Biomedical Ephemera, or: A Frog for Your Boils

Eloise Butler and Women in Botany

Eloise Butler was one of the many women who favored botany. She was a prime force in creating the first public wildflower garden in the United States, authorized by the Minneapolis Park Board on April 15, 1907. She remained curator of the garden until her death on April 10, 1933. Along with her botanical colleagues in the city and around the country, she contributed to the knowledge, documentation, and appreciation of our native plant species. Some of the botanists and botanical artists profiled in this exhibit were people Eloise Butler knew personally; others represent the popular and scientific interest in botany during her lifetime. Much of the source material for this photo-stream comes from the Minneapolis Central Library’s Special Collections Division or the Minneapolis Athenaeum’s Spencer Natural History Collection.

This online exhibit was formed from a display outside the Doty Board Room at the Minneapolis Central Library that was featured last fall in conjunction with the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden Florilegium exhibit by the Minnesota School of Botanical Art.

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This display and online exhibit was curated by Minneapolis Central Librarian Mary Linden.

biomedicalephemera:

Dr. Olga A. Lentz working in her practice, St. Paul, MN. 1910. Though originally from New York, the New York School of Dentistry did not admit women to their programs. Olga went down to Philadelphia to get her degree in dental medicine, and then went back to the west side of NYC to practice for several years. She eventually set up practice in St. Paul, MN.

Though highly successful, Dr. Lentz did not escape the sexism and discrimination of the day. For the most part, she would only treat people referred to her by others, and very rarely took strangers, especially men. When a newspaper report was done on her back in New York, it seemed to take female doctors and dentists as almost a novelty- it noted how they were just as competent as men, but at the same time, the headline was "Girl Dentist ‘Pretty and Popular’". The tone of the entire article was in the same vein as this quote:

So, it wasn’t exactly like they were completely respected or seen as the same as male doctors. But they were there, and they were successful, and Dr. Lentz in particular was a boon for the women’s suffrage movement in Minnesota, proving that women can be just as competent and make decisions just as well as any man.

“Forever Yours”

By Sarina Brewer - Custom Creature Taxidermy in Minneapolis, MN

This artist has a deep respect and appreciation for animals and the natural world. She is fascinated with the circle of life and intrigued with how different cultures honor their dead and deal with death. Immortalizing loved ones (be they animals or humans) by preserving their remains or creating sentimental remembrances out of their body parts does not sit well with the majority of western society. Yet such practices have been the norm in many cultures throughout history and still are. Undoubtedly the average American thinks such “abhorrent” traditions are only carried out by “savages” in primitive cultures. Yet these practices flourished during the Victorian age in the form of mourning jewelry (accessories incorporating hair and teeth of deceased loved ones) and this type of veneration still exists in contemporary society, a well known example being the preserved remains of saints on display in Catholic Churches around the world. Point being, reverence is relative. Brewer deals with death, in what is considered by most, an unconventional manner. She does not view a dead animal as disgusting or offensive. She feels that all creatures exhibit beauty in death as well as in life, and she pays homage to them by reincarnating them in her works of art. 

None of the animals used in Brewer’s work were killed for the purpose of using them in her art. All animal components are recycled. She utilizes salvaged roadkill and discarded livestock, as well as the many animal materials that are donated to her. Donated animals are often casualties of the pet trade, destroyed nuisance animals, or animals that died of natural causes. A very strict “waste not, want not” policy is adhered to in her studio - virtually every part of the animal is recycled in some manner.

For those of you wondering if Brewer did any other taxidermy, I have a couple of other pieces posted. For more of her work, go to her site linked in the last post!