SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — More than 100 taxidermy specimen from the Brockhouse Collection that were housed in the former Delbridge Museum may be headed to the University of Notre Dame Museum of Biodiversity.
A committee tasked with finding a new home for roughly 150 specimen tentatively agreed on Wednesday to donate 117 specimen to the museum at Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. The committee has been working for several months on an option after the Great Plains Zoo and city of Sioux Falls decided to close the Delbridge after a majority of the specimen tested positive for arsenic.
It would take an estimated $847,000 to restore or repair about 150 specimen, consultants A.M. Art Conservation and George Dante Studios, said in a committee meeting on July 12. About 50% of the collection is in good condition with others ranking at excellent and even exceptional.
Some animals are beyond repair, the consultants said in July.
Shortly after the July meeting, the committee began to seek proposals from eligible groups to receive specimen. South Dakota law requires the specimen to be donated to an eligible recipient. This past session, the Legislature passed a law that would allow the specimen to be donated to an out-of-state entity.
The committee, called the Brockhouse Collection Work Group, received six proposals for the specimen. The University of Notre Dame Museum of Biodiversity said it wanted 117 specimen. You can see the proposals in document attached below.
The Oddities Museum of Atlanta was interested in the entire collection, according to the committee agenda proposal worksheet. Coburn Grand Resort was interested in the entire collection.
The Grand Rapids Public Museum in Michigan wanted 13 specimen. The Institute of Natural History Arts in Woodland Park, New Jersey, wanted 28 while the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, wanted 9.
The committee said it would conduct due diligence on the museum at Notre Dame. It would also contact others to see if they were interested in specimen not wanted by by the museum at Notre Dame.
KELOLAND News was at Wednesday’s committee meeting and will have more coverage on air and online.
