Museum and Archives Maintains Memory of Saint Paul's College

U.S. News & World Report posted an article by Bill Lohmann, a Richmond Times-Dispatch reporter, "Group Keeps Saint Paul's College's History Alive With Museum," on February 16, 2019.  

The original article, "With new museum, grassroots group keeps alive the history of Saint Paul's College," was first published by the Times-Dispatch on January 6, 2019.

Lohmann relates the work of of community volunteers, including Saint Paul’s alumni, to form a nonprofit organization after the institution in Lawrenceville, VA closed in June 2013.  The James Solomon Russell-Saint Paul’s College Museum and Archives is now open several days a week and the group has a website where you can find more information, volunteer, or donate.

You can also review the Museum page on Facebook to follow activities of the group.

Information about Saint Paul's College and events leading up to its closure can be found in previous posts on College History Garden:

• Thursday, August 30, 2012 Saint Paul's College (VA) #1--initial suspension of classes
• Monday, May 13, 2013 Saint Paul's College (VA) #2--possible acquisition of Saint Paul's by Saint Augustine's University of Raleigh, NC
• Friday, May 31, 2013 St. Paul's College (VA) #3--closure of Saint Paul's
• Sunday, December 28, 2014 President of Saint Paul's College Recognized

Campus Museums: Cabinets of Curiosities

Margaret Dahlberg, Ph.D., vice president and dean of academic affairs at Valley City State University in Valley City, ND authored an interesting short post for her President's Corner column on November 30, 2018 while she was serving as interim president, "The Normal School Museum and Lura Perrine."

 Dahlberg offers a description from a 1905 Catalog noting that the campus museum "...includes a rich collection of zoological types, an herbarium, a private collection of conchological and geological specimens, and a private collection of eggs..." Lura Perrine developed the collection during her 1892-1919 tenure as a faculty member.

Natural history collections are commonly cited in histories of colleges.  You can learn more in an article on JSTOR written by Sally Gregory Kohlstedt that appeared in ISIS, a journal of The History of Science Society in September 1988 (Vol. 79, No. 3), "Curiosities and Cabinets: Natural History Museums and Education on the Antebellum Campus."

Consider posting a comment below if you are aware of a similar blog post describing a natural history museum on a campus with which you are familiar....thanks!!