218 Bell Museums Creator of Wildlife Dioramas - webapps8

Creator of Dioramas
Some films he made during research
or collecting trips to northern
Canada and the Arctic. He was one
of the first non-Eskimos since the
1800s to travel on the Back River in
Canada's Northwest Territory.
Park Programs. In 1947, soon after
becoming the museum's director,
Breckenridge saw an opportunity to
expand the education program to state
parks. At the time, the Department
of Conservation was buying land while
prices were low; no funds were available
for nature programs.
"We figured people visiting the
parks were good subjects," Breckenridge
said, "because by being there
they showed an interest in nature, but
probably didn't know much about it."
As a result, the State Park Interpretive
Program was created.
Breckenridge sent museum employee
Donald Lewis to Itasca State
Park for several summers. Lewis designed
nature trails, led hiking groups,
and lectured 011 the park s flora and
fauna.
The program grew rapidly. The first
year, 4,227 visitors to Itasca took part
in the program. By 1955, the figure
had grown to 15,917. Naturalists
joined the staffs at Gooseberry Falls,
Lake Shetek, and Whitewater state
parks. For several years, Bell Museum
continued to pay part of their
salaries. As the interpretive program
grew, more parks began to participate.
Today, Breckenridge's interpretive
programs have expanded to nearly
every state park in Minnesota.
In recent photo, Breckenridge holds skin
of wood duck to depict bird accurately.
Since his retirement as museum
director in 1969, Breckenridge has
devoted his days to painting. His work
has appeared in such prestigious exhibitions
as "Birds in Art at the
Woodson Museum in Wisconsin and
at the Wildlife Heritage Art Show in
Minneapolis. In recent years, he has
traveled to Africa, South America, and
New Zealand in search of new subject
material. The artist's studio is in
his home in Brooklyn Park.
His artistic career started a halfcentury
ago. In the early 1930s, he
painted the shorebirds and woodpeckers
for T. S. Roberts' The Birds
of Minnesota and illustrated maga-
42 THE MINNESOTA VOLUNTEER