218 Bell Museums Creator of Wildlife Dioramas - webapps8

Creator of Dioramas
Breckenridge supervised moving the
Pipestone Prairie and six other large
exhibits — no small task since the exhibits
could not be moved as units. A
herd of caribou in a bog, a beaver dam
and lodge, a cattail marsh containing
dozens of birds and nests had to be
carefully taken apart, moved down the
street, then reassembled.
In the new museum, Breckenridge
planned dioramas featuring
wolves, snow geese, sandhill cranes,
and more. To design and paint the
background panoramas, Francis Lee
Jaques came from New York where
he had worked as an artist for the
American Museum of Natural History.
Later, John Jarosz, a remarkably
talented taxidermist, joined the team.
Together they created a series of exhibits
for the museum that are still
considered among the finest in the
country.
Minnesota Habitats. Breckenridge
and Jaques wanted to design a
series of exhibits featuring species,
seasons, and habitats appropriate for
Minnesota. Breckenridge said:
"Our groups were planned as a trip
through the various habitats in Minnesota.
As you walked through the
exhibit halls, you traveled all around
the state, from the southeastern
hardwoods, up along the Mississippi,
out into the prairies in the west, and
back through the pine and spruce
woods in the north."
In the new exhibits, Breckenridge
and Jaques strove for biological accuracy
and educational value — the
dioramas were not to be glorified trophy
cases. Each exhibit featured ecological
stories that stimulated a visitor's
curiosity. Snow geese fly at the
peak of migration; sandhill cranes leap
in a courtship dance; songbirds mob
a great gray owl. Even the rocks, soil,
and vegetation are realistic. The result:
a set of exhibits of outstanding
beauty, realism, and authenticity.
Breckenridge also pioneered in
nature films. At first, he was restricted
to heavy, hand-cranked cameras.
Nevertheless, he collected valuable
footage. On one 1928 trip, he
filmed nesting cranes, a ruffed grouse
drumming, prairie chickens on their
booming grounds, and the first sequences
filmed of strutting sharptailed
grouse.
For years, his films were shown
during the museum's popular Sunday
afternoon programs. Later, Breckenridge
produced films to accompany
his Audubon Society lectures
throughout the country. Topics ranged
from the territorial behavior of birds
to current conservation issues. His
nature films were among the first to
be aired on public television.
40 Above: Wildlife artist Francis Lee Jaques painting background
for wolf group diorama, June 1940. Right: Breckenridge filming
winter wildlife at Lake 4, Cook County, March 1938.