These papers consist mainly of professional correspondence documenting Spangler's work in the Division of Coleoptera and his research on aquatic beetles. Most of the
material concerns the identification of entomological specimens. A small amount of correspondence predates Spangler's association with the USNM.
Historical Note:
Paul J. Spangler (1924- ) received his B.A. from Lebanon Valley College in 1949, his M.S. from Ohio University in 1951, and his Ph.D in entomology from the University
of Missouri in 1960. From 1951 to 1953, he worked as Museum Assistant in Entomology at the University of Kansas. Spangler then accepted a position at the University of Missouri,
where he worked as an Instructor in Entomology from 1953 to 1957. In 1957 he was stationed in Juneau, Alaska, as a Fishery Research Biologist with the United States Fish and
Wildlife Service, a position he held until 1958.
In 1958, Spangler joined the staff of the Entomology Research Division, Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), located in the United
States National Museum (USNM). He was a Systematic Entomologist with the USDA until 1962, when he took a job as an Associate Curator in the Division of Insects, USNM. When
the Division of Coleoptera was created in 1963, Spangler became an Associate Curator with that division.
