Henry Francis Nachtrieb papers

Henry Francis Nachtrieb was born near Galion, Ohio on May 11, 1857. He earned a B.S. from the University of Minnesota in 1882 and later attended Johns Hopkins University for graduate studies from 1883-1885. In 1885, he returned to the University of Minnesota where he served as instructor (1885-1886) and assistant professor of biology (1886-1887), and professor and chairman of the Department of Animal Biology (1887-1925). Upon his retirement in 1925, Nachtrieb was awarded the title of Professor Emeritus of Animal Biology.

On June 4, 1888, the Board of Regents established the role of State Zoologist to take charge of the formal zoological investigations of the Minnesota Geological and Natural History Survey (MGNHS), which was established by the state legislature in 1872. Nachtrieb became the State Zoologist upon his promotion from an associate professor to Professor of Animal Biology in November of 1888 (The Board originally approved that the Professor of Animal Biology would also serve as the State Zoologist and direct the zoological portion of the survey). Nachtrieb’s first major initiative for the survey was to produce fish, mussel, and mollusk investigations of Minnesota’s rivers. In 1899, Nachtrieb collaborated with Ulysses S. Cox, professor of biology at the Mankato State Normal School, to construct a houseboat with a fully equipped laboratory to travel the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers and tributaries to study aquatic life. The traveling laboratory, which was named “Megalops,” was launched in 1899 into the Minnesota River at Mankato. Nachtrieb, Cox, and a rotating crew of assistants from the University seined the rivers and collected specimens. Their work resulted in several published reports of the aquatic fauna of Minnesota

In the early 1900s, Nachtrieb assumed responsibility of directing the University’s Zoological Museum, which was established as part of the original MGNHS. Nachtrieb collaborated with prominent Minneapolis businessman James Ford Bell, then Vice President of the milling firm Washburn-Crosby Co., to promote Minnesota’s natural history. Bell, an avid outdoorsman, took interest in Nachtrieb’s department and, in 1911, financed the collection, preparation, and installation of a diorama of Newfoundland Caribou. Nachtrieb forged a long-standing relationship between Bell and the University, as Bell later financed additional dioramas that are still part of the Zoological Museum, today known as the Bell Museum of Natural History.

In 1915, Nachtrieb pursued the development of ornithological research at the University and influenced Thomas Sadler Roberts, a prominent Minneapolis physician and ornithological expert, to accept an initially unpaid position within the department of animal biology as Associate Curator of the Zoological Museum. The museum became an independent department with a separate budget in July 1919, and Roberts was promoted to Director, removing the responsibility of the museum from Nachtrieb’s duties.

When Pillsbury Hall opened in 1889, it housed the departments of geology, botany, and zoology. In the following years, as need for additional laboratory and instruction spaces were needed, Nachtrieb advocated for a separate building for animal biology. Plans for the building and oversight of its construction were largely directed by Nachtrieb. The Animal Biology building (known later as Zoology) opened in September of 1916.

Nachtrieb assisted in founding a local chapter of Psi Upsilon fraternity; was a member of Sigma Xi, American Society of Zoologists, Anatomists and Naturalists, Association of American Museums; and was a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In addition to his activities in the natural sciences, Nachtrieb established the University’s General Alumni Association and served as its first president from 1904 to 1916.

Henry Francis Nachtrieb died on July 17, 1942 in Berkeley, California.