Owen Gromme
Owen Justus Gromme was born in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin on July 5th 1896 and grew up along the shores of Lake Winnebago. There during his early formative years he learned the ways of nature from his father and the local hunters, trappers and woodsmen that made this region their home. Gromme worked at the Milwaukee Public Museum for 43 years, beginning in 1922, retiring from the post of Curator of Birds and Mammals in January 1965. While in this position he traveled extensively on museum expeditions, collecting documenting and recording the vast variety of life forms he encountered including one to Alaska and another to Hudson Bay country. Color notes both written and in oils and watercolors were made of the specimens he collected and the landscapes he encountered. He was a high school dropout, yet went on to receive no less that five honorary doctorates for his environmental work and of course his book, "Birds of Wisconsin" illustrated by many of his paintings. It was published in the fall of 1963 by the University of Wisconsin Press in Madison, Wisconsin, and more than 10,000 copies were sold the first year and is now in its second printing of 5,000. Other publications which contain his work include "Birds of Colorado;" the frontispiece for "The Wild Turkey" by A.W. Schorger, published by the University of Oklahoma Press; and the jacket cover of "Birds Will Come to You," by C.P. Fox, Circus World Museum, Baraboo, Wisconsin, published by Reilly Company. Art Work:
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