The in-person portion of the meeting will be held at the Academy of Natural Sciences, BEES classroom (3rd floor).
Meeting agenda:
7:15 PM: Zoom opens
7:30-8 PM: Club business
8 PM: Presentation followed by questions (might start earlier if club business finishes earlier).
Please register for the meeting whether you will be attending in person or via Zoom. Then watch for the meeting link in your email. Disregard the meeting link if you will be attending in person.
Rediscovery and history of Alexander Wilson’s house in Philadelphia
Speaker: Matthew Halley (in-person)
For over two centuries, scholars believed that Alexander Wilson’s residence at 233 Spruce St., Philadelphia, where he lived during the production of American Ornithology (1808–14), and where he died, was demolished long ago. Now, after more than a decade of detective work, Halley has revealed that the historic “Jones House” (named after its builder, Wilson’s landlord) still stands at 733 Spruce St., and that the house number changed around 1860, misleading generations of historians. In this unique presentation, Halley will trace the history and significance of the house, and explain how he relocated it, after 220 years.
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Dr. Matthew Halley is a local ornithologist and historian who is widely known for his detailed and revelatory studies of American history and the evolutionary biology and taxonomy of birds. He is the Assistant Curator of Birds at the Delaware Museum of Nature & Science (Wilmington), a Research Associate at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University (Philadelphia), where he earned his Ph.D. in 2021, and an Honorary Member, Fellow, and former Editor of the DVOC. He lives in Landenberg, PA.