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TheBoneman.com
Bone Building Books
Step-by-Step Guides for the Preparation and Articulation of Animal Skeletons
By Lee Post (a.k.a. Boneman)
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About the Author
Lee Post and the Bone Building Books
In the mid 90's, came a three-year high school/museum collaborative project in which I worked with high school students on first articulating a 41-foot Sperm Whale skeleton we had collected and cleaned, then half a dozen other skeletons. Since that project, my focus has been working mostly with schools and students and creating written manuals that can help others who might want to do similar projects. One teacher suggested that I was like the Pied Piper of bones, leading a trail of kids whom all wanted to do another skeleton project.
Today, I still live in Homer, Alaska, with my wife, Mary, who is my computer-graphic whiz and web site designer (so if you have any complaints about this site or how the manuals look you can complain to her). I still sell books in partnership with my sister, Sue Post, and our friend Jenny Stroyek, at the Homer Bookstore. That's my part-time day-job, but my real passion is bone building.
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Lee Post
Photo by Durrell Kapan, CA. Academy of Science
As a kid, I was a junkie--a natural history junkie. I was passionate about the natural world and couldn't get enough of it. I collected everything related to that world I could get my hands on -- bugs, birds, feathers, rocks, shells, butterflies, and especially bones. These were labeled and displayed on the walls of my room until it looked like the aftermath of a bomb going off in a natural history museum storage room.
I spent several formative years on the East Coast where an ultimate treat was finding a new specimen or visiting a natural history museum. Of special interest was any exhibits having to do with bones, whether a full dinosaur skeleton or a single human bone.
Eventually, my family moved back to Alaska where I finished school and became a bicycle mechanic and eventually moved to the small town of Homer, Alaska where I became a bookseller. Homer had a great small natural history museum (The Pratt Museum) run by an inspiring director, Betsy Pitzman (who also was a bone enthusiast), and a wonderful crew of staff and volunteers. There, I articulated a 17-foot beaked whale the staff had collected and cleaned. This led to fifteen years of building up the osteology collection at the museum by salvaging, preparing, and often articulating animal skeletons.
How to Hire the Boneman
If you want my hands-on participation in your skeleton project, or if you have a skeleton you want me to articulate outright, well---I can be bought! My rates are not fixed and can vary greatly depending upon the project, where the project is to be created, how much time I will need to be away from home, and what kind of budget is available. Contact me with any proposals you might be thinking of; anything from small mammals to whales.
Organizations Who Hire TheBoneman:
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Museums
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Colleges
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Elementary/High Schools
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Parks and Recreation Centers
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Marine Mammal Centers
A great many of the skeleton projects I do these days are done as group projects with schools, teachers, and students. Many times these are the culmination of an enthusiastic teacher working with me via e-mail and going as far as they can get, then calling me in to work with the students directly for the main portion of the articulation process. If you are desiring to do a skeleton project with your class, I will suggest getting the closest manual to what your potential project will be. This will give you a good idea of what you are getting yourself into. If after reading the manual you haven't been totally discouraged and you still want to keep going, you are welcome to contact me with further questions.