Dr Ronald B. Madge Entomology Collection
As a student of entomology, Ronald Madge spent his summers working for Canada’s Department of Agriculture on insect surveys in southern Canada, Alaska, and the Canadian high arctic. After completing his doctoral dissertation on the classification of the coleopteran genus Lebia at the University of Alberta, under the supervision of Dr George E. Ball, and a post-doctoral fellowship at the Natural History Museum in London, Dr Madge was employed from 1965 to his retirement in 1992 at the insect identification and taxonomic research division of the Commonwealth Institute of Entomology, part of the Commonwealth Agriculture Bureau (now CAB International). Dr Madge reports that his work in several “wonderful libraries” in London, particularly in the extensive library at London’s Natural History Museum, made a lasting impression and inspired him to help his alma mater strengthen its holdings of entomology’s classical works. His generosity has allowed Bruce Peel Special Collections to build one of the great collections of historic entomology, a collection that is notable for books, pamphlets, and broadsides (posters) of both scientific significance and great aesthetic beauty.
Getting started: Most student researchers will want to employ a series of keyword searches in the University of Alberta Library catalogue in order to find relevant print and digital materials in all U of A library locations and collections, including the Madge Collection. Those who wish to browse this specific collection can do so by searching “Ronald B. Madge Entomology Collection” in the library catalogue or by viewing some of the more than 500 books from the Madge Collection included in Gale's Nineteenth Century Collections Online database in the Entomology section under the heading, "Science, Technology, and Medicine: 1780-1925, Part II," or by viewing a selection of these books that can be viewed through the Internet Archive. For more information about research in the Peel library, see Finding and Requesting Peel Library Materials.
Further resources: The collection was featured in a Peel library exhibition curated by Professor Ball in titled The Art of Insect Illustration and Threads of Entomological History (2004-05). Peel houses a collection of Ian Sheldon’s Entomological Illustrations that may also be of interest.
Collection Formats: 17th Century, 18th Century, 19th Century, 20th Century, 21st Century, Books -- click to see other collections with this format
A collection of 284 mounted ink, gouache, and watercolor images of butterflies, created by an unknown artist and assembled by an unknown collector (QL 543 S35 1780 folio).
A collection of plates illustrating butterflies, moths, and other insects by Wenceslaus Hollar, entitled Muscarum, scarabeorum vermiumque varie figure & formae (QL 453 H65 1646).
Title page from A Short and Simple Letter from a Conservative Bee Keeper by William Charles Cotton (SF 523 C68 1841).
A book of plates depicting plants and insects by Maria Sibylla Merian (QL 481 S87 M4712 folio).
Two volumes of a three-volume set containing descriptions and plates of insects (QL 466 C78 1799 v.1-3).
Eleazar Albin's A Natural History of Spiders, and Other Curious Insects, printed by John Tilly for R. Montague, 1736 (QL 458.4 A63 1736).