The Dashing Kansan - Lewis Lindsay Dyche - The Amazing Adventures of a Nineteenth-Century Naturalist and Explorer by Bill Sharp and Peggy Sullivan
As revealed by Sharp and Sullivan, Lewis Lindsay Dyche was a man who helped to shape the preservation of our natural heritage. If not for the perseverance and foresight of scientists such as Dyche, the only remnants of our wilderness would be those that stand lifeless in museums. Dyche was of pioneer origins--his mother and father moved from Virginia to the Kansas prairie soon after he was born. As a boy he hunted, trapped, fished, and visited Indians who camped near the family farm. Although he had little formal schooling as a youth, he aspired toward education and enrolled at the nascent University of Kansas at Lawrence. Through dedication, determination, and the support of other scientists of his day, Dyche became a legend--he explored and collected on the western frontier, explored the North Pole with Cook and Peary, created new precedents for wildlife taxidermy, and developed radical new conservation programs. Little was known about conservation in the 1900s, and biologists such as Dyche sought to preserve animal species in museums. Part of Dyche's mission was to collect every North American mammal for public display. In a time when television and film were not available, these displays were magical. Dyche's wildlife panorama was the center of attention at the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago and remains the centerpiece at the University of Kansas Natural History Museum. Sharp and Sullivan have creatively amalgamated Dyche's biography from field diaries, letters, newspaper articles, and scientific papers. This well written and researched book will be enjoyable, enlightening, and appealing for naturalists, conservationists, historians, museologists, Kansans, and the explorer in all of us. From a review by Mary Liz Jameson, University of Kansas, Lawrence.
This hardcover book is in very good condition with slight imperfections to the dust jacket. Pages in very good condition.
ISBN 10: 0916455068
Publisher: Harrow Books
Publication Date: 1990