{"id":61100,"date":"2015-03-31T14:00:33","date_gmt":"2015-03-31T18:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=61100"},"modified":"2015-03-29T16:43:29","modified_gmt":"2015-03-29T20:43:29","slug":"greene-smith-19th-c-ornithologist-his-bird-collection-and-museum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=61100","title":{"rendered":"Greene Smith: 19th C. Ornithologist, His Bird Collection and Museum"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Smith,<\/a>Hiram Wilson, pictured left, with Greene Smith, ornithologist who built the Ornithon in Peterboro to house the thousands of specimens of birds, eggs, and nests that are now in collections at Colgate, Cornell and Harvard universities.<\/em><\/p>\n

(Peterboro, NY \u2013 March 2015) The important contributions to the field of ornithology of citizen-scientist Greene Smith have been obscured by the Underground Railroad and abolition fame of Smith\u2019s father Gerrit Smith. As important and well-known as are the Underground Railroad sites on the Gerrit Smith Estate National Historic Landmark in Peterboro, it is Greene\u2019s Ornithon that most piques visitors\u2019 curiosity about the builder and collector of that bird museum.<\/p>\n

This public fascination prompted Norm Dann to turn the focus of his Smith research to Greene Smith and his Birdhouse. Dann\u2019s study of family letters, military records, Greene\u2019s personal Catalogue of Birds, the pursuit of Greene\u2019s hunting apparatus, and the ownership and investigation of the Birdhouse site, have culminated in the March printing of Greene Smith and the Wild Life: The Story of Peterboro\u2019s Avid Outdoorsman \u2013 the first publication on this absorbing story.<\/p>\n

Dann will share his research and sign the new book on Sunday April 12 at 2 p.m. at the Smithfield Community Center (5255 Pleasant Valley Road, Peterboro) in celebration of Greene\u2019s birthday. Starting with his April birth in 1842 as Green, his nickname \u201cBeeny,\u201d his sad letters from the Theodore and Angelina (Grimke) boarding school in New Jersey, and past his years as a young man serving in the Civil War at the Battle of the Crater two days after his enlistment, Dann will trace the history of a person who loved birds from an early age, studied birds, designed his Ornithon (an architectural treasure as a museum for birds), and collected birds, nests, and egg specimens from around the world.<\/p>\n

\"BirdHouse<\/a>Greene was president of national and state sportsmen\u2019s organizations, and lectured at Cornell University, before his passionate study of wildlife \u2013 and his wild social lifestyle- came to an early death.<\/p>\n

Greene Smith\u2019s widow donated his bird collection to Colgate, Cornell, and Harvard universities. Specimens from the Colgate collection will be at the program.<\/p>\n

Tim Gallagher, Cornell University Laboratory of Ornithology and Editor-in-Chief of LIVING BIRD states that \u201cGreene Smith launched his own bird research and amassed the most important American ornithological collection of its time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nell Ziegler will bring the audience up to date with current monitored Re-Discovery activities at the Birdhouse site and approved planning for the future.<\/p>\n

Weather permitting, a guided walk to the Ornithon site will be provided after the program.<\/p>\n

\"Birdhouse<\/a>Dann PhD, professor emeritus Morrisville State College, is a researcher and biographer of the Gerrit Smith family, a docent at the Gerrit Smith Estate National Historic Landmark, and a founder and current Cabinet member of the National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum.<\/p>\n

Nell Ziegler is the President of the Smithfield Community Association, the not-for-profit responsible for the Gerrit Smith Estate National Historic Landmark and the 23rd Annual Peterboro Civil War Weekend.<\/p>\n

Greene Smith and the Wild Life program is a Gerrit Smith Estate (GSE) Birdhouse Squad project. The GSE was designated a National Historic Landmark (NHL) in 2001 by the U.S. Department of the Interior, and was later declared a site on the National Park Service Network to Freedom \u2013 the national Underground Railroad Trail. The GSENHL opens for the 2015 season on Saturday June 6 at 1 p.m. and will be open weekends from 1 to 5 p.m. as well as for special events and by appointment.<\/p>\n

The public is encouraged to attend and bring Birdhouse artifacts to show.<\/p>\n

Admission is $3 for adults. Students and volunteers are free.<\/p>\n

For updates and more information: www.PeterboroNY.org<\/a>, www.gerritsmith.org<\/a> or call 315-280-8828.<\/p>\n

Pictures of the birdhouse more recently and as it was.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0With regards to the environment and Greene, the Gerrit Smith Estate will honor Earth Day on April 22 (10 a.m. to 4 p.m. ) as a site for the Madison County Earth Day Textile Collection Event. Torn, worn, clean, and dry clothing and linens to be recycled can be brought to The Lodge porch at 5304 Oxbow Road, Peterboro.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hiram Wilson, pictured left, with Greene Smith, ornithologist who built the Ornithon in Peterboro to house the thousands of specimens of birds, eggs, and nests that are now in collections at Colgate, Cornell and Harvard universities. (Peterboro, NY \u2013 March 2015) The important contributions to the field of ornithology of citizen-scientist Greene Smith have been […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61101,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22367,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history","category-top-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=61100"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61100\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/61101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=61100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=61100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=61100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}