pioneer ornithologist and naturalist, b. Hertorp, Sweden. He attended Uppsala Univ., but left school in his senior year (May, 1843) to migrate to the U.S. He came to Wisconsin the same year, and settled at Lake Koshkonong. In that area he collected a vast number of natural-history specimens, especially birds and birds' eggs, and sold them to leading collectors and natural-history museums. For a number of years he was employed by the state of Wisconsin to arrange collections for the state normal schools and the university. He was professor of botany and zoology at Albion Academy (1867-1870), and when the Wisconsin Natural History Society was organized in 1881 he was engaged as taxidermist and conservator of its collections. In 1883 the collections were transferred to the Milwaukee Public Museum, and Kumlien served in the same capacity with that organization until his death. Reluctant to publicize either himself or his work, Kurnlien seldom presented detailed notes or journals to the scientific world. He maintained a correspondence of wide scope, however, and most of his findings are contained in letters to his many friends in the scientific world. Wis. Mag. Hist., 27; Trans. Wis. Acad. Sci 20 (1921), p. 665; A. W. Schorger, Some Wis. Naturalists (Madison, 1946); WPA MS; T. L. Kumlien Papers.

The Wisconsin Historical Society has manuscripts related to this topic. See the catalog description of the Thure L. Kumlien Papers for details.

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[Source: Dictionary of Wisconsin biography]