Catching the bug

Posted on May 1, 2015 by cfidler

If anything has been impressed upon me about CalDay it is that kids are smarter than we think and that they are excited about science. My greatest joy participating in CalDay is answering questions from curious would be scientists. This innate curiosity is usually a trait among the researchers I’ve been lucky enough to work with. I often ask curators how they got involved in their work. What drew them to their discipline? Their stories are similar and generally woven around the ages of 6-9. This is when children go to open fields and collect butterflies, visit creeks to look for frogs, this is when kids really begin to understand the natural world. So when I meet these young kids at CalDay, I often think to myself, “This child could very well grow up to be a biologist.”

Alden Miller field notes, age 7

Alden Miller field notes, age 7

This was on my mind when I came across some oddly typed field notes from Alden Miller. The date caught me by surprise. They were dated 1913 and I realized that these were Miller’s childhood field notes. They were undoubtedly taken under the watchful eye of his father, Loye H. Miller, who at the time was the head of the Department of Natural Sciences at the Los Angeles Normal School (later to become UCLA).

I’ve shared my favorite of his notes. It is typical of the series. What strikes me most about the story he tells is that it could be from any time period. It is a story we are all familiar with. And again, it speaks to how curiosity of the natural world is hardwired in some children.  Alden Miller went on to be the MVZ’s second director but it is interesting to think that his career can be traced back to these sunny days in southern California, chasing lizards.

I look forward to the next CalDay when I’ll have the opportunity to meet more young budding scientists.

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Frank C. Clarke

Posted on April 22, 2015 by mvzarchguest

Written by Chris Gordon
Graduate Intern at Simmons College
Master’s in Library and Information Science/Archives

This semester I had the privilege of working with the Frank C. Clarke field notes and correspondence spanning a relationship with Grinnell and the MVZ of nearly four decades. The correspondence and field notes begin almost simultaneously in 1911 and 1912 and while the field expeditions only last a year, Clarke continued to provide specimens and converse with Grinnell and MVZ staff via his letters until 1934.

Clarke conducted his fieldwork in a unique way, relying on informal interviews of v565_s1_p004residents and visitors to his survey areas. Much of his notes are spent relaying conversations with hunters, forest rangers and taxidermists regarding deer populations, Clarke’s field surveys were primarily conducted as deer investigations. Rather than just notes on deer species, Clarke’s interviews range across all aspects of deer life from notes on predators to the effectiveness of hunting laws. Clarke’s method of conducting his surveys gives much insight into Clarke as a person as he often adds his own opinions along with the opinions of his interviewees. Clarke had some strong opinions on government control of predators and mentions offering bounties on things like mountain lions or coyotes a few times. I didn’t expect to see so much of a personal voice in a wildlife survey and the instances where he did offer his opinion stood out.

While most of Clarke’s notes fall under deer investigations, he ends his field notes with an investigation into a population of sick ducks on Tulare Lake. Rather than simply recording his observations, Clarke initiated a series of experiments in an attempt to find the origin of the sickness. A great window into Clarke’s scientific method, I could follow his train of thought as he compiled his initial research before moving into the proper experiments. He even had healthy ducks sent in from Hayward to keep his experiments as controlled as possible. The entire section surprised me both for being so unlike his earlier fieldwork and also for diverging from my own preconceived notion of what a wildlife survey consists of.
His correspondence I found even more fascinating for the small insights they gave into Clarke and Grinnell’s friendship. Most of the letters in the collection are strictly business involving Clarke sending animal specimens into the MVZ and Grinnell sending his confirmation on receipt. But a few times they went beyond their usual businesslike manner and some personality shines through. In one instance Clarke sends a specimen of a mole and Grinnell responds by saying “A mole burrowed its way into the Museum this morning—I guess by the postal route”. After reading through dozens of more impersonal correspondence, coming across the little joke had me almost laughing out loud for its unexpectedness. Here I was expecting to read through letters cataloging a specimen donation list and I get a little Grinnell stand up. It’s nice to think that Clarke at his family farm and Grinnell at the MVZ, separated by many miles, still get the experience of a couple of colleagues, sharing a laugh over the proverbial water cooler.

The completed Inventory to the field notes of Frank C. Clarke now available on the Online Archive of California

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Historic Events

Posted on April 6, 2015 by cfidler

Written by Ajay Yalamanchi, third year Integrative Biology major

After working with the Thaeler collection last semester, I had the opportunity to work with the Joseph Grinnell correspondence, letters and manuscripts written by or to Grinnell over the course of three decades. Unlike the correspondence from the Thaeler collection, the Grinnell correspondence did not reveal much about Grinnell personally since the vast majority of his correspondence was rooted in his work with the occasional letters of holiday greetings. However, it was interesting to witness what Grinnell and other accomplished academics talked about and the manner in which they addressed each other.

Roosevelt   Aside from the impeccable grammar employed, a product of the time period
they lived in, all correspondence exuded an air of utmost respect and geniality highlighted by terms of endearment such as, “My Dear….” or “Very Truly Yours.” On a side note, it was also interesting that 99% of the time the correspondents only referred to each other by last name. After reading many letters, I was also mentally referring to the various correspondents only by last name. Along with cataloging the correspondents, my task also included cataloging correspondents’ institutions and origin of their correspondence, the various species mentioned, other related people mentioned, and localities mentioned.

While reading through a letter written to Grinnell by Harry Swarth on October 15, 1912, I came across a mention of President Theodore Roosevelt! Swarth informed Grinnell that “Roosevelt was shot and wounded last night at a political meeting, so Taylor just tells me, but went on with his speech anyway!” I was excited when I read this because sometimes I forget that Grinnell and his correspondents existed in the same time period and world as Roosevelt. Reading through the correspondence, it is easy to get lost in the world of academia and not consider what else was happening during that same time period. Although I know what happened when Roosevelt was shot from prior American history classes, I did not consciously make the connection that the MVZ/Grinnell sphere of existence was occurring simultaneously with other contemporary important events until I read Swarth’s letter to Grinnell. In a way, Swarth’s mention of this historical event took the metaphorical blinders off of my eyes, which made me consider what else was happening during that time period, what life was like, and what the world was like. I enjoyed finding this connection between two unrelated topics, and hope that there are more of these interesting “easter eggs” hidden in the collection!

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More from the Reprints

Posted on January 9, 2015 by cfidler

My quiet Friday afternoon involved working on the Reprint collection. It is a challenge not read  every title. I made it as far as #0165. This small publication was written 100 years ago by Walter P. Taylor and it is titled, Two Kinds of Conservationists. It is as pertinent today as it was a century ago:

Only a little study of the conservation situation in America is sufficient to show we have allowed certain parties at interest to take more than their rightful share of the resources of wild nature which as a matter of simple justice belong, not only to all the people now living, but also to the generations of the future indefinitely. Only a little study suffices to emphasize certain obvious necessities which must be complied with if we are to bring to bear any effective remedy.

It is at the point that there is an unconscious separation of the people into two groups; the apathetic and the active…

There are two kinds of conservationists; the conservationist of the folded hands and the conservationist of the clenched fist.

It is always a little eerie when a voice from the past speaks to us across time and space. You can read the rest of this article online. The finding aid to the Walter P. Taylor papers at the MVZ is also available online.

 

 

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Merriam papers reveal ode to an everyday mammal

Posted on November 4, 2014 by mvzarchguest

Written by Greg Borman, Museum Archival Assistant

While searching for the date ranges of materials in numerous folders that make up the MVZ Archives’ Clinton Hart Merriam papers, I found myself going through correspondence, manuscripts, and notes relating to a wide variety of species. Basically, things that commonly make up a collection here at the MVZ Archives. What I didn’t count on finding, however, was an ode to a creature that we all might see on any given day.

squirrel poemIt’s not immediately clear who the author is, but the date written on the small piece of paper indicates that it’s from 1876. Our best sleuthing efforts won’t likely reveal whether this was a poem that Merriam liked or that he wrote himself. In any case, I was pleased to find this writing sample among an assortment of scientific inquiry. Merriam (1855-1942) lived a long life devoted to natural history, and studied at Yale and Columbia. He served as president of the American Society of Naturalists, Anthropological Society, Biological Society of Washington, Linnaean Society of New York, and the American Society of Mammalogists. Merriam also was one of the original founders of the National Geographic Society and acted as Chief of the U.S. Biological Survey for 25 years, doing extensive field work in every U.S. state as well as abroad. In addition, he counted Theodore Roosevelt among his circle of friends.

It’s refreshing to think that, during a busy and important life, Merriam paused to consider the poetic aspects of such an everyday animal. This is just one example of the curiosities that you can find in the MVZ Archives collections.

 

Posted in MVZ collections, Stories from the Archives, The Hidden Collections Project | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment