The Nylander Museum of Natural History was constructed as a Works Progress Administration project in 1938 and cost approximately $6,000 to complete. It has served as a department of the city of Caribou for more than 70 years, and currently functions as it was intended — to preserve and display the natural history collections and legacy of 1883 Swedish immigrant Olof O. Nylander (1864-1943), as well as to support local science and cultural education.
The Nylander Museum began in the time of the Great Depression, when many Americans struggled with joblessness, hunger, poverty and a despairing lack of hope for the future. Then President Franklin Delano Roosevelt advocated for a series of federally funded programs for the unemployed that were intended to restore national and individual pride by putting people back to work in their communities. America needed infrastructure and cultural growth; people needed jobs, hope, and self-respect. The new federal relief program called Works Progress Administration put people to work designing and building roads, bridges, libraries, businesses, factories, and many other projects including museums.
In June of 1938, the University of Maine at Orono recognized Olof Nylander’s body of work and his significant contributions to the scientific world by awarding him an honorary master of science degree. Nylander had discovered several unknown species throughout Maine and his work with fossils in Maine and the Canadian Maritimes would stand beside ongoing world research to solidify the theory of plate tectonics and continental drift.
Members of the Caribou chapter of the Garden Club Federation of Maine recognized that Mr. Nylander was nearing the end of his life and was long overdue for formal recognition by the community. Locally, there was concern that his vast collection of Maine natural history specimens would perhaps be in jeopardy or homeless upon his demise. The members petitioned the city of Caribou and the Maine Legislature to support their quest to build a museum, establish a cultural venue, and ensure the continuance of natural science education in the region.
For most of his life, Olof Nylander had shared his vast knowledge and important discoveries with museums, universities, scholars, educators, colleagues, students, and friends. Before the museum was constructed, he occupied a research office/lab space in the Caribou High School, and had also stored and displayed his collections in his rented rooms in the Vaughn House and Lyman Hotel in downtown Caribou.
A collaboration of funding and support from local, state, and federal groups fostered the Nylander Museum project and the city of Caribou declared that it would support Olof Nylander as the museum’s first curator with a guaranteed weekly income of $25, on the condition he would leave his natural history collections to the city to forever be part of the Nylander Museum. In 1938, the Nylander Museum of Natural History was formally opened in a dedication ceremony hosted by then Maine Governor Lewis Barrows, and became part of the city government in 1939. The Nylander Museum of Natural History would experience many significant changes in its long history.
Mr. Nylander became ill in 1940, but continued to work at the museum. Frail penmanship in his handwritten documents in the museum’s archives reflect an old man at the end of his journey and his letters to friends and colleagues speak of his illness and reflect a bit of despair as he remarks about his life.
After his death in 1943, few people, if any, were qualified or willing to replace him as curator or take over his natural history work. Museum funding was cut and the Nylander Museum was closed. Most of the Nylander collections were stored in the basement; but museum inventories show that some were shuttled off to various sites in an effort to “preserve” them from damage or loss. Unfortunately, no paperwork was retained and records of that time are inaccessible.
World War II was on the forefront and Caribou needed a community building. Initially, the Nylander served as a USO supporting the military effort and also as a meeting place for a variety of local clubs. Much of the “Old Professor’s” work was stored in the basement and forgotten. No new person of science had shown interest in exhuming the museum legacy. Then in the mid-’50s, when the Smithsonian Museum expressed interest in Nylander’s collections, the municipality began to recognize the value of the Nylander collections.
A new Nylander Museum organization developed in city government with minimal administrative funding and control. The museum shared its building space with the Chamber of Commerce and the local art club. During this time period with the addition of antiques and pioneer artifacts owned by the Caribou Historical Society, it became more known as a history museum, rather than natural history or science. To this day, people still think that many of the regional historical objects are housed at the Nylander.
In the early 1980s, dedicated volunteers began to restore the Nylander Museum to its original purpose. City Council appointed a Board of Trustees and a non-voting, ex-officio member from the City Council; and in 1984 funded the hiring of a part-time director. The rejuvenation of the original Nylander Museum of Natural History had begun, and the pioneer collections were soon de-accessed to the new Whittier family-funded Caribou Historical Society Museum south of Caribou on Route 1.
Since the late 1980s, a series of executive directors manned the operations of the Nylander Museum, swaying its focus a bit, according to the particular strengths and preferences of each administration. The Nylander Museum’s collections were increased beyond the natural history collections of Olof Nylander with accessions from the Portland Museum of Natural Science, and the museum took on a children’s learning center focus. An outside garden of regional plants was established, and a program of traveling trunks was initiated. Some work on documenting collections began, and the Nylander was on its way to being restored to full museum status.
In the late 1990’s, under the administration of new city manager, a new director, and the guidance of a proactive and very involved Board of Trustees, the Nylander was streamlined to, once again, reflect its intended function with a mission to preserve and share the life’s work of Olof Nylander and support regional natural history and cultural education. Many necessary museum management policies were enacted, and numerous upgrades and improvements to the building and exhibits were accomplished.
The Nylander Museum of Natural History continues its original mission and adheres to a strict collections policy that limits accessions to items specific to the history and work of Olof Nylander, to those evaluated natural history specimens that enhance existing collections, and to items that increase its outreach and/or educational support components. City funding provides for museum operations and the employment of a part-time executive director and one hostess/museum aide. A seven-member Board of Trustees still guides the museum’s progress and advocates for its position in the community. The Nylander enjoys a long-term working relationship with the Northern Maine Museum of Science and the University of Maine at Presque Isle, as well as, collaborates with the Francis Malcolm Science Institute in Easton. Specimens from the original Nylander collections still reside in the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History and in the National Museum of Canada.
Inside the Nylander’s central lobby room, the original woodwork, old furniture, and local-stone fireplace are strong reminders of the city’s past when times promoted self-taught amateurs, who studied and collected natural history specimens and shared their findings with each other and the world. Beside the large stone fireplace, the effigy of a man with sparkling blue eyes and white hair and mustache sits quietly at a roll-top desk welcoming museum visitors to enter the world of amateur natural historians of the early 1900s — and in particular, the world of one man who came from Sweden and whose dedication to the natural world inspired a town to build a museum to honor his work and preserve the precious natural wonders of Maine.
The Nylander Museum began in the time of the Great Depression, when many Americans struggled with joblessness, hunger, poverty and a despairing lack of hope for the future. Then President Franklin Delano Roosevelt advocated for a series of federally funded programs for the unemployed that were intended to restore national and individual pride by putting people back to work in their communities. America needed infrastructure and cultural growth; people needed jobs, hope, and self-respect. The new federal relief program called Works Progress Administration put people to work designing and building roads, bridges, libraries, businesses, factories, and many other projects including museums.
In June of 1938, the University of Maine at Orono recognized Olof Nylander’s body of work and his significant contributions to the scientific world by awarding him an honorary master of science degree. Nylander had discovered several unknown species throughout Maine and his work with fossils in Maine and the Canadian Maritimes would stand beside ongoing world research to solidify the theory of plate tectonics and continental drift.
Members of the Caribou chapter of the Garden Club Federation of Maine recognized that Mr. Nylander was nearing the end of his life and was long overdue for formal recognition by the community. Locally, there was concern that his vast collection of Maine natural history specimens would perhaps be in jeopardy or homeless upon his demise. The members petitioned the city of Caribou and the Maine Legislature to support their quest to build a museum, establish a cultural venue, and ensure the continuance of natural science education in the region.
For most of his life, Olof Nylander had shared his vast knowledge and important discoveries with museums, universities, scholars, educators, colleagues, students, and friends. Before the museum was constructed, he occupied a research office/lab space in the Caribou High School, and had also stored and displayed his collections in his rented rooms in the Vaughn House and Lyman Hotel in downtown Caribou.
A collaboration of funding and support from local, state, and federal groups fostered the Nylander Museum project and the city of Caribou declared that it would support Olof Nylander as the museum’s first curator with a guaranteed weekly income of $25, on the condition he would leave his natural history collections to the city to forever be part of the Nylander Museum. In 1938, the Nylander Museum of Natural History was formally opened in a dedication ceremony hosted by then Maine Governor Lewis Barrows, and became part of the city government in 1939. The Nylander Museum of Natural History would experience many significant changes in its long history.
Mr. Nylander became ill in 1940, but continued to work at the museum. Frail penmanship in his handwritten documents in the museum’s archives reflect an old man at the end of his journey and his letters to friends and colleagues speak of his illness and reflect a bit of despair as he remarks about his life.
After his death in 1943, few people, if any, were qualified or willing to replace him as curator or take over his natural history work. Museum funding was cut and the Nylander Museum was closed. Most of the Nylander collections were stored in the basement; but museum inventories show that some were shuttled off to various sites in an effort to “preserve” them from damage or loss. Unfortunately, no paperwork was retained and records of that time are inaccessible.
World War II was on the forefront and Caribou needed a community building. Initially, the Nylander served as a USO supporting the military effort and also as a meeting place for a variety of local clubs. Much of the “Old Professor’s” work was stored in the basement and forgotten. No new person of science had shown interest in exhuming the museum legacy. Then in the mid-’50s, when the Smithsonian Museum expressed interest in Nylander’s collections, the municipality began to recognize the value of the Nylander collections.
A new Nylander Museum organization developed in city government with minimal administrative funding and control. The museum shared its building space with the Chamber of Commerce and the local art club. During this time period with the addition of antiques and pioneer artifacts owned by the Caribou Historical Society, it became more known as a history museum, rather than natural history or science. To this day, people still think that many of the regional historical objects are housed at the Nylander.
In the early 1980s, dedicated volunteers began to restore the Nylander Museum to its original purpose. City Council appointed a Board of Trustees and a non-voting, ex-officio member from the City Council; and in 1984 funded the hiring of a part-time director. The rejuvenation of the original Nylander Museum of Natural History had begun, and the pioneer collections were soon de-accessed to the new Whittier family-funded Caribou Historical Society Museum south of Caribou on Route 1.
Since the late 1980s, a series of executive directors manned the operations of the Nylander Museum, swaying its focus a bit, according to the particular strengths and preferences of each administration. The Nylander Museum’s collections were increased beyond the natural history collections of Olof Nylander with accessions from the Portland Museum of Natural Science, and the museum took on a children’s learning center focus. An outside garden of regional plants was established, and a program of traveling trunks was initiated. Some work on documenting collections began, and the Nylander was on its way to being restored to full museum status.
In the late 1990’s, under the administration of new city manager, a new director, and the guidance of a proactive and very involved Board of Trustees, the Nylander was streamlined to, once again, reflect its intended function with a mission to preserve and share the life’s work of Olof Nylander and support regional natural history and cultural education. Many necessary museum management policies were enacted, and numerous upgrades and improvements to the building and exhibits were accomplished.
The Nylander Museum of Natural History continues its original mission and adheres to a strict collections policy that limits accessions to items specific to the history and work of Olof Nylander, to those evaluated natural history specimens that enhance existing collections, and to items that increase its outreach and/or educational support components. City funding provides for museum operations and the employment of a part-time executive director and one hostess/museum aide. A seven-member Board of Trustees still guides the museum’s progress and advocates for its position in the community. The Nylander enjoys a long-term working relationship with the Northern Maine Museum of Science and the University of Maine at Presque Isle, as well as, collaborates with the Francis Malcolm Science Institute in Easton. Specimens from the original Nylander collections still reside in the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History and in the National Museum of Canada.
Inside the Nylander’s central lobby room, the original woodwork, old furniture, and local-stone fireplace are strong reminders of the city’s past when times promoted self-taught amateurs, who studied and collected natural history specimens and shared their findings with each other and the world. Beside the large stone fireplace, the effigy of a man with sparkling blue eyes and white hair and mustache sits quietly at a roll-top desk welcoming museum visitors to enter the world of amateur natural historians of the early 1900s — and in particular, the world of one man who came from Sweden and whose dedication to the natural world inspired a town to build a museum to honor his work and preserve the precious natural wonders of Maine.
During the most recent years, the Nylander Museum has set about the task of cataloguing and inventorying the collections and archives. Thousands of freshwater and marine mollusk specimens, recognized as one of the most comprehensive and unique collections in New England, are housed and protected at the museum. Hundreds of little cardboard boxes held countless shells and the valuable specimen documentation written on tags and papers of all sorts. By the end of 2002, most of the Nylander shells had been scientifically reviewed by malacologist Dr. Scott Martin of Columbus, Ohio, and documented in hand-written journals for the first time ever in the museum’s history.
Much of the past environmental history of the Northeast lies hidden in the meticulous Nylander documentation of specimens and archives. Upon request twice in 2003, the Nylander provided documentation from its collections to substantiate floral and faunal elements of past environmental habitats. Time-specific data gleaned from the Nylander’s documentation and photographs provided important environmental information that focused one lime-pit remediation project and supported prospective plans to preserve some endangered orchids. The Nylander Museum is committed to support science education, protect Maine’s natural history, and serve northern Maine communities.
In addition to the Nylander marine and freshwater mollusks, the museum houses other marine specimens, plant specimens, regional taxidermy animals, butterflies, a large geologic collection of rocks and fossils from Maine and Canada, Paleo-Indian stone artifacts from Maine, and a Native American library, period furniture, a small art collection, and a variety of books, photographs, and documents in the archives.
Work is under way to complete electronic cataloguing of the museum’s entire collection and create a new museum Web site with virtual tours, educational support, and collections information.
The Nylander Museum of Natural History is currently open to the public for walk-in visitors throughout the year, excluding holidays. The museum’s summer hours have recently been extended to open by the 1st of May, Tuesdays through Saturdays from 12:30 to 4:30 p.m.; and change to winter hours after October 31. Winter hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Wednesdays only. Off-hour visits for groups or guided tours may be scheduled by calling the museum at (207) 493-4209.
