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Show Really Enjoyed The Museum An open letter to Paunsagaunt Wildlife Museum: Johnnie and I want to repeat again how much we enjoyed seeing see-ing your museum. It is unusually complete and also perfectly done. As retirees, we travel a great deal and often visit museums in towns we pass through, though I will admit we only took the route through Panguitch because we'd read your writeup in a Park City or Salt Lake City paper as a "must not miss" treasure. As past mayor and longtime trustee of our small tourist supported town outside out-side of Aspen, I know how much Panguitch benefits from having you in town; I'd have given my eyeteeth to get such a wonderful attraction to come to Basalt. The local schoolboys who were visiting visit-ing seemed to be learning a great deal from you. As promised, here is our bird collection. These are all eastern birds; it might be interesting to your western visitors to see some of these. There's a yellow shafted flicker, rarely seen west of the Mississippi, and what I as an easterner for the first half of my I life think of as a "real" bluejay, among others. In case any of these birds are endangered or otherwise protected from being collected nowadays, I can specifically assure you and any wildlife officials that these were collected before 1947. My grandfather and his children, all veterinarians practicing in southern south-ern New Jersey, specialized by that date in avian diseases. They were known worldwide as authori- ties on vaccines to prevent diseases dis-eases in chickens and other farm fowl and were the developers of the world's first egg embryo propagated vaccines. The company com-pany manufacturing these vaccines vac-cines was incorporated as Vineland Poultry Laboratories by the end of World War-II. These birds were in a display case in my grandfather's office at the lab, which I believe was built during the war and completed right after the war's end. Later on they were in my parents' par-ents' house in a "window wall" case. When my dad moved, he dumped them in a box and sent them to me. I apologize for the poor condition they're in. I hope you can smooth their ruffled feathers. Please accept them as our gift to your fine museum. If they have any substantial value, a letter stating that for tax purposes would be useful to me. Again, you've built a wonderful wonder-ful museum and done a wonderful thing for Panguitch, which as a small town official I truly envy. Cordially, Gosta and Linda Johnson Basalt, Colo. |