Bird calling

Wright State history graduate Lorrie Monteiro is curator of The American Pigeon Museum & Library in Oklahoma City.

When Wright State University graduate Lorrie Monteiro was asked to be curator of The American Pigeon Museum & Library in Oklahoma City, she thought it was a joke.

“Why would a pigeon museum even exist?” Monteiro recalled thinking. “How much history could there be?”

A lot, as it turns out.

Monteiro quickly learned that pigeons are thought to be the first domesticated birds and are man’s oldest feathered friends, with the relationship going back thousands of years.

The short-necked, stout-bodied birds — known for their strength, stamina and courage — played roles in both world wars.

Cher Ami, a homing pigeon in World War I, was awarded the Croix de Guerre Medal with a palm Oak Leaf Cluster for delivering a message that saved a French battalion in the Battle of the Argonne.

And during World War II, a platoon of pigeons braved the battlefields of Normandy to deliver vital plans to Allied forces on the fringes of Germany.

Exhibits at the museum also touch on the pigeon’s connection to Hannibal, Genghis Khan, Charles Darwin and even the Reuters News Agency.

The museum was formed in 1973, when it received the library and breeding records of E. Lang Miller, a Buffalo long-distance racing enthusiast. Then in 1996, it received a large portion of the library, photographic collection and memorabilia of the late Charles Heitzman, a Kentucky racer and breeder of racing pigeons.

Before Monteiro accepted the curator’s job in 2012, she met with a museum director in a shabby, 100-square-foot living room where the museum had been housed for 20 years.

“Truth be told, it was old, small, full of boxes and not the cleanest place,” she recalled. “But what I saw were treasures, history and quirky interesting things having to do with pigeons. I knew it was something I had to do.”

Today, the museum is housed in a new, 5,800-square-foot building that sits on 10 acres.

It is dedicated to the domestic pigeon, Columba livia, classified as the rock dove or rock pigeon. Wild ones still live on the cliffs of England and the Mediterranean today.

The museum houses live domestic pigeons of various colors and feathering. There are performance pigeons that will tumble in flight and white ceremonial pigeons popular at weddings and funerals.

It also includes a Fancy Pigeon exhibit featuring 20 different varieties of pigeons, a roller loft with performing pigeons, a pigeon tower and a breeding loft.

In her job as curator, Monteiro wrote a historic timeline of the pigeon. She also inventories, catalogs and organizes objects, books, papers and photographs. Her day-to-day duties include collections care and management, social media interactions, developing new programs and exhibits and educating museum visitors.

Monteiro grew up in Walpole, Mass. Her love of American history and anthropology were fostered by her father, a history buff who would take his family to museums.

Her husband, Col. Andy Monteiro Jr., was a career Air Force officer before retiring. When the family was stationed in San Antonio in the late 1990s, Monteiro began taking anthropology classes at the University of Texas, San Antonio, and later received her bachelor’s degree in anthropology from the University of Oklahoma.

In 2005, she and her family moved to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Two years later Monteiro earned her master’s degree in history from Wright State’s College of Liberal Arts to help her learn more about the care of archaeological collections.

“I knew my focus would always be in management and care of collections, whether in a museum or archaeology lab,” she said. “The classes offered were varied, interesting and gave me the knowledge I needed to continue on in this field.”

Monteiro said taking some of the more challenging classes at Wright State forced her out of her comfort zone and gave her more confidence and strength in her speaking abilities.

“The students, staff and especially the teaching staff helped me look beyond myself and my narrow way of thinking,” she said. “They set me on a better path in life. It was an experience that was fulfilling, exciting and life-changing.”

Wright State is engaged in a $150 million fundraising campaign that promises to further elevate the university’s prominence by expanding scholarships, attracting more top-flight faculty and supporting construction of state-of-the-art facilities. Led by Academy Award-winning actor Tom Hanks and Amanda Wright Lane, great grandniece of university namesakes Wilbur and Orville Wright, the campaign has raised more than $108 million so far.