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Benjamin Dann Walsh and Brian “Fox” Ellis

In the last program of the 2021 Dairy Building Program Series celebrating Bishop

Hill’s 175th Anniversary, Brian “Fox” Ellis, professional storyteller and historian,

will perform as Benjamin Dann Walsh, the first State Entomologist of Illinois

who lived just outside the Bishop Hill Colony. Mr. Ellis will give an outsider’s

viewpoint of the Bishop Hill Colony. This free program on Saturday November 13

is open to the public. It will start at 2 p.m. at the Dairy Building.


Brian "Fox" Ellis is an internationally acclaimed author, storyteller, historian, and

naturalist. He has worked with The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and

Museum, The Field Museum and dozens of other museums across the country. Fox

is a highly sought keynote speaker at regional and international conferences

including the International Wetlands Conservation Conference, National Science

Teachers Association Conference and the North American Prairie Conservation

Conference, et al. He is the author of many books including the critically

acclaimed Learning From the Land: Teaching Ecology Through Stories and

Activities, (Libraries Unlimited, 2011), the award winning children’s picture

book The Web at Dragonfly Pond, (DAWN Publications, 2006) and Content Area

Reading, Writing and Storytelling (Teacher Ideas Press 2010).


Benjamin Dann Walsh was an English-born American entomologist who served

as the first official state entomologist (insect scientist) in Illinois. Walsh

championed the application of scientific methods to control agricultural pests. He

was a proponent of biological control as an effective means to manage insects. He

was also one of the first American scientists to support Charles Darwin's theory of

evolution and was instrumental in securing its broad acceptance in the

entomological community.


The Dairy Building is located at 410 North Erickson Street. The Bishop Hill

Heritage Association, the Galesburg Community Foundation, and the Illinois Arts

Council Agency, a state agency, are sponsors of this program. For more details

about this performance, please call 309 927-3899 or email bhha@mymctc.net.

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