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Living History presentations that  bring to life the stories of famous women explorers and natural scientists.  First-person character reenactments including demos of each characters “tools of the trade”, followed by educational activities including how to make expedition supplies, how to draft and paint traditional parchment maps,  bookbinding techniques for traditional atlases and journey books,  and more.

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Character presentations include:

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Lydia Bailey—early Colonial map and atlas printer, noted for her quality maps,   atlases, and expeditions reports from the expanding American frontier

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Annie Peck—American explorer and mountaineer,  the first person to climb and chart the elevations of the  high peaks in  the Andes Mountains

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Maria Sibylla Merian—German naturalist and book publisher from  the late 1600’s, was the first woman to become a ship’s naturalist on a Dutch expedition to the Caribbean and Surinam, well known for her pioneering studies of insect life cycles

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Giovanna Garzoni--   artist and naturalist from Tuscany,   and  a contemporary  of Galileo,  Giovanna specialized in scientific illustration and was well known for her detailed studies of fruits, flowers, birds, and insects.

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Grace O'Malley-- an Elizabethan-era sea captain and mapmaker from Connemara, who took up piracy on the Irish seas to aid resistance against British invasion

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Mary Gibbs—Minnesota conservationist of the early 20th century,  champion for the protection of the headwaters of the Mississippi River, first woman in the world to be appointed commissioner of a state or national park

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Freydís Eiríksdóttir--Viking explorer, daughter of Erik the Red and sister of Leif Eriksson, who led her own expedition to explore Vinland, Labrador and Newfoundland in the 10th century. 

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Isabella Bird--Scottish explorer of North America, Asia and the Middle east, who was the first woman member of the Royal British Geographic Society 

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Mary Kingsley—Victorian era  British ichthyologist who was the first to explorer and map several major  central African watersheds

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Madame Pangea—fictional head teacher of geography and conservation at Hogworts School of Wizardry

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Frances Densmore--ethnologist, folk taxonomist and ethnobotanist for the Smithsonian, especially known for her work with the Minnesota Ojibwe in the late 19th and early 20th century. Author of  "Strength of the Earth: The Classic Guide to Ojibwe Uses of Native Plants"

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Beatrix Potter--British botanist, conservationist and scientific illustrator, first to discover and document moss and fungi symbiosis in lichens, activist for the establishment of British nature preserves and National Parks, funded her scientific research and conservation work by authoring and illustrating bunny books for kids. 

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