to become, in the words of County Museum Director Tib Anderson, "...one of the finest museums of this kind in the mid-west!"
During the Deere era of the Museum's care from 1908 to 1966, word must have initially spread about it by Deere himself as he was very well-connected with the scientific community outside of Lindsborg, i.e. from Topeka, the Kansas Academy of Science (KAS) (established at Lincoln (Washburn) College in 1869), to the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) (established in 1848) and to the Ithaca, New York Sigma Xi Research Society (established at Cornell University in 1886). Correspondence, as well, must have been flowing back and forth from and to Deere with other scientists elsewhere in Kansas and beyond, discussing museum exhibits and new finds during the beginning and into the mid 20th century.
There is no doubt that the 1882 Bethany College Museum was on a par with other American college and university museums also in their beginnings. Most likely they all had been influenced by the museums of the Victorian Era and were designed accordingly to collect examples of the different fields of knowledge and to classify them for research and display purposes. This was especially true in developing their "natural history" collections for the students to use.** And, this was particularly true of the Bethany College Museum.
At its end, in its preparation for the move, the Bethany College Museum inventory was over 5,000 items which would be added to the 500 items at the McPherson County Old Mill Museum. The College Museum contribution would be substantial for the County Museum, for a future opportunity for it, to "stand out," to become, in the words of County Museum Director Tib Anderson, "...one of the finest museums of this kind in the mid-west!"
- 1965 -
Curator Dr. Emil O. Deere at 88 at the Bethany College Museum in Old Main
(last official Swedish curator of 58 years)
Curator Dr. Emil O. Deere at 88 at the Bethany College Museum in Old Main
(last official Swedish curator of 58 years)
From Bethanian 1965 Yearbook
- Old Main -
(1886 - 1968)
Last Bethany College home for the College Museum
(1886 - 1968)
Last Bethany College home for the College Museum
Photograph by Lydia Sohlberg Deere, c1920s
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For the Bethany College Museum Collections' New Location, 1966 click HERE.
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* Page 23 of Dr. Leon Lungstrom's 1990 book, History of Natural Science and Mathematics at Bethany College, Lindsborg, Kansas
** Wikipedia on Museum, Purpose; go HERE for more information.
** Wikipedia on Museum, Purpose; go HERE for more information.
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Swedes: TheWayTheyWere
~ restoring lost local histories ~
reconnecting past to present
* * *
All color photography throughout Swedes: The Way They Were is by Fran Cochran unless otherwise indicated, or obviously concluded it is not.
Copyright © 2019 www.swedesthewaytheywere.org. All rights reserved.
Swedes: TheWayTheyWere
~ restoring lost local histories ~
reconnecting past to present
* * *
All color photography throughout Swedes: The Way They Were is by Fran Cochran unless otherwise indicated, or obviously concluded it is not.
Copyright © 2019 www.swedesthewaytheywere.org. All rights reserved.
