Lost Bones Introduction
Travels and Tales of Discovery: Uncovering Pleistocene Faunal Specimens in Minnesota’s County Historical Museum Collections
Welcome to my new writing space on Substack! I’m an amateur paleontologist and historian with a passion for the Ice Age history of Minnesota. Currently I am visiting small-town museums and county historical society collections across Minnesota. As independent research, I am compiling a database of Pleistocene to Holocene mammal specimens — including horses, mammoths, bison, turtles, and more — spanning the Ice Age. I am sharing this data with the Science Museum of Minnesota and bringing the stories I uncover to the public here.
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By day, I work a full-time job, but my passion lies in Pleistocene megafauna, historical research, and the stories waiting to be explored. This project has filled my weekends with road trips to regional and county museums across the state and my evenings with documenting beautiful collections, forgotten bones, and unlabelled specimens — hidden away in storage and donated long ago. Equally remarkable are the tales of discovery and the shared passion for history from the donors and museum professionals I’ve had the pleasure of meeting. Through these stories, my goal is to blend solid science with compelling narratives that bring each specimen’s history to life.
What can you expect? I’ll begin by sharing a series of stories about notable specimens I researched over the last two years. These were featured in an abstract and poster I presented in October 2024 at the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology’s annual convention in Minneapolis. After that, I’ll post a new story each month as I continue my research travels to every corner of the state.
