Michelangelo Minio
Michelangelo Minio - without caption, prob asbly taken in the 1950s
Marcello A., 1960-61. Commemorazione del membro effettivo Prof. Michelangelo Minio. Atti Istituto Veneto di Scienze Lettere ed Arti, Parte generale e atti ufficiali, tomo 119: 25-42
CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 - https://catalogue.beic.it/permalink/39BEIC_INST/pa7kna/alma9927687004741
The algarium, along with the related photographic plates, was formally donated to the Natural History Museum of Venice in 1936 by Aristocle Vatova, as evidenced by a letter addressed to the then director of the Museum, Michelangelo Minio. The collection was then sent to Venice in 1937 by Massimo Sella, the director of the Marine Biology Institute for the Adriatic in Rovinj, who wrote: 'The algae are only partially organized; the rest are in disarray. I am sending them to you as they are'.
Minio then dedicated himself to organizing the 'pacchi d'alghe' (packages of algae). From the pencil annotations present on some sheets, it is clear that he carefully examined the specimens, seeking their correspondence with the systematic treatment of algae in the Monograph 'La laguna di Venezia' (1938): he added references to the photographic plates or pages of the publication, integrated missing information (localities, dates, scientific names), and transcribed the sheet numbers onto the envelopes of the corresponding microscopic preparations. He finally reorganized the collection and, to facilitate its consultation, created a filing system that unfortunately has not been possible to trace.
His contribution also included the preparation and printing of the first of the two booklets of the Monograph dedicated to the lagoon flora. He was indeed the author of the chapter dedicated to the naturalists who studied the Lagoon and the section dedicated to Bryophytes and Lichens; he also assisted Augusto Béguinot in the editing process, overseeing the layout as well as the relationships with the printing house.
Autograph annotation by Michelangelo Minio