Thure Kumlien
Encyclopedia
Thure Ludwig Theodor Kumlien (November 9, 1819 – August 5, 1888) was a Swedish-American ornithologist, naturalist
, and taxidermist. A contemporary of Thoreau
, Audubon
, and Agassiz
, he contributed much to the knowledge of the natural history
of Wisconsin
and its birds. He collected and shipped specimens to many investigators in the United States and abroad. He taught botany
and zoology
, as well as foreign languages, at Albion Academy, and was particularly regarded as an expert in the identification of birds’ nests.
in Västergötland
, Sweden
, the oldest of fourteen children in an aristocratic Swedish family. His father, Ludwig Kumlien (1790–1839), was an army quartermaster, and owned several large estates. His mother, Johanna Rhodin (1800–1830) was the daughter of a minister. His early education was with a tutor, after which he entered the Gymnasium
of Skara
. He subsequently attended Uppsala University
, graduating in 1843. He took an early interest in natural history and collected many specimens, particularly from the Baltic
islands, sending them to Hermann Schlegel
of Leiden; Wilhelm Peters
of Berlin, Carl Jakob Sundevall
of the Swedish Museum of Natural History
, Stockholm
, and John Cassin
of Boston were among his other correspondents.
area of Wisconsin. When he bought his homestead, he bypassed farmland and instead purchased woodland, probably because of his love of nature, and devoted his spare time to the study of surrounding nature, in particular the local plants, birds, and insects. His first purchase was 40 acres (161,874.4 m²), from the government; he bought another 40 acres (161,874.4 m²) later. His first home was a log house near Busseyville
. Often distracted by local wildlife and plants, Kumlien did not succeed at farming; he supplemented his farm income with taxidermy and by collecting specimens for museums and other scientists.
Kumlien's life work constituted a rich personal herbarium and an important collection of birds. He began with a collection acquired by the Boston Society of Natural Sciences in 1854, and expanded his reach to Europe, sending specimens to such scientists as Elias Magnus Fries
of Uppsala and Thomas Mayo Brewer
. He also kept up correspondence with Spencer Fullerton Baird
, Edward Augustus Samuels (1836–1908), and others. Kumlien was described by no less a luminary than Louis Agassiz
as the world's foremost authority on the identification of birds' nests. Combined with his modesty, his collecting and correspondence made him more widely known to fellow scientists than to his neighbors. In spite of the recognition and the regard he received from the scientific community, he lived in tight financial circumstances nearly all of his life.
Through the efforts of Rasmus Bjørn Anderson
, Kumlien accepted a position in the faculty of Albion Academy, in Albion, Wisconsin
. From 1867 to 1870, he taught not only botany and zoology, but also foreign languages; he left when financial turmoil hit the college. He took a position with the State of Wisconsin in 1870, collecting specimens for the University of Wisconsin in Madison and the teacher training school (the university’s collections were destroyed in a fire in 1884). From 1881 to 1883, he worked for the Wisconsin Natural History Society as taxidermist and conservator of its collections.
In 1883, the Natural History Society's collections were transferred to the Milwaukee Public Museum
, and Kumlien began working for the museum in the same capacity, which enabled him to pursue his naturalist studies year round. He became a member of the American Ornithologists' Union
the year it was founded (1883). He died in 1888, most likely as a result of exposure to preservatives used on bird specimens sent from South America. He is buried at Sweet Cemetery, in Albion. His work can still be viewed at numerous museums in Europe and America.
Kumlien trained his son, Ludwig Kumlien, an ornithologist, and also Edward Lee Greene
, a botanist.
Kumlien was also acquainted with Willard North, the father of author Sterling North
; the younger North included him in such books as Rascal
and The Wolfling.
A number of species have been named for Kumlien:
Naturalist
Naturalist may refer to:* Practitioner of natural history* Conservationist* Advocate of naturalism * Naturalist , autobiography-See also:* The American Naturalist, periodical* Naturalism...
, and taxidermist. A contemporary of Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau was an American author, poet, philosopher, abolitionist, naturalist, tax resister, development critic, surveyor, historian, and leading transcendentalist...
, Audubon
John James Audubon
John James Audubon was a French-American ornithologist, naturalist, and painter. He was notable for his expansive studies to document all types of American birds and for his detailed illustrations that depicted the birds in their natural habitats...
, and Agassiz
Louis Agassiz
Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz was a Swiss paleontologist, glaciologist, geologist and a prominent innovator in the study of the Earth's natural history. He grew up in Switzerland and became a professor of natural history at University of Neuchâtel...
, he contributed much to the knowledge of the natural history
Natural history
Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...
of Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
and its birds. He collected and shipped specimens to many investigators in the United States and abroad. He taught botany
Botany
Botany, plant science, or plant biology is a branch of biology that involves the scientific study of plant life. Traditionally, botany also included the study of fungi, algae and viruses...
and zoology
Zoology
Zoology |zoölogy]]), is the branch of biology that relates to the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct...
, as well as foreign languages, at Albion Academy, and was particularly regarded as an expert in the identification of birds’ nests.
Family and early life
Thure Kumlien was born in 1819 in the parish of HärlundaSkara Municipality
Skara Municipality is a municipality in Västra Götaland County in western Sweden. Its seat is located in the city of Skara.The area of the municipality consists of 16 original local government entities. The municipal reform of 1952 grouped them into four new entities...
in Västergötland
Västergötland
', English exonym: West Gothland, is one of the 25 traditional non-administrative provinces of Sweden , situated in the southwest of Sweden. In older English literature one may also encounter the Latinized version Westrogothia....
, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, the oldest of fourteen children in an aristocratic Swedish family. His father, Ludwig Kumlien (1790–1839), was an army quartermaster, and owned several large estates. His mother, Johanna Rhodin (1800–1830) was the daughter of a minister. His early education was with a tutor, after which he entered the Gymnasium
Gymnasium (school)
A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...
of Skara
Skara
Skara is a locality and the seat of Skara Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden with 18595 inhabitants in 2005. Despite its small size, it has a long educational and ecclesiastical history. One of Sweden's oldest high schools, Katedralskolan , is situated in Skara...
. He subsequently attended Uppsala University
Uppsala University
Uppsala University is a research university in Uppsala, Sweden, and is the oldest university in Scandinavia, founded in 1477. It consistently ranks among the best universities in Northern Europe in international rankings and is generally considered one of the most prestigious institutions of...
, graduating in 1843. He took an early interest in natural history and collected many specimens, particularly from the Baltic
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...
islands, sending them to Hermann Schlegel
Hermann Schlegel
Hermann Schlegel was a German ornithologist and herpetologist.-Early life and education:Schlegel was born at Altenburg, the son of a brassfounder. His father collected butterflies, which stimulated Schlegel's interest in natural history...
of Leiden; Wilhelm Peters
Wilhelm Peters
Wilhelm Karl Hartwich Peters was a German naturalist and explorer.He was assistant to Johannes Peter Müller and later curator of the Berlin Zoological Museum. In September 1842 he travelled to Mozambique via Angola. He returned to Berlin with an enormous collection of natural history specimens...
of Berlin, Carl Jakob Sundevall
Carl Jakob Sundevall
Carl Jakob Sundevall was a Swedish zoologist.Sundevall studied at Lund University, where he became a Ph.D. in 1823. After traveling to East Asia, he studied medicine, graduating as Doctor of Medicine in 1830....
of the Swedish Museum of Natural History
Swedish Museum of Natural History
The Swedish Museum of Natural History , in Stockholm, is one of two major museums of natural history in Sweden, the other one being located in Gothenburg....
, Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
, and John Cassin
John Cassin
John Cassin was an American ornithologist.He is considered to be one of the giants of American ornithology, and was America's first taxonomist, describing 198 birds not previously mentioned by Alexander Wilson and John James Audubon...
of Boston were among his other correspondents.
Career
Kumlien emigrated to the United States in 1843, accompanied by his fiancée, Margaretta Christina Wallberg, and her sister. They first settled in Milwaukee and were married there on September 5 of the same year. Not long afterward, drawn by letters written by the minister of a local parish, he came to the Lake KoshkonongLake Koshkonong
Lake Koshkonong is a reservoir in southern Wisconsin. It lies along the Rock River, . down-river from Fort Atkinson, primarily in southwestern Jefferson County, although small portions of the lake extend into southeastern Dane and northern Rock counties....
area of Wisconsin. When he bought his homestead, he bypassed farmland and instead purchased woodland, probably because of his love of nature, and devoted his spare time to the study of surrounding nature, in particular the local plants, birds, and insects. His first purchase was 40 acres (161,874.4 m²), from the government; he bought another 40 acres (161,874.4 m²) later. His first home was a log house near Busseyville
Busseyville, Wisconsin
Busseyville, Wisconsin is an unincorporated community in the town of Sumner in Jefferson County. It is located on Wisconsin Highway 106 near Luna Road, about ten miles west of Fort Atkinson. The Sumner town hall is located there as well as Busseyville Community Church.-Notable people:The...
. Often distracted by local wildlife and plants, Kumlien did not succeed at farming; he supplemented his farm income with taxidermy and by collecting specimens for museums and other scientists.
Kumlien's life work constituted a rich personal herbarium and an important collection of birds. He began with a collection acquired by the Boston Society of Natural Sciences in 1854, and expanded his reach to Europe, sending specimens to such scientists as Elias Magnus Fries
Elias Magnus Fries
-External links:*, Authors of fungal names, Mushroom, the Journal of Wild Mushrooming.*...
of Uppsala and Thomas Mayo Brewer
Thomas Mayo Brewer
Thomas Mayo Brewer was an American naturalist.Mayo is best known as the joint author, with Baird and Ridgway, of A History of North American Birds , which was the first attempt since John James Audubon's to complete the study of American ornithology.Brewer was born in Boston...
. He also kept up correspondence with Spencer Fullerton Baird
Spencer Fullerton Baird
Spencer Fullerton Baird was an American ornithologist, ichthyologist and herpetologist. Starting in 1850 he was assistant-secretary and later secretary of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C...
, Edward Augustus Samuels (1836–1908), and others. Kumlien was described by no less a luminary than Louis Agassiz
Louis Agassiz
Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz was a Swiss paleontologist, glaciologist, geologist and a prominent innovator in the study of the Earth's natural history. He grew up in Switzerland and became a professor of natural history at University of Neuchâtel...
as the world's foremost authority on the identification of birds' nests. Combined with his modesty, his collecting and correspondence made him more widely known to fellow scientists than to his neighbors. In spite of the recognition and the regard he received from the scientific community, he lived in tight financial circumstances nearly all of his life.
Through the efforts of Rasmus Bjørn Anderson
Rasmus B. Anderson
Rasmus Bjørn Anderson was an American author, professor, and diplomat. He brought to popular attention the idea that Viking explorers discovered the New World and was the originator of Leif Erikson Day.-Biography:...
, Kumlien accepted a position in the faculty of Albion Academy, in Albion, Wisconsin
Albion, Dane County, Wisconsin
Albion is a town in Dane County, Wisconsin, United States, located about 27 miles southeast of Madison on Interstate 90. The population was 1,823 at the 2000 Census. The unincorporated communities of Albion and Hillside are located in the town.-History:...
. From 1867 to 1870, he taught not only botany and zoology, but also foreign languages; he left when financial turmoil hit the college. He took a position with the State of Wisconsin in 1870, collecting specimens for the University of Wisconsin in Madison and the teacher training school (the university’s collections were destroyed in a fire in 1884). From 1881 to 1883, he worked for the Wisconsin Natural History Society as taxidermist and conservator of its collections.
In 1883, the Natural History Society's collections were transferred to the Milwaukee Public Museum
Milwaukee Public Museum
The Milwaukee Public Museum is a natural and human history museum located in downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. The museum was chartered in 1882 and opened to the public in 1884; it is a not-for-profit organization operated by the Milwaukee Public Museum, Inc. MPM has three floors of exhibits...
, and Kumlien began working for the museum in the same capacity, which enabled him to pursue his naturalist studies year round. He became a member of the American Ornithologists' Union
American Ornithologists' Union
The American Ornithologists' Union is an ornithological organization in the USA. Unlike the National Audubon Society, its members are primarily professional ornithologists rather than amateur birders...
the year it was founded (1883). He died in 1888, most likely as a result of exposure to preservatives used on bird specimens sent from South America. He is buried at Sweet Cemetery, in Albion. His work can still be viewed at numerous museums in Europe and America.
Legacy
Thure and Margaretta Kumlien had five children (three sons and two daughters), including Augusta Kumlien (1845–1845), Aaron Ludwig Kumlien (1853–1902), Theodore V. Kumlien (1855–?), and Frithiof Kumlien (1859–1888). Augusta and Frithiof are buried with their parents.Kumlien trained his son, Ludwig Kumlien, an ornithologist, and also Edward Lee Greene
Edward Lee Greene
Edward Lee Greene, Ph.D., was an American botanist known for his numerous publications including the two-part Landmarks of Botanical History and the naming or redescribing of over 4,400 species of plants in the American West.- Early Life :Edward Lee Greene was born on August 20, 1843 in...
, a botanist.
Kumlien was also acquainted with Willard North, the father of author Sterling North
Sterling North
Thomas Sterling North was an American author of books for children and adults, including 1963's bestselling Rascal. North, who professionally went by "Sterling North", was born on the second floor of a farmhouse on the shores of Lake Koshkonong, a few miles from Edgerton, Wisconsin, in 1906, and...
; the younger North included him in such books as Rascal
Rascal (book)
Rascal: A Memoir of a Better Era, often referred to as Rascal, is a 1963 children's book by Sterling North about his childhood in Wisconsin.-Publication:Rascal was published in 1963...
and The Wolfling.
A number of species have been named for Kumlien:
- Aster Kumlienii Benke, a purple aster that grows at Busseyville.
- Larus glaucoides kumlieni Brewster 1883 (Kumlien's GullKumlien's GullKumlien's Gull, Larus [glaucoides] kumlieni, is a large gull which breeds in the Arctic regions of Canada. It is migratory, wintering from Labrador south to New England and west across the Great Lakes...
), a subspecies of the Iceland Gull. (It is unclear if this subspecies was actually named for Thure or Ludwig Kumlien.)
- Cottus bairdii kumlienii (Hoy), the northern mottled sculpinMottled sculpinThe mottled sculpin, Cottus bairdii, is a freshwater sculpin found widely although unevenly throughout North America.As the name suggests, its coloration is a combination of bars, spots, and speckles randomly distributed. The large pectoral fins are banded...
.
- KumlieniaKumlieniaKumlienia is a small genus of flowering plants in the buttercup family known generally as false buttercups. There are two species in this genus, both of which were formerly included in Ranunculus. Kumlienia cooleyae is native to the northwestern Pacific coast of North America from Alaska to...
is a genus of flowering plants in the buttercup familyRanunculaceaeRanunculaceae are a family of about 1700 species of flowering plants in about 60 genera, distributed worldwide....
. It was named for Kumlien by his student GreeneEdward Lee GreeneEdward Lee Greene, Ph.D., was an American botanist known for his numerous publications including the two-part Landmarks of Botanical History and the naming or redescribing of over 4,400 species of plants in the American West.- Early Life :Edward Lee Greene was born on August 20, 1843 in...
.
Additional reading
- Zida C. Ivey, Pay Tribute to Thure Kumlien at Busseyville’s Centennial (Jefferson County Union. Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin)http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/wlhba/articleView.asp?pg=1&orderby=&id=1991
- Angie Kumlien Main, Thure Kumlien, Koshkonong Naturalist (Wisconsin Magazine of History. Volume 27, number 1, September 1943, pp. 17–39)http://content.wisconsinhistory.org/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/wmh&CISOPTR=14896&CISOSHOW=14776&REC=6
- Angie Kumlien Main, Thure Kumlien, Koshkonong Naturalist (Wisconsin Magazine of History. Volume 27, number 3, March 1944, pp. 321–343) http://content.wisconsinhistory.org/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/wmh&CISOPTR=15037&CISOSHOW=14969&REC=7
