James L. Patton papers, 1966-2011

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Summary

Creators:
Patton, James L.
Abstract:
Extent:
1 cubic foot
Language:
Preferred citation:

James L. Patton papers. UC Berkeley, Museum of Vertebrate Zoology

Background

Scope and content:

The James L. Patton papers currently consist of 24 small boxes of 35mm slides from the years 1966-1999 as well as two thumbnail albums, miscellaneous papers, and two volumes containing multiple DVDs with the digital copies of the 35mm slides. These slides contain the photographs from field work done in North America, Mexico, Venezuela, Vietnam, Argentina, Peru, Brazil, Iran, and the Galapagos and are organized by locality. James L. Patton is an active researcher at the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology and continues to do fieldwork, publish, and grow his collection.

Biographical / historical:

James Lloyd Patton (born in 1941 in St. Louis, Missouri) is an active evolutionary biologist and prominent mammalogist whose work has spanned six decades and 15 countries. He is an emeritus curator of mammals at the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology and emeritus professor of Integrative Biology at U. C. Berkeley. He has worked at the MVZ and U. C. Berkeley since 1969 when he left the University of Arizona (where he earned his B.A., M.S., and PhD). Dr. Patton is considered one of the most prolific collectors of mammals in the MVZ’s history and has made immense and pioneering contributions in the fields of evolutionary cytogenetics and systematics of rodents, especially pocket mice (Perognathus/Chaetodipus) and pocket gophers (Thomomys), the diversification of rainforest faunas, and the impact of climate change on North American mammals. Dr. Patton even has an entire genus of rodents named after him, Pattonomys. He is the author of nearly 200 scientific publications, and has mentored and collaborated with nearly 50 graduate students and post-doctoral scholars over his lengthy career. Throughout his career, Dr. Patton has collected extensively in the western United States and in 14 other countries around the world, including Mexico, Ecuador (Galapagos Islands), Peru, Venezuela, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Taiwan, Vietnam, Iran, and Cameroon (often with his wife Carol Porter Patton). His work largely focused on the Western United States until the 1990s when he began focusing on South American mammalogy. Amazingly, he has also been shipwrecked 5 times while out in the field! Among numerous other honors, Dr. Patton was the recipient of the C. Hart Merriam Award for Distinguished Research in Mammalogy (1983) and the Joseph Grinnell Award for Excellence in Education in Mammalogy (1998), both from the American Society of Mammalogists. His colleagues and students have referred to Dr. Patton as “the heart of the [MVZ],” a “curator’s curator” and the “trifecta of research, teaching, and curating,” which aptly sums up his ongoing legacy. Sources: Lacey, Eileen A. and Phil Myers (eds.). 2005. Mammalian diversification: from chromosomes to phylogeography (a celebration of the career of James L. Patton), University of California Publications in Zoology, vol. 133. University of California Press, Berkeley.

Access and use

Restrictions:

The collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

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.

Preferred citation:

James L. Patton papers. UC Berkeley, Museum of Vertebrate Zoology

Location of this collection:
3101 Valley Life Sciences Bldg, #3160
University of California Berkeley
Berkeley, CA 94720-3160, US
Contact:
(510) 642-3567
mvzarchives@berkeley.EDU
Website