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Inventory to the Louise Kellogg Papers at the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology at University of California, Berkeley. MVZA.MSS.0158
MVZA.MSS.0158  
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  • 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