By Lauren Audi One of my most prized possessions is a 1st edition, fourth impression copy of A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf published by her company, Hogarth Press. It isn’t worth a lot of money, nor is it in great condition, but that doesn’t matter. It is Continue Reading
Dr. Aida Shafreena Ahmad Puad is Reclaiming Malaysia’s Natural History
In Southeast Asia there exists a flower so exotic and strange it has captured the attention of scientists, artists and nature lovers alike. Measuring over 29 inches in diameter, weighing around 22 lbs and having no stems, roots or leaves, the genus Rafflesia, also known as the corpse flower (not Continue Reading
Mary Elizabeth Rice: Establishing The Smithsonian Marine Station
Mary Elizabeth Rice was the first director of the Smithsonian Marine Station in the 1970s, where she created a program to support visiting scientists and fellowships for graduate students and postdoctoral students. Over the years, work done at the research station has led to over 800 scientific papers and been Continue Reading
Patricia McDonald: A Pioneer in Museum Education
When Patricia McDonald began work as the Education Officer at the Australian Museum in 1953 she was only 24, with a science education degree from Sydney University and one year’s teaching experience. Her office was a room in a tin shed with no water or power. From these humble beginnings, she transformed museum education.
Elizabeth Pope: Marine Biologist
Elizabeth Pope conducted her scientific career at a time when science was a patriarchy and women were more likely to be the secretaries of scientific men, rather than renowned researchers in their own right. During her lifetime of investigating, recording and sharing information on the seashore, Pope found many opportunities Continue Reading
Elsie Bramell: A Pioneer in Museum Anthropology and Australian Archaeology
When Elsie Bramell (1909-1985) began working at the Australian Museum in 1933 she was the first woman and the first university educated person to take up a scientific position in the Anthropology Department. She was appointed Scientific Assistant, senior to her colleague and future husband Fred McCarthy, who had worked Continue Reading
Margaret Mee: Explorer/Conservationist, Botanist/Scientific Illustrator
Margaret Mee, née Brown (1909-1988), was a British contemporary artist considered to be one of the most remarkable women of the twentieth century.1 She was referred to as the premier female explorer of the Brazilian rainforest and an outstanding botanical artist. Her voice was one of the first courageous ones to be raised against the exploitative destruction of Amazonia and she spoke for its conservation until her death.
Bertha “Bertie” Parker Cody: First Female Native American Archaeologist
Bertha “Bertie” Parker Cody is widely considered to be the first female Native American archaeologist. Cody, who also went by her Seneca name Yewas, was born in Chautauqua County, New York in 1907. Her mother, Beulah Tahamont, was an actor of Abenaki descent. Her father, Arthur C. Parker, was an archaeologist of mixed Seneca descent, and the first president of the Society for American Archaeology.
Wang Hao-t’ing: Illustrator for the Central Asiatic Natural History Expedition of the American Museum of Natural History
Wang Hao-t’ing (using the Chinese naming order with family name first) was a Chinese artist who was commissioned to accompany the American Museum of Natural History’s (AMNH) Third Asiatic Expedition in 1921-1926 to document frogs, snakes, salamanders, and lizards in the region. Hao-t’ing painted beautiful, strikingly realistic watercolor paintings of Continue Reading
Courtney Letts de Espil: Borden-Field Museum Alaska Arctic Expedition of 1927
“One must wear white in stalking Arctic game,” quips author Courtney Letts de Espil (Mrs. John Borden) in her 1928 book The Cruise of the Northern Light, which is a 317-page account of the Borden-Field Museum Alaska Arctic Expedition of 1927.1 Public Excitement As The Expedition Launches While newspaper accounts Continue Reading