Hello Zoo Chat! My name is Bonnie Griffin, I currently live in Los Angeles but was previously curator for natural history at Bristol Museum and Art Gallery (taking care of Alfred the Gorilla) and before that, a senior education officer at Bristol Zoo. I now work at the Natural History Museum LA and am a freelance artist, researching and creating exhibitions based on animal histories and the intersection of people and animals. Working in the museum and zoo, I was often able to research the history of animals still held in the collection including Ann and Henry the orang utans, the thylacine from the Tasmania Zoo, Victoria the Lioness and Jackson the Rhino. I am currently researching Bolivar the elephant ~1870 - 1908, specifically Forepaugh's circus elephant Bolivar who retired at the Philadelphia Zoo (although in unpicking him from other circus elephants also called Bolivar at the time, I have some research on these too!) I'm particularly interested in elephant husbandry and in zoo archives! You can catch me on Twitter @Bonniebeasties Bonnie Griffin (@BonnieBeasties) | Twitter Looking forward to meeting with you all!
Welcome to Zoochat, Bonnie. And welcome to Los Angeles. Our natural history museum has opened some world-class exhibits in the last decade with the dinosaur hall. mammal evolution hall, and Nature Lab. I hope that you are enjoying your work there and life in your new city.
Nice one David, it's really wonderful! I am hoping to discover more about LA's amazing history, although I'm very much focussed on Philadelphia Zoo at the moment so ill post in the right forum if I can - I will have an exhibition coming up on Bolivar in LA so I will keep you posted!
Welcome to the forum Bonnie. Nice to meet another museum person your research sounds very interesting, hope to hear more if you are happy to share with us all here
Yes absolutely - you can't shut me up about Bolivar ! Would be very interested in any tips you might have for zoo history searches...
Looking forward to hearing more about Bolivar! Not sure how much I can help with your historical research, but it might be worth getting in touch with the Bartlett Society. They're a zoo history enthusiast group, with many knowledgeable members. The Bartlett Society
Fantastic, I know at Bristol they were really keen for you to have previous experience in some kind of engagement with audiences and I would say volunteering is a great way to start building up your experience!