By: Jeremy Hatt

As part of the process of writing the history of the Essex County Field Naturalists’ Club, I also felt it was important to create a digital archive of all the past issues of The Egret that are not currently available on the Club’s website. After several years of sporadic motivation to complete this admittedly tedious task (it required a lot of staple removal!), I am happy to announce that all issues of The Egret that I could find from 1984 to 2011 are now scanned and digitized. Kory Renaud is currently working on getting them uploaded to the Club’s website.

While I was writing the Club’s history, I took it upon myself to read many of these old issues and I highly encourage members to explore their pages. I not only learned a lot about the Club and its activities, but also about the natural history of Essex County. There are many informative (and sometimes fascinating) articles to read. It’s also really inspiring to see just how much work volunteers have put into the Club throughout the years.

I wouldn’t have been able to complete this task without the help of Claire Sanders who scanned several years’ worth of issues as well as Sarah Rupert who let me use the scanner at Point Pelee National Park to finish the remaining issues. I also thank Peggy and Tom Hurst and Dave Kraus for letting me borrow all of the past issues they had available and Kory Renaud for helping make them available online.

A final note: there are a handful of issues that seem to be missing. I don’t know if this means they are actually missing or if they just weren’t published during that period but I have included a list of them below. It’s a long shot but if any members happen to have hard copies of any of the following issues, please let me know as soon as possible and we can work out a way to get them scanned.

Volume 11 # 1 (Spring 1994)

(Winter issue 1996)

Volume 15 # 4 (Winter 1999)

Volume 17 # 2 (Summer 2001)

Volume 18 # 4 (Winter 2002)

Volume 23 # 2 (March 2007)

Volume 24 # 1 (March 2008)

Peggy and Tom Hurt’s treasure trove of archived Egrets