Notes from the Archives
Step back in time with us. From rare photographs and historic documents to personal accounts and scientific breakthroughs — stories of the people, places, and discoveries that shaped our legacy.
The Mystery of the Misplacement of the Mycological Watercolors
In 1957 a Columbia graduate student cleaning out a storeroom found a stack of grimy oak frames, each holding a watercolor of mushrooms. They were William Hamilton Gibson’s originals for his 1895 guide to edible fungi. Six are now in the Reinke Archives and six at the New York Botanical Garden, and seventeen are still unaccounted for. With an artist’s aside by Sarah Vickery.
Read the full story →Earlier Stories
Dr. Lindsay Shepherd Olive: A Life in Mycology and Conservation
Highlands Mineral Society, 1955–1962
Lydia Sargent Macauley (1932–2025)
Franklin Reed Dulany, Sr. (1897–1982)
Margaret Louise Cannon Carr Howell Clarkson
Tabled for 80 Years — A Mystery Solved
Step Back in Time: Interactive Masa Photograph of the Sam T. Weyman Laboratory Dedication
Ralph Millard Sargent and Louise Alexandria Anderson Sargent
Laura M. Bragg — 1941 Summer Director of The Highlands Museum of Natural History
The Clark Foreman Museum: Now the Highlands Biological Station Nature Center
Samuel T. Weyman Building
E. E. Reinke
Have a Story to Share?
Notes from the Archives is a living record, shaped by volunteers, researchers, and community members who care about the history of the Highlands Plateau. If you have photographs, documents, or a story to contribute, we'd love to hear from you.
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