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Bird Egg Collections papers
LA.2019.1003
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Table of contents
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
San Diego Natural History Museum Research Library
Title: Bird Egg Collections Papers
Identifier/Call Number: LA.2019.1003
Physical Description:
.5 Linear Feet
7 files of textual materials, including correspondence, memos, catalogs, inventories, notes, and other materials.
Date (inclusive): 1883-2004
Abstract: The Bird Egg Collections Papers consists of correspondence, memos, catalogs, inventories, notes, and other materials from
1883-2004 related to the oological collections and collectors at San Diego Natural History Museum. The bulk of the collection
pertains to the Bancroft Egg Collection and its eventual transfer to the Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology.
Container: 365
Container: Artifact Shelf
The collection contains correspondence, papers, and other materials related to the San Diego Natural History Museum's oological
collections and collectors between 1883-2004. The bulk of the collection documents the transition of ownership and possession
of the Bancroft Bird Egg Collection between 1931-1970, including its deposit with the San Diego Natural History Museum in
1941 and its eventual transfer to the Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology. Also included are materials on the Western
Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology, and animal specimen sales catalogs from 1883-1941. Some papers relating to Albert M. Ingersoll
are also included.
Egg collecting, also known as oology, was a popular form of natural history collecting in the nineteenth-century. As ornithology
began to formalize as a scientific discipline in the late 1800s, commercial egg collecting was considered integral to ornithological
research. Hobbyists utilized catalogs and lists advertising bird eggs, skins and nests for sale or trade to build their collections.
However, a rise in popular interest in bird protection, fueled by the extinction of certain zoological species such as the
Passenger Pigeon, led to stricter restrictions on the collection of animal specimens. By the end of the Second World War,
egg collecting had declined.
Albert Mills Ingersoll (1857-1954) collected eggs across the United States and across 24 California counties in particular.
Among his most notable finds are a set of spotted owl eggs and a California Condor egg. Ingersoll served as Honorary Curator
of Birds Eggs and Nests at the San Diego History Museum between the 1920s and the 1940s. His personal collection, which includes
bird skins, nests, and eggs, is located at the Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology.
Griffing Bancroft (1875-1955), the son of historian Hubert Howe Bancroft (1832-1918), was an ornithologist and oologist. Bancroft
collected one of the largest private egg collections in the country prior to WWII. In the 1940s, Bancroft placed the collection
with the San Diego Society of Natural History. When the U.S. Navy took over use of the museum's building in 1943, Bancroft
placed the collection with Ed Newton Harrison (1914-2002), a businessman and fellow collector of bird eggs, skins and nests.
In 1956, Harrison founded the Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology (WFVZ) as a national repository for egg and nest collections.
In 1970 San Diego Natural History Museum administrators arranged for a permanent loan transfer of the Bancroft Egg Collection
to WFVZ.
The collection is open to researchers by appointment. Contact the Research Library Director, San Diego Natural History Museum.
Copyright may be reserved. Consult the San Diego Natural History Museum Research Library Director for more information.
[Identification of item], Bird Egg Collections Papers (LA 2019.1003). Research Library, San Diego Natural History Museum.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Birds -- Eggs
Birds -- Nests
Birds -- Eggs -- Collectors and collecting
Zoological specimens -- Catalogs
Bancroft, Griffing, 1879-1955
Ingersoll, A. M., (Albert Mills), 1857-1954
Harrison, Ed Newton, 1914-2002
Abbott, Clinton G. (Clinton Gilbert), 1881-1946
Jehl, Joseph R. , Jr., 1935-
Hall, L. S. (Linnea Suzanne)
Clark, Mary Hollis, 1921-2010
Sefton, Joseph W., Jr., 1881-1966
Huey, Laurence M. (Laurence Markham), 1892-1963
Orcutt, Charles Russell, 1864-1929
Bent, Arthur Cleveland, 1866-1954
Kiff, Lloyd F.
Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology (U.S.)
Hager, Michael W.