Sabrosky, Curtis W. (Curtis Williams), 1910- , interviewee Search this
Extent:
5 audiotapes (Reference copies).
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Audiotapes
Transcripts
Date:
1988
Introduction:
The Smithsonian Institution Archives began its Oral History Program in 1973. The purpose of the program is to supplement the written documentation of the Archives'
record and manuscript collections with an Oral History Collection, focusing on the history of the Institution, research by its scholars, and contributions of its staff. Program
staff conduct interviews with current and retired Smithsonian staff and others who have made significant contributions to the Institution. There are also interviews conducted
by researchers or student on topics related to the history of the Smithsonian or the holdings of the Smithsonian Institution Archives.
Curtis W. Sabrosky was interviewed for the Oral History Collection because of his long and distinguished career as Research Entomologist, and because of his memories of
work and colleagues in the National Museum of Natural History.
Descriptive Entry:
The Sabrosky interviews were conducted by Pamela M. Henson, historian, Smithsonian Institution Archives, in March of 1988. The interviews cover his education; career
at the USDA; work with the National Entomological Collection maintained by the NMNH; interests in issues of taxonomic nomenclature, development of International Code of Zoological
Nomenclature (the Code), especially his work with the ICZN; work with the Entomological Society of America (ESA); and reminiscences of colleagues, notably J. Chester Bradley,
Roland W. Brown, J. F. Gates Clarke, and Carl F. W. Muesebeck. This collection is comprised of three interview sessions, totaling 5.0 hours and 217 pages of transcript.
Historical Note:
Curtis W. Sabrosky (1910-1997), was born on April 3, 1910, in Sturgis, Michigan, and became an Entomologist specializing in Diptera. He received the A.B. in biology
from Kalamazoo College in 1931, the M.S. in zoology from Kansas State College (KSC), later Kansas State University, in 1933, and the Sc.D. from Kalamazoo College in 1966.
From 1936 to 1944, he taught at Michigan State College (MSC), and served in the Public Health Service during World War II. In 1946, he joined the staff of the United States
Department of Agriculture (USDA), first with the Bureau of Entomology and later with its Systematic Entomology Laboratory (SEL) as a Research Entomologist, and serving as
Research Director from 1967 to 1973. From 1980 to 1988, he was a Cooperating Scientist at SEL, as well as a Research Associate of the Department of Entomology, National Museum
of Natural History (NMNH). A specialist on issues of taxonomic nomenclature, from 1963 to 1985, he served as a member of the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature
(ICZN).
Topic:
Museum curators -- United States -- Interviews Search this
Folder 8 General Council on Zoological Nomenclature, 1942-1943. Correspondence concerning the establishment of an American group to replace the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature while it was not functioning during World War II. Corres...
Folder 3 International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature, 1926-1927, 1940, 1942-1944, 1946-1950, 1953, 1956-1963, 1972-1973. Correspondents include Francis Hemming.
Folders 1-4 Peters, James Lee, 1935-1953, 1957. Correspondence concerning ornithological research, especially his publication, Check-List of the Birds of the World, vols. I-VIII; and professional activities, including his work as President of the AOU, ...
Leonhard Stejneger and Georg Herman Baur Collection
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Date:
circa 1850-1943
Descriptive Entry:
This collection consists of papers documenting the research of both Stejneger and Baur on tortoises. Much of the Baur material was created during his research for the
planned USNM monograph on North American tortoises. The papers consist of correspondence, notes, manuscripts, lists, newspaper clippings, photographs, negatives, and drawings.
Of special interest are color drawings executed by John H. Richard and Antonio Zeno Shindler.
Historical Note:
Leonhard Stejneger (1851-1943) was born in Norway. In 1881 he left for the United States and arrived in Washington, D.C., where he soon began working with the birds
of the New World at the Smithsonian Institution with particular interest in aquatic birds. In December 1884, he was appointed Assistant Curator in the Department of Birds
under Robert Ridgway, Curator. In 1889, after the resignation of Henry Crecy Yarrow, Honorary Curator of the Department of Reptiles and Batrachians, Stejneger became the first
full-time Curator for the Department. In 1903 he served as Acting Head Curator of the Department of Biology for several months, and in 1911 he was appointed Head Curator of
the Department of Biology after Frederick William True vacated the post. From that time until his death, Stejneger served both as Head Curator of the Department of Biology
and Curator of the Division of Reptiles and Batrachians. He also chaired a Smithsonian committee which considered manuscripts for publication.
In addition to his herpetological and ornithological work, Stejneger was recognized as an authority on the fur seals of the North Pacific. He began his studies in this
field when he was sent to the Commander Islands for the United States Signal Service in 1882, and made a number of trips to the area between then and 1922. In 1896, Stejneger
was appointed to the International Fur Seal Commission by President Grover Cleveland. In connection with his fur seal work, Stejneger researched and published a biography
of Georg Wilhelm Steller, 1936.
Stejneger also played an important role in international zoological meetings and was elected to the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature in 1898.
Georg Herman Baur (1859-1898) was born and educated in Germany. He came to the United States in 1884 to be Othniel Charles Marsh's assistant at Yale University. He later
held faculty positions at Clark University and the University of Chicago. Baur's primary fields of study were comparative osteology and paleontology. At the time of his death,
Baur was preparing a monograph on the tortoises of North America which was to be published by the United States National Museum (USNM).
Folder 5 Stejneger's correspondence and documents, mostly re: International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature, ca. 1928-1940; other correspondence and documents, 1887-1901.
Baily, Joshua Longstreth, Jr., 1926, 1930-1934, 1936-1937, 1941-1948, 1950-1951, 1953-1959, 1961, 1964-1966, 1970-1971. Incoming letter of 15 October 1937 informs Berry of his appointment to an AMU committee on nomenclature, a position Berry declined. ...
Collection Creator::
Berry, S. Stillman (Samuel Stillman), 1887-1984 Search this
Container:
Box 1 of 15
Type:
Archival materials
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 7335, S. Stillman Berry Papers
Folder 9 International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature, 1957-1958. Includes materials concerning the retirement of Secretary Francis Hemming, 1958.
Collection Creator::
Reeside, John B. (John Bernard), 1889-1958 Search this
Container:
Box 5 of 6
Type:
Archival materials
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 7326, John B. Reeside, Jr., Papers
24.25 cu. ft. (48 document boxes) (1 half document box)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Manuscripts
Picture postcards
Clippings
Field notes
Floor plans
Black-and-white photographs
Black-and-white negatives
Black-and-white transparencies
Color photographs
Color transparencies
Lantern slides
Date:
1927-1973 (Papers), 1927-1966 (Records)
Descriptive Entry:
These papers include both personal and professional correspondence and documents relating to Peters' academic and curatorial careers. Also included are files of the
Division of Reptiles and Amphibians maintained by Peters' predecessor, Doris Mable Cochran (1898-1968). Correspondents include Jorge W. Abalos, M. Acosta-Solis, Kraig Kerr
Adler, Villy Aellen, E. Ross Allen, American Institute of Biological Sciences, American Medical Association, American Museum of Natural History, American Society of Icthyologists
and Herpetologists, Steven C. Anderson, Attilio Arillo, Ralph W. Axtell, James P. Bacon, Jr., Gladys C. Banks, Benjamin Harrison Banta, Avelino Barrio, J. C. Battersby, Nina
Battersby, Pauline Becker, William Beebe, Beitrage Zur Neotropischen Fauna, Ronald E. Beltz, Paul A. Benson, Frederick Henry Berry, Bio Instrumentation Advisory Council, Sherman
Chauncey Bishop, Richard Eliot Blackwelder, Frieda Cobb Blanchard, Ellen Gillespie Block, Charles Mitchell Bogert, James Erwin Bohlke, Werner C. A. Bokermann, Donald D. Brand,
Ronald A. Brandon, Bayard Holmes Brattstrom, British Herpetological Society, Donald G. Broadley, L. D. Brongersma, Garnett Ryland Brooks, Jr., John Langdon Brooks, Bryce Cardigan
Brown, Frederick Martin Brown, Brown University, Walter Creighton Brown, Maria Buchinger, W. Leslie Burger, A. C. J. Burgers, Charles Earle Burt, William Henry Burt, Robert
A. Burton, R. Bruce Bury, Fred Ray Cagle, Canadian Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Society, Luis F. Capurro, Dennis S. Carlson, Nan V. Carson, Center for Tropical Studies,
University of Michigan, Herman Burleigh Chase, The Chicago Herpetological Society, William M. Clay, Doris Mable Cochran, Nathan Wolf Cohen, Roger Conant, John M. Condit, Congreso
Latinamericano de Zoologia, Joseph F. Copp, Robert Copping, Raymond B. Cowles, David Crane, John Davis, Paul E. P. Deraniyagala, Philip H. Derse, Michael W. Dix, James R.
Dixon, Roberto Donoso-Barrios (Ref.), Armando Dugand, Roy Frederick Dulin, Jr., Ann Dunham, Emmet Reid Dunn, Delbert G. Easton, Richard A. Edgren, Jr., Lloyd C. Emmons, Francis
Cope Evans, Lee C. Finneran, Harvey Irvin Fisher, Henry Sheldon Fitch, Alvin Godfrey Flury, William I. Follett, Keith E. Friedel, John W. Funkhouser, Jose M. Gallardo, Sidney
Roland Galler, Carl Gans, Joseph Francis Gennaro, Jr., Howard Kay Gloyd, Coleman Jett Goin, Stanley W. Gorham, Joseph B. Gorman, Chapman Grant, Arthur Merwin Greenhall, Arnold
B. Grobman, Eugene Raymond Hall, Rogers D. Hamilton, William John Hamilton, Jr., Garry P. Harned, Francis Harper, Ernest William Hartung, Norman Edouard Hartweg, Werner George
Heim, Herpetologists' League, William Atwood Hilton, Richard L. Hoffman, Alphonse Richard Hoge, Theodore Huntington Hubbell, Carl Leavitt Hubbs, Richard G. Hubler, Don Hunsaker
II, Victor H. Hutchinson, Robert F. Inger, Instituto Butantan, Instituto Panamericano de Geografia e Historia, International Association For Systematic Zoology, International
Biological Programme, International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature, International Congress of Systematic and Evolutionary Biology, International Herpetology Society,
International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, Hernando de Irmay, David Lee Jameson, Rolf A. Jensen, Junior Herpetological Society, Brahma S. Kaushiva,
Hugh Lawrence Keegan, Laurence Monroe Klauber, Robert Elroy Kuntz, Ernest Albert Lachner, Abdem Ramon Lancini, David A. Langebartel, Carlos M. Larrea, Ronald Lawson, David
S. Lee, Donald L. Lehmann, Roberto Levi-Castillo, Alan E. Leviton, Lizard Ecology Symposium, Long Island Herpetological Society, Richard Biggar Loomis, Francis X. Lueth, Douglas
MacGregor, Thomas J. McIntyre, Rogers McVaugh, Beni Charan Mahendra, M. Maldonado-Koerdell, Guillermo Mann, Romeo John Mansueti, Paul Schultz Martin, Kevin W. Marx, The Maryland
Herpetological Society, Ernst Mayr, Giles W. Mead, John Stephen Mecham, Daniel Merriman, Robert Rush Miller, Eunice Thomas Miner, Francis J. Mitchell, Erna Mohr, John Alexander
Moore, George Sprague Myers, National Geographic Society, Walter Ludwig Necker, Wilfred T. Neill, Morris Graham Netting, New York Herpetological Society, Norman Dennis Newell,
Clifford Raymond Noll, Jr., Kenneth Stafford Norris, The Ohio Herpetological Society, James Arthur Oliver, The Orange County Herpetological Society, Gustavo Orces, Braulio
Orejas-Miranda (Ref.), Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (Paris), Organization of American States, Lourdes G. Ortega, Juan Jose Parodiz, Georges Pasteur,
Dennis R. Paulson, Raymond Andrew Paynter, Jr., James A. Peters, Philadelphia Herpetological Society, David Pimentel, Richard A. Pimentel, Ivo Poglayen-Neuwall, Friedrich
Polz, Clifford Hillhouse Pope, Primer Congreso Sudamericano de Zoologia, George B. Rabb, A. Stanley Rand, Neil Dwight Richmond, William J. Riemer, Philip C. Ritterbush, Robert
Maar Roecker, Alfred S. Romer, Douglas Anthon Rossman, Barry Rothman, Norma Rothman, Janis A. Roze, Rodolfo Ruibal, Findlay Ewing Russell, Richard W. Russell, Jay M. Savage,
Scandinavian Herpetological Society, Herbert Schifter, Karl Patterson Schmidt, Waldo Lasalle Schmitt, Albert Schwartz, Frederick A. Shannon, Charles E. Shaw, Hurst Hugh Shoemaker,
R. K. Shrivastava, Charles Gald Sibley, Allan J. Sloan, Paul Slud (Ref.), Hobart Muir Smith, Philip W. Smith, Richard Craine Snyder, Society for the Study of Amphibians and
Reptiles, Society for the Study of Evolution, Society of Systematic Zoology, Paul Soderberg, The Southern California Academy of Sciences, Southwestern Herpetologists Society,
James Juan Spillett, Leonhard Stejneger, Othmar Stemmler, Terry B. Stevenson, William H. Stickel, Laurence Cooper Stuart, Bogdan Sturgen, The Systematics Association, Michael
J. Takos, James R. Tamsitt, Wilmer W. Tanner, Aaron M. Taub, Edward H. Taylor, The Tennessee Herpetological Society, E. Titschack, Enrico Tortonese, Robert G. Tuck, Jr., Frederick
Brown Turner, Michael J. Tyler, Emil K. Urban, Thomas Marshall Uzzell, Jose Valencia, Stefan Vancea, Paulo Emilio Vanzolini, Jaime D. Villa, Virginia Herpetological Society,
John Visser, Zdenek Vogel, Harold K. Voris, Helmuth O. Wagner, David Burton Wake, Charles Frederic Walker, Warren Franklin Walker, Jr., Harlan D. Walley, The Washington Biologists'
Field Club, Inc., Robert G. Webb, William Weber (Ref.), John E. Werler, Heinz Wermuth, Yehudah L. Werner, Dawn Xavier Weston, Jr., Kenneth L. Williams, Richard Willnow, James
Walter Wilson, Larry David Wilson, Gaston-Francois de Witte, Allyn L. Wood, Lindsay W. Wood, Albert Hazen Wright (Ref.), John W. Wright, David Zaid, William Zipperer, The
Zoological Society of London, George R. Zug, Richard George Zweifel.
Historical Note:
James A. Peters was born in Durant, Iowa on July 13, 1922. He developed an interest in herpetology as a teenager, which culminated in the acquisition of three academic
degrees from the University of Michigan (B.S., 1948; M.A., 1950; Ph.D., 1952). While at the University of Michigan he served as a research assistant in the Museum of Zoology
(1946-1952) and as a teaching assistant for the Department of Zoology (1952). After receiving his Ph.D., Peters joined the staff of Brown University (1952-1958), advancing
from instructor to assistant professor. During the summer of 1956 he was a research associate at Stanford University. From 1958 to 1959 Peters was a Fulbright Lecturer at
the Universidad Centrale de Ecuador; he was a visiting professor at Southern Illinois University for the summer of 1959 and accepted an associate professorship at San Fernando
Valley State College (SFVSC) in the fall of that year. Peters advanced to full professor at SFVSC, remaining there until February 1964 when he accepted the position of associate
curator in the Division of Reptiles and Amphibians of the United States National Museum. He assumed the title "supervisor and curator" of the Division in FY 1967, a title
he held until FY 1971. He was named curator, Division of Reptiles and Amphibians in FY 1971 and held that position until his death on December 18, 1972.
James A. Peters' professional responsibilities included membership in many scientific societies. He attended his first meeting of the American Society of Icthyologists
and Herpetologists (ASIH) in 1939. He later served on the Board of Governors and various committees. He also served as ASIH secretary (1960-1966); vice-president (1967); and
president (1970). He also held advisory or elected positions with the Society of Systematic Zoology, the Southern California Academy of Sciences, the Society for the Study
of Evolution, and the Biological Society of Washington. Within the Smithsonian Peters continued his professional responsibilities by service on the Zoo Research Advisory Committee
(National Zoological Park), the Planning Committee for Summer Seminar in Systematics, the Steering Committee for the First International Congress of Systematic Zoology, the
International Congress of Systematic and Evolutionary Biology, the Reptile Group of the Survival Service Commission of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature,
the American Alligator Council, and the Rare and Endangered Species Committee of the Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife. In 1965 he inaugurated the Smithsonian Herpetological
Information Services, which distributed informative material deemed useful to herpetologists but unsuitable for publication, e.g., bibliographies, indices, etc.
The herpetology and zoogeography of Latin America became main subjects of interest for Peters after he did field work on the Mexican Plateau in 1949 and in Michoacan in
1950. His concentration on Ecuador was largely due to the wide scope of biogeographical faunal comparisons available in the Andes Mountains. While completing his doctoral
work on the snakes of the subfamily Dipsadinae, he embarked in 1952 upon a long-term research project on the herpetology of Ecuador that resulted in twenty-one published papers.
The culmination of his Latin American work was the two-volume Catalogue of the Neotropical Squamata co-authored with Braulio Orjas-Miranda and Roberto Donoso-Barrios
(1970). Over 100 scientific publications are attributed to James A. Peters, including two books, Classic Papers in Genetics (ed., 1959) and Dictionary of Herpetology
(1964). He described seventeen new species or subspecies and had five taxa, four Neotropical amphibians and reptiles, and one snake named for him.
The computer analysis of biogeographic data greatly enhanced Peters' study of the systematics and ecology of reptiles and amphibians. An effective use of this technique
was the gathering of comparative cardiac physiology of Ecuadorian snakes and lizards using data obtained from an electrocardiograph. Identification of specimens was another
field adaptable to the use of computer technology. In this area of interest Peters developed computer programs that facilitated the identification process by searching on
a larger constellation of characters than had previously been employed. Eleven papers were published from 1968 to 1973 on the subject of computer usage. He also founded the
newsletter MUDPIE (Museum and University Data Program and Information Exchange) which contained information about computer programs, references, grants, meetings, and
related news.
Sabrosky, Curtis W. (Curtis Williams), 1910- Search this
Extent:
1.5 cu. ft. (1 record storage box) (1 document box)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Manuscripts
Date:
1953-1961
Descriptive Entry:
This accession consists of records documenting Sabrosky's work as a representative of the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. Included are files relating
to the development of the First International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, 1961; the Colloquium on Zoological Nomenclature, International Congress of Zoology, Copenhagen,
1953; and the Colloquium on Zoological Nomenclature, International Congress of Zoology, London, 1958.
Historical Note:
Curtis Williams Sabrosky (1910-1997) was an entomologist who specialized in Diptera, especially Chloropidae. Sabrosky worked at the Systematic Entomology Laboratory
of United States Department of Agriculture and at the National Museum of Natural History, Department of Entomology.
Sabrosky, Curtis W. (Curtis Williams), 1910- Search this
Extent:
4 cu. ft. (4 record storage boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Manuscripts
Date:
1950s-1980s
Descriptive Entry:
These records consist of correspondence, drafts, notes, and related materials documenting Curtis W. Sabrosky's work as a delegate and President of the International
Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. Much of the material concerns the development of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, 1st edition (1961), and 3rd edition
(1985).
Historical Note:
Curtis Williams Sabrosky (1910-1997) was an entomologist who specialized in Diptera, especially Chloropidae. Sabrosky worked at the Systematic Entomology Laboratory
of United States Department of Agriculture and at the National Museum of Natural History, Department of Entomology.
