Founding Feathers: Extinction and Conservation of Southern Birds

Undergraduate students Maddie Colvin and Karli Sinclair have teamed up to curate McKissick Museum’s newest exhibition. What started as a group project in a University classroom has been transformed into an educational museum exhibition on extinct and endangered birds. Showcasing three heartbreaking extinction stories: the ivory billed woodpecker, the Carolina parakeet, and the passenger pigeon, the exhibitions also brings to light the conservation efforts inspired by their disappearance. Their legacy sparked the beginning of conservation efforts around the United States including the successful conservation of the Bald Eagle. This 3rd floor lobby exhibition will open December 15, 2018 through June 30, 2019, featuring objects from the Irvin Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, the Museum of York County, the South Carolina State Museum and more.