Women in Mammalogy: the Early Years

WOMEN IN MAMMALOGY: THE EARLY YEARS

BARBARA R. STEIN

Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720

The first female mammalogists in the United States were collecting, studying, and even publishing on mammals for more than a quarter of a century prior to the establishment of The American Society of Mammalogists in 1919. Martha Maxwell, whose diorama of Colorado's wildlife became the most talked about exhibit at the nation's Centennial Exhi- bition in 1876 was the first true practitioner of modern taxidermy. Known to leading biologists of the day, her collections documented fauna of the West even as expansionism was causing it rapidly to disappear. Louise Kellogg was the first American woman to publish scientific papers on mammals. Interested in both fossil and Recent taxa, she and her companion of 40 years, Annie Alexander, explored western North America from Alaska to Baja California. The specimens they collected, and the notes and photographs they assembled, serve as an irreplaceable historical record of the flora and fauna of western North America in the first half of this century. As founder and benefactress of the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, Annie Alexander's vision and commitment to the establishment of a research-based museum of natural history in California laid the foundation for a program of research, education, conservation, and collections management that has served as a model for similar museums nationwide. Knowledge about the lives of these extraordinary women provides a context for understanding and appreciating the achievements of all female mammalogists who have succeeded them.

Key words: Martha Maxwell, Louise Kellogg, Annie Alexander

On 13 March 1944, Viola S. Schantz, box the enclosed memorandum which cites Treasurer of The American Society of an article published in 1890 in Volume I, Mammalogists and a zoologist with the No. 9, pp. 265-268 of 'Zoe."' Written by United States Fish and Wildlife Service in the botanist, Katharine Brandegee, the ar- Washington, D.C., wrote to E. Raymond ticle to which Hilda Grinnell referred was Hall at the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology entitled, "Caenums of the Hare." Hilda's (MVZ), University of California, Berkeley. note to Hall then continued, "If it were not Inquiring from him as to who might be con- for the requirement of publication Mrs. sidered the first woman mammalogist in Maxwell would undoubtedly rank as first America, she wrote, "Assuming they mean woman mammalogist." one who has published on technical mam- MARTHAMAXWELL malogy, to my knowledge this honor should probably go to Miss Louise Kellogg, Suis- Although few today recognize her name an, California.... [However,] If you know or know of her accomplishments, those who of any earlier ones I should appreciate visited the Centennial Exhibition in Phila- knowing about them" (V. S. Schantz, MVZ delphia in 1876 were awed by her exhibit Archives, 1944). of Colorado birds and mammals entitled On 20 March, a week later, Hall replied, "Woman's Work." Hour after hour "I may say that I did not know of one who throughout the Exhibition that summer preceded Miss Louise Kellogg. However, I Martha Maxwell was besieged by questions showed your inquiry to Mrs. Joseph Grin- from visitors and media correspondents nell, and this morning she put in my mail (Dartt, 1879). Most pressing was their de-

Journal of Mammalogy, 77(3):629-641, 1996 629 630 JOURNAL OF MAMMALOGY Vol. 77, No. 3 sire to resolve the seeming disparity be- family without a wife, he soon proposed tween the monumental exhibit they saw be- marriage. Martha declined the offer. She fore them and the modest, delicate, and un- was barely older than some of his children assuming appearance of the woman who and she was still unsure as to what she created it (Benson, 1986). wanted to do with her life. However, at her Martha was born in 1831 in Tioga Co., stepfather's urging, she reconsidered the Pennsylvania. Her father died when she was proposal and eventually assented, given the 4 and for the next 5 years she was raised financial security it would afford her (Ben- by her grandmother, Abigail. Abigail fre- son, 1986). quently took Martha on walks in the woods, The loss of James' fortune a few years familiarizing her with the plants and ani- after their marriage meant that not only mals and imbuing within her a love of wild- would Martha never know financial stabil- life and nature. Being a strong-minded, in- ity or security, but also that the need to sup- dependent woman, Abigail influenced Mar- port herself and her family would both mo- tha's way of thinking about life and about tivate and plague her all the rest of her life. what women might hope to achieve (De- Although her passion for recreating the Lapp, 1964). In the end, the attitudes that beauty of nature in extraordinary "sculp- Martha gained from Abigail allowed her to tures" was driven by her artistic gifts and persevere and to succeed, despite the many her scientific curiosity (Dartt, 1879), it was setbacks and disappointments she experi- her basic need to make money that ulti- enced (Benson, 1986). mately led her to the Centennial Exhibition Martha's mother remarried when Martha in Philadelphia. was 9 and the family moved west to Bara- To provide financially for their family, boo, Wisconsin. Josiah Dartt, Martha's step- which now included a 2-year old daughter, father, imparted to her a love of books and Mabel, Martha and James headed west for learning. Despite financial difficulties and the gold fields of Colorado in late 1860 the prevailing societal norms, Josiah en- (Bonta, 1992). Mabel was left behind in couraged Martha to attend college. In April Wisconsin. Upon arriving in Denver, Mar- 1851, at the age of 20, she left home to tha had a boardinghouse built, but that same attend Oberlin College, the first school in year it burned down in a general conflagra- the country to admit women to regular tion that destroyed most of the town. With classes with men, and also the first to grant the small amount of savings she had accu- bachelor's degrees to women. Her first term mulated before the fire, she bought some included courses in Latin grammar and in land and, the following spring, she and arithmetic, as well as the required daily James moved to a cabin on the property. chapel. However, costs for tuition, room, However, upon leaving the cabin for a few board, and incidental expenses soon be- days, their claim was jumped by a German came prohibitive to her. Despite often taxidermist. When Martha returned to the working while enrolled, after little more property to talk with the man and resolve than a year she could no longer pay her their dispute, she was struck by his collec- expenses and was forced to return home tion of stuffed birds. Fascinated by the (Benson, 1986). specimens she saw, she asked him to teach Back in Wisconsin, Martha enrolled at her the process by which they were made. nearby Lawrence College (DeLapp, 1964). Here, she realized, was a way to couple her There she met and became friends with a need for artistic expression with her love of daughter of James Maxwell, one of Bara- nature (Benson, 1986; Dartt, 1879). boo's wealthiest citizens and a widower Although the German agreed to give her with six children (Bonta, 1992). Lonely, lessons at $10 apiece, provided she would and at a loss as to how to manage his large not practice the art in Denver, when she re- August 1996 STEIN-SPECIAL FEATURE: WOMEN IN MAMMALOGY 631 turned the next day to begin study he re- ferret, an animal that had been described by fused, stating it was "because she was a Audubon many years earlier, but had been woman!" (Dartt, 1879). He believed that lost sight of until just before the Exhibition women were better with their hands than when a few specimens had reached the men, and he feared the competition that Smithsonian (Dartt, 1879). might result from her work (Dartt, 1879; Although her relationship with her hus- DeLapp, 1964). However, Martha remained band became increasingly strained and her intrigued by the lifelike mounts and, not daughter did not share Martha's enthusiasm easily dissuaded, she wrote to her family for the hardships of camping and collecting, asking that they send her books on the sub- James, Mabel, or friends of Martha fre- ject of taxidermy. Bonta (1992:34) wrote, quently would accompany her on field trips "No longer would she be lonely for the to observe and collect animals (Dartt, company of other women-she could spend 1879). Equally often she went alone. Her her time studying and collecting the wild enthusiasm for her work, and for obtaining creatures of Colorado, and she would edu- the necessary specimens, knew few if any cate humanity by displaying them in all bounds. Many years later her husband their diversity." James would admit that Martha was as a However, before she began this new ca- good a shot as any man, a skill she had first reer, Martha returned to Wisconsin to be learned from her stepfather, Josiah, when with Mabel. Still having much to learn she was just 13 (De Lapp, 1964). about the art of taxidermy and again being Martha's collections eventually grew so in need of money, Martha got work at the large that they no longer could be contained newly established Baraboo Collegiate Insti- in her small house and in the workshop she tute. Her job was to assist in the preparation maintained at the mouth of Boulder Can- of mounted specimens of birds and mam- yon. In an effort to solve this problem, as mals for the Zoology Department (Dartt, well as to try to earn more money for Ma- 1879). There she acquired the skills needed bel's college expenses, she opened a mu- when, 5 years later, she returned to Colo- seum (Dartt, 1879). Although her work was rado to observe, study, collect, and prepare becoming well known in Colorado, the mu- taxidermic mounts of the wildlife of the seum unfortunately did not attract sufficient state. visitors to turn a profit, even when relocated It was at this time that Martha began to to the more populous Denver (Dartt, 1879). correspond with the leading biologists of At about this time, Colorado began to the day. She wrote first to the Secretary of make plans to participate in the 1876 Cen- the Smithsonian, Joseph Henry in 1869 tennial in Philadelphia. Martha's state-wide about textbooks that might be useful for reputation prompted the Legislature to ask specimen identifications (Benson, 1986). In her to display her collection as part of their his reply, Henry offered the assistance of pavilion (Dartt, 1879). They could not af- Smithsonian curators. Her subsequent inter- ford to pay her a salary, but they did offer actions were mostly with Robert Ridgeway to reimburse her for the cost of transporting and Elliot Coues (Benson, 1986). Ridgeway the specimens across the country and back paid Martha for specimens she collected for again. Martha agreed, hoping that she him in the new Territory of Colorado and would make money by selling postcards in other parts of the West. Later, he named and minerals at the Exhibition (Dartt, a new subspecies of screech owl for her, 1879). based on a specimen she shot in her yard Reviews of Martha's exhibit at the Cen- and then sent to him for identification (Ben- tennial appeared in magazines and news- son, 1986). Martha is also credited with papers nationwide and attest to the realistic confirming the existence of the black-footed quality of her work (Dartt, 1879). Her pan- 632 JOURNAL OF MAMMALOGY Vol. 77, No. 3 orama included the smallest birds and the which characterize the productions of the largest mammals from Colorado, all of new State, but also to the success which which she had collected and mounted her- has crowned the enthusiastic and intelli- self. The specimens were grouped in a di- gent efforts of a 'woman Naturalist."' orama of naturalistic surroundings that in- In his review of Dartt's book, the not- cluded running water (from a hose she had Mary ed naturalist J. A. Allen re- hidden in the background), boulders (arti- (1879:113) marked, ficially constructed), and vegetation (she with all a brought her), arranged against "This exhibit was not only unique and had of backdrop (she painted) expansive effective in execution and arrangement, vistas of the West (Benson, 1986; Dartt, but was a startling revelation of what a 1879). Although seemingly conventional by woman can do in one of the most difficult the exhibit was today's standards, clearly fields of art, for not only were these ob- the first of its kind in the nation and created jects prepared by Mrs. Maxwell, but all an stir. Visitors bent to drink extraordinary were procured by her, a large part of them water from her stream and remarked on the having been taken by her own hands. But movement of animals were sure they they Mrs. Maxwell is something more than a had observed (Dartt, 1879). Benson (1986) successful and enthusiastic taxidermist; commented that what is about noteworthy she is an ardent and thorough student of Martha's work is not the fact that it was nature, and her explorations of zoology being done by a woman, but merely that of Colorado have revealed the existence was such tech- anyone using sophisticated of many species in that State not previ- at that someone niques time, particularly ously known to occur there, and contrib- in an isolated town at the base of the living uted many new facts regarding the habits Rocky Mountains. and distributions of others." Coues and Ridgeway visited the Exhibi- tion and prepared annotated lists of its Unfortunately, neither Martha nor her mammals and birds, respectively. These collection profited from their appearance in were then published as an appendix to a the Centennial Exhibition. When it ended, book written by Martha's sister, detailing she did not have enough money to ship the how the exhibit was prepared (Dartt, 1879: collection home and the Colorado Legisla- 217). Coues wrote in his introduction to the ture refused to honor its promise to pay mammal list, transportation costs. The collection was then moved to Washington, D.C., and later "I was to see a collection of our glad to Saratoga, New York, where part of it was native animals mounted in a manner far destroyed by fire under somewhat mysteri- superior to ordinary museum work, and ous circumstances. The remainder eventu- to know that there was at least one lady ally disintegrated owing to poor storage and who could do such a and who took thing, inadequate protection from the elements collection pleasure in doing it. While the (Henderson, 1915). of embraced several specimens high sci- Martha, by this time voluntarily es- I it as one of the entific interest, regarded tranged from her husband and involuntarily collections I had most valuable single so from her daughter, spent the remainder seen.. ." of her life on the east coast literally strug- to survive. Not until near the end of In the same volume Ridgeway wrote, gling her life was Martha able to accept that Ma- "It illustrates very fully the avian fauna bel was not interested in the career to which of Colorado, while it bears testimony, not she, herself, had devoted her whole life and only to the great richness and variety for which she had made such great sacrific- August 1996 STEIN-SPECIAL FEATURE: WOMEN IN MAMMALOGY 633 es. When acceptance finally came, and author Jack London, architect Julia Morgan, when she realized that her precious collec- philanthropists Jane and Peder Sather, fin- tion would never be salvaged nor her dream ancier Wallace Alexander, and his sister of a museum ever realized, Martha lost the Annie (Bamford, 1931). tremendous energy she had summoned After high school, Louise attended the throughout her entire life and which had University of California, Berkeley, and made her survival possible. She soon be- graduated in 1901 with a degree in classics. came seriously ill. Mabel, who believed Her life was filled with the many activities that her mother had essentially devoted a that occupied young women of her age and lifetime of energy, love, and money solely social class, but she participated in other ac- to the creation of her collection, traveled tivities that were less common for women east to be with Martha at the end (Benson, at that time as well (A. Q. Howard, pers. 1986). Martha died on 31 May 1881, short- comm.). Louise's father, Charles, was an of- ly after Mabel's arrival, reportedly a victim ficer of Tubbs Cordage in San Francisco of blood from an poisoning ovarian tumor and a founder of the Cordelia Shooting (Bonta, 1992). Club, the first duck club in California (Ry- Eventually, Mabel would describe her der, 1954). It is from him that Louise mother as someone with an unusual quality learned how to shoot a gun and how to fish. of scientific combined mind, i.e., curiosity She excelled at both, but fishing became her with artistic More gifts (DeLapp, 1964). passion. than half a century later, when her collec- It is not clear when Louise's interests tion was no a visible reminder of her longer turned more broadly and seriously to zool- contributions to natural the woman history, ogy and paleontology. It is possible that she Hilda Grinnell cited as the first female was influenced by other family relatives as mammalogist was once again remembered well. A history of Alameda Co., California, in a brief article in the Journal of Mam- records that her uncle, Edward P. Flint, had malogy entitled, "Mrs. M. A. Maxwell, a interests that were not confined solely to his (Schantz, 1943). pioneer mammalogist" mercantile trade. Records show that the LOUISE KELLOGG Oakland Public Museum was started in 1907 with the purchase of an ornithological If Martha Maxwell was technically the collection the efforts of Bertha first female mammalogist, Louise Kellogg "through an Oakland school teacher, and is no less deserving of that title given our Chapman, E. P. Flint." current view of the discipline. Yet the cir- (A. Q. Howard, pers. comm.). there is no indication that while cumstances of their lives could hardly have However, Louise had sense that the been more different. Born 27 August 1879 growing up, any of natural in Oakland, California, <2 years before discipline history would figure in Martha's death, Louise was the youngest of prominently her life or that she, in turn, five children born to Charles Winslow Kel- would contribute significantly to it. logg and his wife, Anita. The family lived On 16 April 1908, Annie Alexander, in an affluent part of Oakland in a home founder of the Museum of Vertebrate Zo- built by her grandfather, James Putnam ology, wrote to Joseph Grinnell, its first di- Flint, who had come to California from rector, on the eve of her departure for Alas- New England during the gold rush in 1849. ka, "I've decided to take a lady with me on In association with east coast merchants, the Alaska trip if I can find the right one. I Flint established a line of clipper ships, don't want my collectors to suffer any un- which carried goods from Boston to the pleasantness from talk on my account. Do Bay Area (A. Q. Howard, pers. comm.). you know of anyone among the members Among others in their neighborhood were of the Cooper Club or elsewhere who 634 JOURNAL OF MAMMALOGY Vol. 77, No. 3 would meet the requirements?" (BANC, ern North America and abroad. As compan- 67/121c, in litt.). Grinnell's response to this ions and collecting partners, they contrib- inquiry exhibited what Annie described uted over 34,000 fossil, plant, and animal sharply in her reply as "his evident con- specimens to the University of California's tempt for women as naturalists" (BANC, natural history museums. Many represented 67/121c, in litt.). However, a week later, taxa that were new to science or were range Annie wrote again to Grinnell, "I have a extensions for known species. That Louise's little friend going with me after all who predilection to this out-of-door life can be wants to learn how to put up specimens and traced to her father is evidenced perhaps in to take notes. She will be with us two a letter that Annie wrote to Martha in De- months. She is a dandy girl but I never cember 1910. She wrote, dreamed her folks would let her go when I "We have been off trapping only twice half jokingly asked her to join us...!" since getting home. Mr. Kellogg takes us (BANC, 67/121c, in litt.). once a year duck hunting in the Suisan With a 13-year age difference between marshes and it is a treat to ... Annie and Louise, it is reasonable to as- always go. The slough winds in and out among the sume that the women may not have been tules full of red-winged black birds, tule well-acquainted prior to Annie's visit to the wrens, song sparrows and yellow- Kellogg home one evening in April 1908. throats--quite a little world by itself.... But the visit is recorded in Louise's person- we stayed over night and set out some al diary and ca. I week later the two women traps catching one interesting little mouse were on a ship together sailing north. that is confined entirely to the salt marsh Louise's trip to Alaska in 1908 with An- grass-saliconia. We have since set out nie Alexander was the beginning of a traps near Alameda and caught another 40-year relationship that ended only with species of the little mouse-we have vi- Annie's death in 1950. It is impossible to sions of getting a horse and wagon and assess how Annie's life, and thus her con- putting in a week collecting around the tributions to natural history and to the Uni- Bay as there is much to be done right of California, would have been dif- versity near home" (BANC, 73/125c, in litt.). ferent had she not met Louise. On 6 August 1908, Annie wrote to her childhood friend, The women's love for Suisun Bay and the Martha Beckwith, from Alaska, accompanying slough resulted in their purchase of a farm on Grizzly Island, Solano "Louise took the steamer yesterday for Co., California, in autumn 1911. Because home to be ready for her school duties- the area was remote and undeveloped at a long journey for her to take alone, near- that time, the farm and its environs proved ly two weeks but I couldn't make up my a rich locality for new records of both birds mind to go back to plain life in Oakland and mammals for many years (MVZ acces- with new birds to collect luring me on sion records). and all the fascinations that this sort of While work on the farm occupied a great life has for me-yet the greatest gypsy deal of their time and energy, the women of this was Louise. Surely discovery trip continued to collect annually for I was fortunate but the more forlorn now specimens the MVZ from throughout the West. On 8 to be left alone with the lapping of the January 1911, Annie wrote to Martha, "... waves on the beach and the rain on my let me unfold to you a plan which after due tent roof" (BANC, 73/25c, in litt.). consideration seems about as undertakeable Subsequently, the team of Alexander and as I at present seem to have ambition for. Kellogg travelled and collected annually, It is zoological of course but concerns prob- not only in California, but throughout west- lems right near home which are after all the August 1996 STEIN-SPECIAL FEATURE: WOMEN IN MAMMALOGY 635 most interesting. The region selected is would collect in late autumn or early winter, northern Trinity County, about 80 miles due seasons when it was difficult for members west of Fall River Mills which you remem- of the Museum staff to get away. Typical ber. A high and rather isolated range of of the pattern of their lives for 40 years, mountains forms the northern boundary. No Annie wrote to Martha in February 1911, biological survey has ever been made of the "Meanwhile Louise and I are off Friday of section. The problem that appears to be of this week for the mountains in quest of the most interest is the relation of the mam- mammals in winter pelage and what desir- mals of the moist coast belt with those of able birds there are to be found ..." the drier interior and their distribution. At (BANC, 73/25c, in litt.). least three faunal zones are represented in Testimonials to the importance of their the region, so that cross-section work prom- collections to the discipline of vertebrate ises to be very attractive. Louise is to work natural history and to our understanding of up the mammals which is an incentive to vertebrate diversity and evolution abound in do the best we know how" (BANC, 73/25c, hundreds of letters in the University and in litt.). Museums' archives at Berkeley. One ex- In 1916, 5 years after she and Annie em- ample is the following, written to Annie by barked on field work in the Trinity Moun- E. Raymond Hall, 23 February 1932, tains in northern California, Louise pub- "One result of your past summer's col- lished the last of her six papers, entitled lecting is the accompanying account of a "Report upon mammals and birds found in new species of shrew. It seems remark- Trinity, Siskiyou and Shasta counties, with ably distinct from anything yet found- description of a new Dipodomys" (Kellogg, even from the two other species in the 1916). However, it was her first paper, a same group. The group to which it be- description of the rodent fauna of late Ter- longs is the least known of any in the tiary beds at Virgin Valley (Kellogg, 1910) genus Sorex. Of the eight specimens pre- that is perhaps more noteworthy. It is only viously known, only one has been taken the second paper in mammalogy known to at a place (sic). I include a little sketch have been authored by a woman (the first map (copied from Dr. Jackson's mono- was Brandegee's, noted above), and its pub- graph) of their distribution. You will note lication pre-dates the founding of The that with the specimen from Chiatovich American Society of Mammalogists by 9 Creek, taken in 1927 by Miss Kellogg, years. This was followed in 1911 by two you two have four of the eleven known publications, one on fossil and one on Re- specimens to your credit. Try as I have cent mammals (Kellogg, 1911a, 1911b). In in Nevada, I haven't taken a single one. 1912, Louise published a paper on Pleis- Unless you divulge the secret of your tocene rodents (Kellogg, 1912), and in success, my envy will lead me to insist 1914, a description of a new mountain that it's pure luck on your part!" (BANC, beaver from the Trinity region in northern CU-120, in litt.). California (Kellogg, 1914). Finally, her publication summarizing the field work that By 1939, the MVZ was firmly estab- she and Annie had done in the Trinity lished as a major research center on the Mountains appeared in 1916 (Kellogg, west coast. Its collections were significant 1916). in size and scope and Louise and Annie The magnitude of their achievements were advancing in age. After Grinnell's cannot be captured in a brief review such death in May of that year, the women shift- as this. Both loved the desert and the moun- ed their emphasis from trapping mammals tains and they often were gone for months and birds to collecting plants for the Uni- at a time, camping in all seasons. Often they versity Herbarium. Such an eclectic ap- 636 JOURNALOF MAMMALOGY Vol. 77, No. 3 proach to natural history was characteristic ural history, would have been different had of all the first women mammalogists. These she not met Louise Kellogg, her companion women were naturalists first and mammal- of 40 years. It is equally impossible to ogists second. Their interests and dedica- imagine the career of Joseph Grinnell or to tion centered on their desire to understand discuss his achievements, had he not met and appreciate nature in its entirety. Em- Annie M. Alexander. It was Annie's vision, phasis might be placed on one discipline commitment, and money that created the relative to another, but never to the exclu- Museum of Vertebrate Zoology at the Uni- sion of others. Organisms existed together versity of California, Berkeley, it was An- in nature and the study of any one group nie who selected Grinnell as its first Direc- logically extended to that of any other as tor, and it was she who provided the envi- the occasion and opportunities arose. For ronment in which Grinnell would ultimately Louise and Annie, the desire to understand prosper. relationships among living organisms ex- Annie Montague Alexander was born 29 tended back in time as well, thousands and December 1867 in Honolulu, Hawaii, the even hundreds of millions of years. Their oldest daughter of Samuel Thomas and interest in fossil history and in vertebrate Martha Cook Alexander. Although the evolution resulted in their donation of granddaughter of missionaries to the Is- thousands of specimens of fossils to the lands, her father and her uncle, Henry Bald- Museum of Paleontology at the University win, were businessmen and partners who of California in addition to all of the spec- pioneered the growing of sugar cane on the imens of Recent mammals and birds that island of Maui. Their success in the sugar they collected for the MVZ. business led to the establishment of Alex- Following Annie's death in 1950, Louise ander and Baldwin Shipping Lines and left continued to collect plants, often accom- each of their children with personal for- panied by other women botanists from the tunes. University. In particular, she funded and Annie inherited her father's energy and participated in botanical collecting trips to his love for adventure and the out-of-doors Baja California between 1948 and 1953 (Grinnell, 1958), and it was from him that Her last field to (Carter, 1987). trip Baja she learned to shoot. She was equally adept California was in 1960 when she was 80 with gun and camera. From her father she years old. At least one taxon of bird, La- also learned how to read a balance sheet gopus rupestris kelloggae (Grinnell, 1910), and Barron's Financial Weekly. and one of Acacia species plant, kelloggi- In 1882, the family moved to Oakland, named in her honor ana, were (Carter, California, a move that never suited Annie. 1987). Her achievements are perhaps best She loved Hawaii and returned there almost summarized in a sentence taken from single annually throughout her life. She attended her in the San Francisco Chroni- obituary public school in Oakland and then was en- 15 December 1967, "... Louise Kel- cle, rolled for 2 years at La Salle Seminary for a and naturalist logg, distinguished intrepid Girls in Auburndale, Massachusetts, al- who the Western wilderness from explored though she never earned a degree. In 1888, Alaska to the tip of Baja California for the family toured Europe and, when they more than half a This she was, century." returned home, Annie remained in Paris to and much more. She was, truly, the first study art. However, plagued by eye strain of a woman mammalogist as we think such that the doctors said threatened her with person today. blindness, she gave up art and returned to ANNIE MONTAGUE ALEXANDER Oakland. Nursing school had much the It is impossible to assess how Annie Al- same result on her eyes, but a series of op- exander's life, and her contributions to nat- erations in which the muscles of her eyes August 1996 STEIN-SPECIAL FEATURE: WOMEN IN MAMMALOGY 637 were cut left her seeing somewhat better. It met for the first time a man with whom she also left her with the realization that she had previously corresponded, C. Hart Mer- would never be able to do any sort of close, riam, Director of the National Biological detailed work. Survey in Washington, D.C. As the evening In 1904, Annie, her father, and a family wore on their talk turned to collecting mam- friend walked ca. 850 miles across Africa mals in Alaska, bears in particular. On 22 on safari. The purpose of the trip was to February 1906, Annie wrote a seven-page collect wildlife, both on film and as tro- letter to Merriam solidifying her plans for phies. Tragically, both her father and their collecting in Alaska that summer. In addi- friend perished during the trip (Anony- tion to listing the species she wanted to col- mous, 1992). Although, it was her father's lect, and to inquiring about permits and the death that ultimately served as the catalyst hiring of collectors to help her, she wrote, for Annie's idea of creating a museum, oth- "My object in making this collection is to er seemingly unrelated events influenced form the nucleus for a collection represent- her decision as well. ing the fauna of the Western coast. I would In autumn 1900, Annie began attending like to keep it in my own hands for at least paleontology lectures at the University of three years, if it could be possibly ar- California being given by Professor John C. ranged" (BANC, FILM 1958, CHM cor- Merriam. In spring 1901, she wrote to Mer- respondence, reel 28, in litt.). riam expressing her desire to collect fossils. C. Hart Merriam responded positively to His response was to guide her in organizing her letter on 1 March and began, "My dear a research expedition to Fossil Lake, Ore- Miss Alexander, Your letter of February 22 gon. The trip was, by all accounts, a suc- touches at several points a subject which I cess. She wrote afterwards to her childhood have been thinking of for a number of friend, Martha Beckwith, "It's lucky I've years-very acutely during the past year or promised my summer collections to the two. I refer to the pressing need of a natural University. The fever for amassing these history museum on the Pacific Coast" (C. strange treasures might make of me a col- H. Merriam, MVZ Archives, 1906, in litt.). lector of the most greedy type..." (BANC, His encouragement to her to undertake this 73/25c, in litt.). venture went on for an entire page. While continuing to both make and fi- The realization of the need for a collec- nance fossil expeditions in each succeeding tion of Recent vertebrate animals at the year, the idea for a museum gradually took University of California likely came to An- hold in Annie. In a letter of condolence to nie through her paleontology lectures with Hilda Grinnell following the death of Jo- John C. Merriam. To properly identify fos- seph in 1939 she wrote, "As you may know sils and to understand the evolution of dif- the death of my father in 1904 when we ferent groups she knew it was necessary to were in Africa together was a terrible shock compare fossil specimens with their closest to me. I felt I had to find something to do living relatives. In addition, she saw that to divert my mind and absorb my interest knowledge about the distributions and hab- and the idea of making collections of West its of Recent species of vertebrates often Coast fauna as a nucleus for study gradually could be extended and applied to the un- took shape in my mind" (BANC, 73/25c, derstanding of their fossil relatives. in litt.). Her passion for collecting, coupled On 28 October 1907, Annie wrote to then with a chance encounter in 1905, combined President of the University of California, to determine the future direction of her life Benjamin Wheeler, with her proposition for and insure her impact on the discipline of founding a research museum of Recent vertebrate natural history. specimens of vertebrates on the Berkeley At a dinner party in October 1905, Annie campus. In exchange for the University 638 JOURNAL OF MAMMALOGY Vol. 77, No. 3

erecting a galvanized iron building to house would come to refer to it. Through her love the museum, Annie guaranteed the expen- of nature and the out-of-doors, Annie al- diture of $7,000 yearly for 7 years for "... ready realized that the fauna of the west field and research work relating exclusively coast, and of California in particular, was to mammals, birds, and reptiles of the west rapidly disappearing, succumbing to the coast, with the understanding that the Uni- ever-increasing population in the State. If a versity of California would be in no way complete and accurate record of the fauna responsible for the management of the was to be made for posterity, work would funds for carrying out the work, or selec- have to begin at once. She also hoped that tion of collectors. It would be understood her museum, and the research it sponsored, that all natural history material thus col- would stimulate interest in natural history lected and housed within the walls of the among the general public, and that public above-mentioned building would become education, in turn, would lead to conser- the property of the University of California vation. And last, of course, was her under- except such as might be loaned by friends standing of the importance of such a re- of the University" (BANC, CU-5, in litt.). search collection for the paleontologists at After two additional paragraphs she con- the University. Although not discussed in tinued, "It is understood that only such col- this review, Annie also founded and en- lectors would be selected as would reflect dowed the University of California Muse- credit to the University of California. The um of Paleontology (UCMP) on the Berke- man I have in mind to take charge of the ley campus. Paleontology was her first, and work and act as curator should my propo- would remain, her lifelong passion. sition be accepted is Mr. Joseph Grinnell of Annie was not a scientist and did not Pasadena, Calif ... ." claim to be one. She was, however, quite Annie had met Grinnell somewhat ser- knowledgeable about science and interested endipitously through her connection with C. in financially supporting research. She sub- Hart Merriam. In looking for field biolo- scribed to numerous magazines and jour- gists to accompany her to Alaska, she had nals, including Science. She was a Life As- asked Merriam for recommendations. He, sociate of the American Ornithologists' in turn, recommended a Mr. Stephens in Union, the Cooper Ornithological Society, San Diego, who in turn suggested she in- the Society for Vertebrate Paleontology, terview Joseph Dixon in Pasadena, a stu- and both a Charter Member and the first dent of Grinnell's at Throop Institute female Life Member of The American So- (known today as Cal Tech). In seeking out ciety of Mammalogists (Kaufman et al., Dixon on campus, Annie inquired of Grin- 1996). nell as to Dixon's whereabouts. Learning of She and Grinnell corresponded weekly, her reason for wanting to find Dixon, Grin- often daily, and he consulted with her on nell invited Annie to his home to show her every penny expended, every staff member his private collection of specimens, part of hired, every research project undertaken. which had been accumulated during the 2 He regularly sent her samples of correspon- years he had spent doing field work in Alas- dence he received so that she might know ka (Grinnell, 1940). the day-to-day business of the Museum. He In Grinnell, Annie found a naturalist who also sent her copies of all papers published shared her vision, as well as someone with by the Museum staff and students. Together museum experience. The vision they shared they designed every detail of the Museum, centered around the desire to develop a ma- e.g., its name, specifications for the speci- jor scientific collection and research muse- men cases, the catalogue cards, the ink to um on the west coast, "a center of author- be used in writing on the cards, the exacting ity" (BANC, C-B1003, in litt.) as they manner in which field observations were to August 1996 STEIN-SPECIAL FEATURE: WOMEN IN MAMMALOGY 639 be recorded (BANC, C-B1003, 73/25c, work were paid by her over and above that 67/121c, in litt.). pledge. In 1919, she solidified her financial Annie's commitment to her museum can commitment by endowing the Museum. be found in her steadfast support of its Annie's disdain for attention and publicity work, both monetarily and through enlarg- are almost legendary. This gift, as with all ing its collections. She loved field work and those that she would give to the University, she and Louise contributed >16,000 spec- she requested be placed on the books as a imens to the Museum through their own ef- gift from "a friend to the University." In forts, and many thousands more through 1934, Annie doubled the size of her endow- monies Annie made available to other col- ment, at the same time continuing her gen- lectors. In addition to collecting during sea- erous funding of field work for the Museum sons when it was difficult for members of over and above its allotted stipend. the Museum staff to get away, the women In her honor, and in recognition of her often would provide specimens of particular contributions to the field, two new species interest or need for student research projects of birds (Lagopus alexandrae Grinnell, or for which there were gaps in the collec- 1909; Sitta carolinensis alexandrae Grin- tions (Grinnell, 1958). Annie's love of nell, 1926) and two of mammals (Ursus al- camping is perhaps best expressed in this exandrae Merriam 1914; Thomomys alex- oft-quoted excerpt from her 1905 field notes, andrae Goldman, 1933), as well as several "People naturally count it among their bless- species of plants and fossils, were eventu- ings to have a roof over their heads at night, ally named for Annie. In naming a new spe- but how oppressive this roof seems to you, cies of pocket gopher, E. A. Goldman and the four walls of your room after a (1933) wrote, "The species is named for month or two in the open!" (UCMP Ar- Miss Alexander whose own faunal investi- chives; reprinted in Zullo, 1969.). gations and generous support of the studies Alexander and Kellogg collected not by others have contributed greatly to only in California, but throughout the west- knowledge of the mammals of western ern United States, in Mexico, and abroad. states." However, when E. Raymond Hall, The collections they amassed were signifi- then Curator of Mammals of the Museum, cant in many respects. Not only were their sent Annie a manuscript he had written in specimens meticulously prepared, their field which he described a new species of shrew notes were detailed and often accompanied he wished to name for her, calling it Sorex by photographs of the habitat and by veg- alexanderi, she responded, "We were much etation samples. On 17 July 1931, Grinnell interested in your description of the new wrote to Annie about her recent collection, shrew from Arizona (shall we not call it "The three lion skulls are of especially high Sorex grahamensis for you know my aver- value; for previously, we had just one lion sion to having things named after me)." He skull from Arizona-that from the Colora- did as she requested (BANC, CU-120, do River a little above Yuma and repre- 1932, in litt.). senting, I think, a different race from that Whereas her interest and devotion to the represented by yours. Your letters, describ- Museum she created never wavered, after ing so vividly the country through which Grinnell's death in 1939 collecting expedi- you pass, are full of just the right kind of tions in search of small mammals essen- information needed for permanent record in tially ceased. She was 72 at this time. In- connection with the materials you are gath- stead, she and Louise shifted focus and be- ering" (BANC, CU-120, in litt.). gan collecting plants. Together they contrib- Although she was providing a monthly uted over 17,000 specimens to the stipend for the running of the Museum and collections of the University Herbarium. its operations, almost all expenses for field While seemingly always frail in stature, 640 JOURNALOF MAMMALOGY Vol. 77, No. 3

Annie was in actually quite robust. In re- Willis Jepson, in 1944, "You ask what my sponse to a letter from Grinnell in 1932 objective is in making such painstaking col- where he mentioned receiving a valuable lections. Well, I'm just a born collector and collection for the Museum, Annie replied it is an excuse to get off into the moun- concerning the donor, "it is inspiring to tains" (A. M. Alexander, UCH Archives, in know he is still been on collecting-at the litt.). age of 62! Tell him for me, being 64, that Grinnell, Merriam, and others frequently I consider the sixties a very appropriate pe- attested to the profound contributions that riod in one's life to do field work-an out- Annie Alexander made, both to the Univer- of-doors quest that always will have, I be- sity and to science. They acknowledged her lieve, a certain charm and excitement about in the books and papers they published and it" (BANC, CU-120, in litt.). in their correspondence with her. In Decem- Annie knew every Museum student by ber 1936, Grinnell wrote to Annie, "Again name and was familiar with each of their have decisions and appropriations on your research programs. However, she seemed part energized projects which, with small particularly pleased when female graduate margin of hazards, carried out, will bring students were first accepted into the Mu- 'repercussions' of a beneficial sort far, far seum program. In 1933, she and Louise into the future. I don't know of any sort of took the first female graduate student in the investment that is any more promising than Museum with them on a 3-month collecting in intellectual directions" (Grinnell, 1958). trip to the Palm Springs area, along the Col- orado River, and then into Arizona. Eight CONCLUSIONS years later, and 2 years subsequent to Grin- Although my original intent was to sur- nell's death, Annie sent a check to Hilda vey the history of women in the Society Grinnell so that she might take a group of during its first 2 decades (Kaufman et al., female graduate students on an expedition. 1996), I soon realized that any discussion Grinnell had not permitted women to go on of that period would be greatly diminished field trips (W. C. Russell, pers. comm.). without knowledge of the lives of the ex- This Annie did again in 1942. Of these op- traordinary women detailed above, women portunities Hilda wrote to Annie several whose lives and achievements fell outside years later, "Those trips are going to bear the realm of traditional academia and the dividends in the lives of the girls through professional societies it fostered. For those all the years to come, but I do not see how previously unfamiliar with the lives of these they could mean more to them than they women, it is my hope that these biograph- have, and will have, to me. I had felt so ical sketches have illuminated the diversity hopelessly cut off from the out of doors and of our roots and our contributions to this you opened the way again for me in such discipline and that they will provide a con- a wonderful manner. I shall always be text for recapturing our history-as women, grateful" (BANC, 73/25c, in litt.). as mammalogists, and as members and full In 1947, Annie and Louise made their participants in The American Society of first collecting trip to Baja California. The Mammalogists. women were gone for 3 months and Annie celebrated her 80th birthday on the trip ACKNOWLEDGMENTS it was also (Carter, 1949). Unfortunately, The biographicalsketches above are not com- the last major expedition that the two wom- prehensive, nor do they represent original re- en made together. In October 1949, Annie search in some cases. In particular, I have relied became seriously ill. She died 10 Septem- heavily on, and am deeply indebted to, the bio- ber 1950 at the age of 83. graphical works on Martha Maxwell by Maxine Of her passion, she wrote to the botanist, Benson, MarciaBonta, and Mary Dartt.In con- August 1996 STEIN-SPECIAL FEATURE: WOMEN IN MAMMALOGY 641

The Bancroft of Cal- trast, the majority of biographical information tory Office, Library, University 200 on Louise and Annie Alexander was de- ifornia, Berkeley, pp. Kellogg DARTT,M. 1879. On the plains and among the peaks; rived from my own research as no definitive or, how Mrs. Maxwell made her natural history col- works exist for these women. Hilda Grinnell's lection. Claxton, Remsen, and Hoffelfinger, Phila- biography of Annie Alexander deserves ac- delphia, Pennsylvania, 237 pp. DELAPP,M. 1964. Pioneer woman naturalist. Colo- knowledgment, but in the end it has served pri- in- rado Quarterly, 13:91-96. marily as a point of departure for my own GOLDMAN,E. A. 1933. New mammals from Arizona, vestigations, which focused on original corre- New Mexico, and Colorado. Proceedings of the spondence in the archives listed below. I am also Washington Academy of Science, 23:463-473. H. W 1940. Grinnell: 1877-1939. most grateful to Alice Q. Howard for the Kel- GRINNELL, Joseph The 42:3-34. she has com- Condor, logg family history meticulously . 1958. Annie Montague Alexander. Grinnell she piled and for the notes and diaries of Louise Naturalists Society, Berkeley, California, 27 pp. has generously shared with me. My thanks also GRINNELL,J. 1909. Birds and mammals of the 1907 to S. B. Benson, J. T. Gregory, A. K. Pearson, Alexander expedition to southeastern Alaska. Uni- California Publications in 5:171- E A. Pitelka, V. M. Russell, C. versity of Zoology, O. P. Pearson, W. 264. Russell, C. G. Sibley, R. C. Stebbins, L. C. T. 1910. Birds of the 1908 Alexander Alaska . Stone, S. P. Welles, and other denizens of Berke- Expedition with a note on the avifaunal relationships ley, both present and past, who were fortunate of the Prince William Sound District. University of in 5:361-428. enough to have known, or at least to have met, California Publications Zoology, 1926. A new race of the white-breasted nut- Annie Alexander and Louise Kellogg, and who hatch from Lower California. University of Califor- spoke with me or recorded their recollections on nia Publications in Zoology, 21:405-410. paper. For archival materials relating to Annie Al- HENDERSON,J. T. 1915. A pioneer venture in habitat exander and Louise Kellogg I acknowledge the grouping. Proceedings of the American Association of 9:87-91. correspondence files of the Museum of Vertebrate Museums, D., D. KAUFMAN,AND G. A. KAUFMAN. the of California KAUFMAN, W. Zoology (MVZ), University 1996. Women in the early years of The American Museum of Paleontology (UCMP; C. Bell), the Society of Mammalogists (1919-1949). Journal of University of California and Jepson Herbaria Mammalogy, 77:642-654. (UCH; B. Ertter), and the archives of the Bancroft KELLOGG,L. 1910. Rodent fauna of the late Tertiary beds at Valley and Thousand Creek, Nevada. Library (BANC) on the Berkeley campus. Al- Virgin University of California Publications, Bulletin of the individuals have me in though many encouraged Department of Geology, 5:411-437. my research of Annie Alexander I acknowledge . 191 la. A fossil beaver from Kettleman Hills, and thank Karen Klitz in particular. California. University of California Publications, Bulletin of the Department of Geology, 6:401-402. LITERATURE CITED . 1911lb. A collection of winter birds from Trinity and Shasta counties, California. The Condor, ALLEN,J. A. 1879. A woman's work as a naturalist. 13:118-121. Bulletin of the Nuttall Ornithological Club, 4:113- . 1912. Pleistocene rodents of California. Uni- 114. versity of California Publications, Bulletin of the ANONYMOUS.1992. The final journey. Ampersand, Department of Geology, 7:151-168. Spring 1992:9-14. Alexander & Baldwin, Inc., Ho- -. 1914. Aplodontia chryseola, a new mountain nolulu, Hawaii. beaver from the Trinity region of Northern Califor- BAMFORD,G. L. 1931. The mystery of Jack London. nia. University of California Publications in Zoolo- Some of his friends. And also a few letters. A rem- gy, 12:295-296. iniscence. George Loring Bamford, Oakland, Cali- _- . 1916. Report upon mammals and birds found fornia, 252 pp. in portions of Trinity, Siskiyou and Shasta counties, BENSON,M. 1986. Martha Maxwell: Rocky Mountain with description of a new Dipodomys. University of naturalist. University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, California Publications in Zoology, 12:335-398. 335 pp. MERRIAM,C. H. 1914. Descriptions of thirty appar- BONTA,M. M. 1992. Martha Maxwell: Colorado nat- ently new grizzly and brown bears from North uralist. Pp. 30-41, in Women in the field: America's America. Proceedings of the Biological Society of pioneering women naturalists. Texas A&M Univer- Washington, 27:173-196. sity Press, College Station, 299 pp. RYDER, D. W. 1954. Men of rope. Historical Publi- CARTER,A. 1949. Three women without fear: how cations, San Francisco, California, 146 pp. three botanists drove 4200 miles in Baja California. SCHANTZ,V. S. 1943. Mrs. M. A. Maxwell, a pioneer California Monthly, 59:30-81. mammalogist. Journal of Mammalogy, 24:464-466. . 1987. "UC Herbarium botanist, collector and ZULLO,J. L. 1969. Annie Montagne Alexander: her interpreter of Baja California plants", an oral history work in paleontology. Journal of the West, 8:183- conducted in 1985. Pp. 27-49, Regional Oral His- 199.