![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/scarc\/files\/2013\/04\/MSS-Dornfeld-encapsulated-butterfly-wings.jpg\")
<\/a>Encapsulated butterfly wings<\/p><\/div>\n
But something doesn\u2019t add up. Dornfeld\u2019s Ph.D., minted at the University of Wisconsin, reads \u201cZoology\u201d and his curriculum vitae is littered with references to cytochemistry and histology. Upon digging into the Dornfeld Papers, one will unearth lecture notes on cytology and histology, images of cellular mitosis, and a thick bundle of reprints with titles like \u201cStructural and functional reconstitution of ultra-centrifuged rat adrenal cells in autoplastic grafts.\u201d Dornfeld, as it turns out, led a double life.<\/p>\n
Ernst\u2019s fascination with butterflies developed during childhood and carried into his early scientific career. However, after taking a position at Oregon State University in 1938, he immersed himself in his teaching and cell biology work. He became interested in embryology and cytochemistry, began publishing his work on reproductive cells, and threw himself into his teaching duties. Consequently, his interest in lepidopterology faded into the background.<\/p>\n
In the late 1950s, Dornfeld returned to his lapsed hobby with renewed vigor. He crisscrossed Oregon on scouting trips with his son, developed contacts with other lepidopterists, and amassed an astounding collection of specimens from the Pacific Northwest. He also redirected some of his teaching and writing efforts to butterfly work, publishing papers and giving talks on local butterfly biology and ecology. Moonlighting as a lepidopterist afforded Dornfeld the opportunity to work directly with other enthusiasts. His correspondence with colleagues includes discussions of new species, plans for collecting trips, and arrangements for specimen trading, all of it written in the intense tones of obsession.<\/p>\n
Following his retirement from OSU in 1976, Dornfeld began developing a comprehensive guide to Oregon lepidoptera. In 1980, he completed Butterflies of Oregon, the definitive work on the subject. He also put in long volunteer hours cataloging the OSU Systematic Entomology Laboratory\u2019s specimen collection\u2014shaping it into a valuable teaching tool. To this end, he even contributed his own collection, the result of hundreds of hours in the field.
\nThe Dornfeld Papers have been placed in the Special Collections & Archives Research Center for all the usual reasons. The collection is a rich resource for entomologists, ecologists, and historians of science. It\u2019s also a part of OSU\u2019s history\u2014something we\u2019re dedicated to preserving. But it takes only a few minutes with this collection to realize it\u2019s more than the sum total of its research value. The Ernst J. Dornfeld Papers are a tribute to a labor of love.<\/p>\n\n