Minnesota has a brand new museum - the Bell Museum of Natural History. I attended the gala opening on July 13th. The stars of the Bell are the beautiful dioramas by Francis Lee Jaques, Walter Breckenridge and John Jarosz. They were moved from the previous Bell Museum and refurbished. They are truly spectacular! The planetarium is a wonderful new addition. Check it out!


The new Bell is surrounded by nature.



The most beautiful dioramas!


Models for teaching botany.

On July 10, 2018 Pen & Ink II students got a tour of the University of Minnesota's Herbarium, conducted by Dr. George Weiblen. There is so much history in the volumes of plant specimens. We are fortunate to have such an important resource here in Minnesota.

Dr. Weiblen shows the group several historical specimens.



This specimen survived the bombing of the Natural History Museum in London during World War II.



Dr. Weiblen explains how the specimens are scanned for inclusion in the World Wide Atlas.



Plants that have been pressed, applied to herbarium sheets, weighted, and waiting to be filed.




After the Herbarium tour, we went over to the U of M's Conservatory to see some very unusual specimens.