A Love Affair with Birds: The Life of Thomas Sadler Roberts

The father of Minnesota ornithology, Thomas Sadler Roberts (1858–1946), was a doctor for three decades and a bird lover virtually from birth. He promoted the study of the states natural history and founded the Bell Museum of Natural History. Sue Leaf's biography, A Love Affair with Birds, captures a true Minnesota character and his time.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 296 pages
Publication date: 28 September 2021
Publisher: University of Minnesota Press

The father of Minnesota ornithology, whose life story opens a window on a lost world of nature and conservation in the states early days, is the subject of A Love Affair with Birds, the first full biography of this key figure in Minnesotas past. Roberts arrived in Minnesota as a young man and started keeping meticulous records of the birds in Minneapolis. These journals, which served as the foundation for his landmark work The Birds of Minnesota, also provide insight into the states rich avian life in its early days—and of a young man whose passion for birds and practice of medicine in a young Minneapolis eventually dovetailed in his launching of the beloved Bell Museum of Natural History. Bird enthusiast, doctor, author, curator, educator, conservationist: every chapter in Robertss life is also a chapter in the states history, and in his story acclaimed author Sue Leaf—an avid bird enthusiast and nature lover herself—captures a true Minnesota character and his time.

Imagine a Minneapolis so small that, on calm days, the roar of St. Anthony Falls could be heard in town, a time when passenger pigeons roosted in neighborhood oak trees. Now picture a dapper professor conducting his ornithology class (the universitys first) by streetcar to Lake Harriet for a morning of bird-watching. The students were mostly young women—in sunhats, sailor tops, and long skirts, with binoculars strung around their necks. The professor was Thomas Sadler Roberts (1858–1946), a doctor for three decades, a bird lover virtually from birth, the father of Minnesota ornithology, and the man who, perhaps more than any other, promoted the study of the states natural history.

A Love Affair with Birds is the first full biography of this key figure in Minnesotas past. Roberts came to Minnesota as a boy and began keeping detailed accounts of Minneapoliss birds. These journals, which became the basis for his landmark work The Birds of Minnesota, also inform this book, affording a view of the states rich avian life in its early days—and of a young man whose passion for birds and practice of medicine in a young Minneapolis eventually dovetailed in his launching of the beloved Bell Museum of Natural History.

Bird enthusiast, doctor, author, curator, educator, conservationist: every chapter in Robertss life is also a chapter in the states history, and in his story acclaimed author Sue Leaf—an avid bird enthusiast and nature lover herself—captures a true Minnesota character and his time.

Dimension: 216 x 140 x 38 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780816675654