Descriptive Summary
Administrative Information
Biographical Note
Scope and Contents note
Descriptive Summary
Title: Louise Kellogg papers
Identifier/Call Number: MVZA.MSS.0158
Contributing Institution:
Museum of Vertebrate Zoology Archives
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
1.0 Linear feet
Date (inclusive): 1908-1940
Abstract: The Louise Kellogg Papers collection includes field notes, correspondence, and 35 mm slides. Kellogg was an early participant
in the MVZ and the longtime companion of the museum’s founder Annie Alexander. Her vertebrate collecting trips took place
between 1908 and 1941, mostly in the Western U.S. She was one of the first published female mammalogists.
Creator:
Kellogg, Louise, 1879-1967
Administrative Information
Conditions Governing Access note
The collection is open for research.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Louise Kellogg Papers, MVZA.MSS.0158, Museum of Vertebrate Zoology Archives, University of California,
Berkeley.
Conditions Governing Use
Copyright restrictions may apply. All requests to publish, quote, or reproduce must be submitted to the Museum of Vertebrate
Zoology Archives in writing for approval. Please contact the Museum Archivist for further information.
Biographical Note
Louise Kellogg was born in Oakland, California on August 27, 1879 to Anita Kellogg and Charles Winslow Kellogg. She attended
the University of California (in Berkeley) and graduated in 1901 as a classics major. In 1908, she was invited by her friend
Annie Alexander, the founder of the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology at the University of California, to be her companion on a
scientific expedition to Alaska. The two women entered into a relationship that lasted until Annie’s death in 1950. Together,
they went on many collecting trips, acquiring over 34,000 specimens for the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, the University of
California Museum of Paleontology, and the University Herbarium. Kellogg’s first paper, entitled
Rodent fauna of the late Tertiary beds at Virgin Valley and Thousand Creek, Nevada, was published in 1910, and represented only the second paper in mammalogy to be published by a woman. Over the course of
the next five years she published five more papers. In 1911, Kellogg and Alexander purchased a ranch on Grizzly Island in
Solano County, California, where they raised livestock and crops, in addition to collecting specimens in the still relatively
undeveloped area. They also continued to go on collecting trips out of the Bay Area. After Joseph Grinnell, the first director
of the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, died in 1939, Kellogg and Alexander began to focus less on collecting animal specimens
and more on collecting plants. Kellogg continued this work after Alexander’s death in 1950. Her last collecting trip took
place in Baja California in 1960. She died in 1967, leaving an endowment to the University Herbarium.
Markos, Stacy. “Louise Kellogg (1879-1967).”
The University Herbarium. 2006. Accessed 30 May 2014. http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/history/biog/kellogg.html.
Stein, Barbara. “Women in Mammalogy: The Early Years.”
Journal of Mammalogy 77, 3: 629-641. Accessed 30 May 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1382669.
Scope and Contents note
The Louise Kellogg papers include five volumes of bound field notes spanning the years 1908-1941 and focusing on the Western
United States, one folder of correspondence spanning the years 1931-1965, and one folder of 35mm slides. The slides are reproductions
of original images held by the Smithsonian Institution and the family of Louise Kellogg.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Alexander, Annie Montague, 1867-1950
Grinnell, Joseph, 1877-1939
35mm
Biological specimens--Collection and preservation.
Biological specimens--Identification
Biology Fieldwork
Correspondence
Field notes
Mammalogy--Fieldwork.
Ornithology--Fieldwork.
Scientific expeditions--Alaska
Scientific expeditions--Arizona
Scientific expeditions--British Columbia--Pacific Coast.
Scientific expeditions--California
Scientific expeditions--Colorado
Scientific expeditions--Idaho
Scientific expeditions--Nevada
Scientific expeditions--New Mexico
Scientific expeditions--Oceania.
Scientific expeditions--Oregon
Scientific expeditions--Texas
Scientific expeditions--Utah
Scientific expeditions--Washington
University of California (1868-1952). Museum of Vertebrate Zoology