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Draft:Stanley Field British Guiana Expedition of 1922

Stanley Field British Guiana Expedition of 1922
LeaderBror Eric Dahlgren
StartChicago, Illinois
2 March 1922 (1922-03-02)
EndBritish Guiana (current day Guyana)
September 1923 (1923-09)
Crew
  • Bror Eric Dahlgren
  • J. R. Millar
  • A. C. Persaud

The Stanley Field British Guiana Expedition of 1922 was a botanical expedition undertaken by The Field Museum of Natural History of Chicago, Illinois. The purpose of the expedition was to obtain botanical specimens for plant reproductions, exhibit displays, and further research in the museum's Department of Botany.[1]

Background

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Captain Marshall Field, who was then President of the Field Museum, contributed $3,000.00 to fund the expedition.[2] During this time, the museum was conducting numerous scientific expeditions to South America, including to Colombia, Brazil, Peru, Chile, Argentina, and Uruguay.[3]

Sentence or two about biodiversity of Guyana here.

Sentence clarifying that British Guiana was a British Colony and that it is now an independent nation of the name Guyana.

Expedition

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Bror Eric Dahlgren led the expedition and departed by ship from Chicago on February 10, 1922. He was accompanied by John R. Millar, another member of the museum staff, as his assistant.[4][5]

Insert photographs of Dahlgren and Millar.

They took brief stops in Trinidad and Grenada, and they reached Georgetown, British Guiana on March 2, 1922.[6] The majority of the expedition was spent in Georgetown with a 10 day excursion to Dutch Guiana.

Dahlgren was granted access to the grounds at the Georgetown Botanical Gardens where he took many collections specimens and photographs.

The crew was assisted by a Guyanese botanist named Mr. A. C. Persaud, who volunteered his services to aid with plant collection.[7] Persaud continued collecting specimens for the Field Museum after Dahlgren's expedition until his death in Georgetown in 1924.[8]. Another Guyanese man named Mr. Harris supported Dahlgren during the expedition. Little is known about him, but there are numerous photographs of him taken by Dahlgren.

Insert photograph of Persaud and Harris

Given the tropical climate conditions, drying and preserving the plants was a challenge, especially for larger specimens such as palm trees. Dahlgren recorded the process of collecting, photographing, preserving, and creating wax molds for botanical specimens in his expedition field book. The crew rented a small cottage to use as a laboratory for these processes.

Insert photograph of laboratory.

Collections

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Dahlgren and his crew brought back a vast amount of material from British Guiana, including herbarium specimens, economic botany specimens, exhibit specimens, plaster molds, photographs, watercolor illustrations, zoological specimens, and geological specimens.

One of the most notable specimens obtained from the expedition was the Cannonball Tree, or Couroupita guianensis. The expedition crew was given permission to take part of the trunk of a Cannonball tree in the yard of a church in Georgetown. This trunk, with its flowers and cannonball-shaped fruit, has been on display at the Field Museum since 1923.

Insert photo of cannonball tree in churchyard and Plant Hall display.


Publications

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References

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  1. ^ "Annual report of the Director to the Board of Trustees for the year 1922"
  2. ^ "Annual report of the Director to the Board of Trustees for the year 1922"
  3. ^ "Annual report of the Director to the Board of Trustees for the year 1922"
  4. ^ "Field Museum news"
  5. ^ "Annual report of the Director to the Board of Trustees for the year 1922"
  6. ^ "Collecting Expedition to British Guiana, 1922"
  7. ^ "The Persaud Collection of British Guiana Woods"
  8. ^ "Annual report of the Director to the Board of Trustees for the year 1925"
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