Guide to the Bowdoin Scientific Station Records, 1934-
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Records of Bowdoin Scientific Station (Kent Island), George J. Mitchell Department of Special Collections & Archives, Bowdoin College Library, Brunswick, Maine
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The Bowdoin Scientific Station located on Kent Island, New Brunswick, Canada, is Bowdoin College's biological field station. Since the summer of 1934, students from Bowdoin College (and other colleges and universities) have banded birds and worked on various projects on the Island. Kent Island was deeded to Bowdoin College in 1936 by J. Sterling Rockefeller and Paula Rockefeller for scientific purposes only, with the stipulation that a bird sanctuary be maintained on the Island. Alfred O. Gross, Bowdoin Professor of Biology, was the first director of the station, a position he held until his retirement in 1953. His son, William A.O. Gross (Bowdoin class of 1937) was the first field director, and Ernest Joy was the first caretaker. Since the first official Bowdoin College expedition to the Island in 1935, the station has been a research facility and sanctuary for nesting seabirds, and it is known for studies of gulls and storm-petrels. During the summer, undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty are involved in research projects concerning seabirds, island plants, marine biology, meteorology, and other aspects of the environment and ecology. Many scientific papers have been published based on research at the Station.
This collection contains annual reports, scientific publications, correspondence, articles, and newspaper clippings concerning the station. Also included are a 1938 map of Kent Island, digital images, a narrated history, and other historical material.
This series contains reports of events, plans, populations, and research at the Bowdoin Scientific Station. Though titled "Annual Report," reports in the 1940s covered two or three years, and no annual reports were published between 1949 and 1987; the custom was revived in 1987 when Nathaniel Wheelwright became director of the station.
Arranged chronologically.
No restrictions.
1936-1941
1939-1940
1942-1949
1987-1996
1996-1998
1999-2003
2004-2007
2008-2009
2010-2013
2014-
This series includes offprints of published articles on research done on Kent Island that are compiled as "Contributions from the Bowdoin Scientific Station" (numbers 1-43, 1935-1975), and a comprehensive bibliography printed from the Kent Island Bowdoin College Web site, which cites contributions as well as other scientific publications based on research done at the Bowdoin Scientific Station.
Arranged chronologically.
No restrictions.
1-15, 1935-1945
5, 1939
7, 10, 14, 1940-1945
16-20, 1947-1948
21-25, 1949-1955
26-30, 1961-1965
31, 1967
32-35, 1966-1970
36-40, 1970-1973
41-43, 1973-1975
Appendix II and bibliography, 1935-
Eradication of an Ecosystem Engineer, 2016
This series contains correspondence, narrated illustrated history on DVD by David Z. Webster (Bowdoin Class of 1957), articles, newspaper clippings, maps and documents from early expeditions to the island, and typescript reports that provide information about Bowdoin's scientific station on Kent Island. Also included are digital images used by Professor Nathaniel Wheelwright in a lecture on the history of the biological field station.
Arranged alphabetically.
No restrictions.
Correspondence from Ernest Joy, caretaker, 1940-1943 (photocopies)
Correspondence from Ernest Joy, caretaker, to Bob Cunningham, meteorological researcher at Kent Island, 1938-1949 (photocopies with typed transcriptions)
Correspondence, 1940
"First, there was an albatross," article about the Bowdoin Scientific Station by Nathaniel Wheelwright, Bowdoin magazine, 2008 Winter
Map of Kent Island mapped by the Bowdoin College Kent Island expedition, 1936-1938
Miscellaneous articles, correspondence and reports, 1935, 1968, 1981, 1986, 2011, 2015-
Newspaper clippings, 1942, 1948, 1980
Preliminary report: Kent's Island expedition, n.d.
Prospectus of the 1936 Bowdoin-Kent's Island Expedition
Stationary- Trevor Peterson, Captain Gillette House, Kent Island
Student Presentations, 2010-2013
Undergraduate Thesis and Independent Studies, 2010-2013
Rare Passamaquaddy Flora of Grand Manan
Kent Island Life, 2015-
"Well-Known Biologists at Kent Island"
Large Images
Medium Images
Cassette: Leach's Storm-Petrels (Bird call) Gull Island, 1973
Cassette: Petrels Purring (Bird call) Kent Island
Cassette: "Kent Island 1936-38" Segments from an NBC Radio Program during 1936-1938 remotely interviewing Bowdoin students and faculty working on Kent Island
Cassette: David Webster '57 interviewing C.E. Huntington, Nat Wheelwright, and Robert Mauch regarding their research on Kent Island, the history of the Island as a Bowdoin research station, and the experiential value of the Island itself, 2003
CD: "Good Gun Tales and the 73-Year History of the Bowdoin Scientific Station on Kent Island," Power Point file and PDF copy of the photographs used by Nathaniel Wheelwright in this talk on 2008 Feb 13. The lecture commemorated his appointment to the Bass Professorship.
CD: Kent Island, Bay of Fundy, Province of New Brunswick: A 70 year history and perspective, 1934-2004; produced and narrated by David Z. Webster (Class of 1957), 2004
VHS: Kent Island 2001- Puffins, Whale Watching, Birds in Flight, Fashion Show, Etc.