William J. Hamilton, Jr. of Cornell, The Man and the Myth Honors Thesis Presented to the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Department of Natural Resources of Cornell University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Research Honors Program by Elan Margulies May 2007 Under the Supervision of Professor Charles R. Smith 1 We refer to a certain elusive quality, which doubtless will be explored and exploited many, many years hence by some future biographer in a privately circulated volume entitled; William J. Hamilton, Jr. of Cornell, The Man and the Myth (Robert W. Harrington, Jr., Dear Bill Book1) 1 The Dear Bill Book is a compilation of letters which was given to Professor Hamilton upon his retirement in 1963; it will be referred to from here on as DBB. 2 55Table of Contents 1. Preface......................................................................................................................... 5 2. Introduction:................................................................................................................ 6 3. Childhood.................................................................................................................. 10 4. Cornell Student ......................................................................................................... 13 5. Starting a Family....................................................................................................... 17 6. Cornell Professor ...................................................................................................... 22 7. Fellow Professors...................................................................................................... 25 8. Teaching.................................................................................................................... 30 9. Undergraduate Testing.............................................................................................. 31 10. Undergraduate Advising & the Open Door Policy................................................... 32 11. Graduate Students ................................................................................................. 35 12. First Encounters .................................................................................................... 35 13. Graduate Advising ................................................................................................ 36 14. Suggesting Thesis Topics ..................................................................................... 39 15. Graduate Exams.................................................................................................... 40 16. Graduate Thesis .................................................................................................... 41 17. Eating in the Office............................................................................................... 42 18. Pushing Students to Publish.................................................................................. 44 19. Notetaking and Journaling .................................................................................... 46 20. Graduate Student Pranks....................................................................................... 47 21. Beast Feast & Cornell University Bread Line ...................................................... 48 22. Research................................................................................................................ 49 23. Grant Funding ....................................................................................................... 51 24. Trapping................................................................................................................ 53 25. Mammal Collection .............................................................................................. 55 26. Publications........................................................................................................... 56 27. Administrative....................................................................................................... 59 28. Extension............................................................................................................... 60 29. In the Field ............................................................................................................ 66 30. Courses.................................................................................................................. 69 31. Conservation ......................................................................................................... 77 32. Ecological Society, NSF panel & American Society of Mammalogists .............. 79 33. Social Gathering.................................................................................................... 80 34. The War Years ...................................................................................................... 81 35. Emeritus ................................................................................................................ 83 36. Cornell Plantations................................................................................................ 87 37. Gardening.............................................................................................................. 88 38. Final Years............................................................................................................ 91 38. Bibliography ......................................................................................................... 92 39. Methods................................................................................................................. 93 3 Your inexhaustible fund of humorous stories, “Hamilton stories” will never be forgotten and really should be collected and published. Although the world may not yet be ready for some of them! A good laugh is at least as valuable today as ever. (Bill Dilger, student and colleague, DBB) 4 1. Preface I first heard of William J. Hamilton Jr. while sipping aperitifs after a holiday dinner at the home of the professor Charles Smith. He had invited all his teaching assistants from his Field Biology course as a gesture of good tiding. As the conversation turned to the early years of natural history at Cornell, the name and legend of Wild Bill Hamilton surfaced. It was here where I first encountered the truth and legend of one of Cornell’s most prominent professors of natural sciences. I began uncovering story after story. It was from these early stories that I became enchanted with William J. Hamilton, the man and the myth. When I told friends about Hamilton their eyes lit up and they said, “There was a man like this at Cornell?” And as I looked to Bill’s contemporaries and graduate students, I realized the depth beyond these stories of his outrageous pranks. They spoke of a man who was a legend in his own time. He was a man who enthused people with his clarity of thought and his cunning wit, a man who inspired a whole generation of students to pursue mammalogy professionally, a man who was fascinated by the commonplace – who believed that as much could be learned from a common robin as from a rare wood duck. Professor Hamilton was a great naturalist whose specialty in mammalogy only exceeded his knowledge in other fields of natural history. “It was hard to find something that he didn't know a lot about. For example, if you were opening a shelf fungus, and he found the beetle…He knew quite a bit about that beetle, although he was not an entomologist. If you were looking at some wildflowers, and you happened to find some fairly obscure wildflower, he could tell you quite a bit about that. It was amazing. It wasn't just mammals.” (Verne Rockcastle, 2006) As he accumulated honors, he was never overcome with hubris, knowing too well that the paucity of his knowledge was overwhelming. His advisees appreciated him for “showing that men at the top can be very human and have a little fun along the way.” (C.H. Wharton, DBB) I have accumulated stories about Bill from those who knew him. These stories of his warmth, his wit, and his humor reflect how beloved he was even fifty years later -- “…there is an intense loyalty and respect your students radiate when they discuss their association with you.” (Arthur D. Hasler, DBB) As his students and collegues pass away, his memory recedes. May his memory live on in the stories he told and others told of him. 5 2. Introduction: I'm sorry that our students will not know you, only the legends. (Lyle M. Thorpe, DBB) Historical Foot Notes William J. Hamilton, Jr. lived his life as though he had no choice. To those who knew There was a young fellow named Bill him, he was sometimes gruff in demeanor, Who came to Cornell on the hill He planned just a week though lucid with words. “His outstanding Education to seek character was that he was very friendly if you But good heavens he's living here still talked to him to get below his gruffness.” Bill's love is for all furry creatures (Howard Evans, 2006). Bill was a, “serious They are his life and his teachers student of plants and animals, practical joker, Just give him a skunk hard worker, and loyal friend [which was] a Or a tiny chipmunk It will light up all of his features hard combination to match.” (Eph Palmer, DBB). “Few people become a legend during Ask Bill for the name of his pet their lifetime… Through a unique combination He’ll say I really forget But show him the scat of academic achievement, prankster’s humor --