Thanks to my father-in-law Tim, I had the rare opportunity to visit the Field Museum with his graduate accounting class for a behind-the-scenes tour and panel discussion with executive staff members. This was incredibly cool, people. Though the trip was presented in the context of accounting for large non-profit organizations, and I walked away with some killer insight and information from that perspective, I was also inspired by the magnitude of knowledge, innovation, and history housed in this major museum. I’ll share the funnest factoids with you!
After learning that the Field employs 90 PhD’s, our first stop on the tour was upstairs in the Department of Botany. The Chair, Dr. William C. Burger, spoke to us about his work researching the flora of Costa Rica, as well as the vast, encyclopedic inventory of the Field’s 24 million specimens. 24 MILLION specimens, people! Many of these are used in the study of Economic Botany, which explores “the interface between people and plants to describe the cultural uses of plants, explain the origin of specific useful plants, and develop strategies for the sustainable use of plant resources”.
We wandered a few dark, winding hallways, filled with posters from the Field’s previous exhibitions, including ethnic textiles and giant maps from the World’s Fair in 1883.
We even walked past the Field’s resident artist, Peggy Macnamara, at work in her studio!
{ “104 Swan” from Peggy Macnamara‘s Birds collection }
Next we found ourselves in the Birds division of the Department of Zoology, where the Chair, Dr. John Bates, showed us a colorful collection of stuffed bird skins. His research focuses on the genetic structure of tropical birds, and we got to see large birds of paradise (“the females prefer birds with longer tails”) and tiny warblers.
{ Black Throated Blue Warbler by Lloyd Spitalnik }
Fun fact about color pigments in birds: reds and pinks in bird feathers come from their diet (e.g. crustaceans), while blues and greens are structural pigments, which appear to change color a bit from different angles.
The day finally ended with the panel, featuring the Field’s Executive Vice President, the Director of Budgets and Treasury Services, and the Shedd Aquarium’s CFO, among others. After filling my brain to the brim with information on accountability, ethics, and leadership in non-profits, we headed to Geno’s to fill my tummy with deep dish pizza. What a treat!