I am a school librarian. When I was cleaning out a cupboard, I found a box of nature-related prints. There are over 300 of them, with a copyright of 1900. Most are of birds, but there are others of flowers, other animals, seashells, and rocks. Are they worth anything? What should I do with them
—Jeannie, Loganton, Pennsylvania
What a treasure! (And thanks for letting me look at them in person.) I’m not an expert in prints, but it looks like they might be from several sources, and with the exception of a few that have wrinkled edges, they’re in great shape for being over 100 years old.
All are numbered and many of them have a footnote “Copyright 1900 by A. W. Mumford, Chicago. Others are labeled “from Nature’s Garden copyright 1900 by Doubleday, Page, and Company.” They’re in a box embossed with “Perry Pictures – Animals,” and there’s also a booklet titled Perry Pictures Bird Manual (undated) that matches up with the numbers on the bird prints. According to online sources, these publishing companies produced prints and magazines devoted to nature study and marketed to schools.
At the start of the 20th century, the “Nature Study” movement was dedicated to the idea that children should learn from nature (rather than textbooks) and from tangible objects in a hands-on manner. I wonder if this is a precursor to environmental education and the “No Child Left Inside” discussions we’re having at the beginning of the 21st century?

I suspect these prints were meant to be used in classrooms. They are very realistic, almost photographic, depictions, many with background details showing the animal’s habitat (similar to museum dioramas). Some of the bird and animal ones look as though they were drawn from museum specimens.
If you want to know about their monetary value, I’d take them to a dealer who specializes in antique prints. If you find out that they are really valuable, your principal or district administration may have some suggestions on what to do with them and where to keep them.
Assuming they do not have great monetary value, you could put them back in the cupboard and save them for another 100 years, but since they were meant to be a learning tool, you and your science colleagues could use them as such.

• Inventory them and create an index or list (a project some students or volunteers could take on) Share the list with other libraries in your district so the teachers know what you have.

• Get some inexpensive frames and display some of them (perhaps as rotating exhibits) in the school offices, conference rooms, library, hallways, or teachers’ workroom. Your art teacher may have some suggestions on how to frame these prints.

• Put some of them in plastic sheet protectors and have students use them as writing prompts, using precise language to describe the appearance of these plants or animals or to compare and contrast their attributes. The prints could be used in activities for sorting, categorizing, or classifying. Students could note how some of the names of the birds have changed. Cover the names with a sticky note and practice naming birds. Although pictures are readily available online, your students may be impressed using documents more than 100 years old.

• Use them in binders or on classroom bulletin boards (in the sheet protectors), where students may enjoy looking at them. When I displayed a collection of seaweed pressings in my classroom, I was surprised and pleased the seventh graders often would look at them, noting differences among the species (or perhaps they were just amused by the genus name Fucus).

• Ask a high school student or class to do some more research on the publishers and other types of Nature Study materials. This could also be an interesting topic for a teacher taking a graduate class in environmental education or educational history.

• If you’re willing to part with any of them, framed prints could be given as tokens of appreciation or recognition to volunteers, retiring teachers, paraprofessionals, or students.

If anyone has more information about these prints, please add a comment. Who knows what else is buried in the closets and cupboards in our schools? Perhaps the Antiques Road Show could do a special episode!
To see copies of Nature Study magazines:
Nature’s Garden
Birds and Nature