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1902-2002: One Hundred Years of Laysan History

Laysan Island Cyclorama | Photo Album from the 1911 Expedition | Laysan Island History

Museum director Charles Nutting first visited Laysan Island in 1902 as a scientific advisor on a U.S. government expedition to explore the Pacific waters around Hawaii. He decided to recreate the incredible scene for Iowa.

It took 9 years to arrange a return to the Island. Museum taxidermist Homer Dill led the return expedition in 1911. But instead of the paradise he had expected, Dill found the Island swarming with rabbits and the island's residents facing ecological devastation.

The construction of the Cyclorama was the first major test of Dill's new Museum Studies program, the nation's first program in museum artistry. The Cyclorama drew students to the UI. Over the next decades, many of the future leaders of the nation's museums graduated from the program.

The Laysan Island Cyclorama opened in 1914. It is unique in museum history. It was the first attempt to recreate an entire ecosystem in an exhibit. It is the only exhibit of its kind still in existence. Designer Homer Dill intended the Cyclorama to be an urgent call to save the Island from destruction and it might have succeeded had not World War I intervened.

UI sophomore Alfred Bailey returned to Laysan Island in 1912 as a member of a US government expedition. He shot over 5,000 rabbits, but hardly made a dent in the population before running out of ammunition. [1912 photos]

Scientists returned in 1923, too late. Laysan was a desert. The rabbits had mostly starved themselves to death and three species of birds were gone forever.

Laysan Island has been restored to near-normal conditions today, thanks in part to the power of the Cyclorama to educate and inspire visitors. With the reintroduction of plants, birds nest there once again and they still have no fear of humans. However, three unique birds living nowhere else in the world are extinct and gone forever: the Millerbird, the Laysan Honey-eater, and a very special flightless character called the Laysan Rail.

In May, 2003 the Museum was awarded a grant from the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to begin the process of restoring the Cyclorama. The $5,000 grant will fund the visit of two professional conservators to make a detailed inspection of the exhibit and recommend a plan to restore and protect the 89 year-old exhibit. Press Release

The grant is just the first step. The real work starts after the Museum receives the treatment plan from the experts. Cleaning the more than 100 birds and 138 foot-long mural will take years. It will be a tremendous learning opportunity. The Museum hopes to involve as many students and volunteers as possible in the process.

With proper care the Laysan Island Cyclorama will continue to stand well into the century as a vivid and timeless ecological warning and a tribute to the valiant efforts of the University community to save one small corner of the planet.

More about the Cyclorama restoration project.