The Neville Blog

Over the course of my time with The Neville Public Museum I encountered many interesting characters of Brown County’s past. However, none fascinate me more than the Dale Kuipers (1947-1996). From comic book creatures, movie monsters, and flowering flora, Dale created sublime works of art and Hollywood special effects. I had the privilege of becoming familiar with Kuipers resulting from my work on a temporary Neville exhibition, Dale Kuipers: Green Bay’s Monster Maker. Unfortunately, learning about Dale was not the easiest task. Due to union conflicts most of his Hollywood film work goes uncredited. Further records are sparse and scattered. Luckily, the Neville provided me a wealth of resources for research. Therefore, I find it befitting to share some of what I found. Throughout his youth Kuipers constructed dinosaur models in his parent’s basement. Using these models he filmed Infant Earth , a creation story documenting the formation of Earth’s life. Another project of his, Two Fa...

Last year the museum debuted its exhibit “Guns and Gowns: 200 Years of Fashion and Firearms.” Our women’s fashion collection is expansive dating back to the late 1700s (you can see these dresses in the exhibit too).   While we have a lot of pieces representing fashion in the late 19th century and 20th century, pieces representing the rest of the 19th century are selective.   We do not have many dresses in this mid-19th century style with the hoop skirt.  When we came across the dress with the signature silhouette, plaid silk, and puffy sleeve design, we knew we wanted to find a way to exhibit it.  The dress was donated by Josephine Buchanan Lenfestey in the 1990s. Because of its condition it has not been exhibited since its donation.  The decision was made to send this dress off for conservation to the Midwest Arts Conservation Center in Minneapolis.  Due to the amount of work the dress needed we were aware the dress wouldn’t be ready for the open...

1. He’s not a Woolly Mammoth Stompy is a mastodon, but what’s the difference?   For starters mastodon tusks were less curved than a mammoth's. Mastodon teeth were different from a mammoth’s as well.   Why was that?   Because Mastodons lived in swampy areas and chewed on branches and shrubs.   Mammoths grazed on grasses in open plains. You can see the difference between the two species teeth just behind Stompy in the exhibit!   2. His fur is made of cow tails Stompy is covered in 1,500 cow tails!   The cow tails were washed, bleached, and colored before being adhered to his body.   This was done by the artist to achieve the look of shaggy curly hair which would’ve helped him stay warm at the end of the last Ice Age. Photo taken in 1983 right after the diorama was installed for the new museum.   3. He sheds… so please don’t pet the mastodon   Stompy is now 37 years old!   Over the years he lost some of his hair but who would...