Finding aid to the Charles Hazelius Sternberg Papers LA.2019.0205.01

Isabella Dumon

San Diego Natural History Museum Research Library

2019-02-05

1788 El Prado, Balboa Park

San Diego, CA 92101

library@sdnhm.org

URL: http://sdnhm.org/science/research-library

Language of Material: English

Contributing Institution: San Diego Natural History Museum Research Library

Title: Charles Hazelius Sternberg Papers

Creator: Sternberg, Charles H. (Charles Hazelius), 1850-

Identifier/Call Number: LA.2019.0205.01

Physical Description: .5 Linear Feet

Date (inclusive): 1880-1939

Abstract: The Charles H. Sternberg Papers consists of correspondence to Charles H. Sternberg regarding the sales of his autobiographies and fossil specimens, records of donations and sales to the San Diego Natural History Museum, photos of expeditions and fossils, and pages of field notes and manuscripts.

Container: 82

Biographical / Historical

Charles Hazelius Sternberg (1850-1943) was a professional fossil hunter and paleontologist. Sternberg was born near Cooperstown, New York on June 15, 1850. He later moved to Kansas and attended Kansas State University where he studied under Professor Benjamin Mudge. His first formal expedition was funded by Edward Drinker Cope in 1876, with whom he worked for several field seasons in the years that followed. Sternberg later collected fossils on expeditions funded by various museums and Cope's rival Othniel Marsh. Sternberg's expeditions spanned North America, and he discovered specimen in Kansas; Montana; Texas; Alberta, Canada; San Juan County, New Mexico; and San Diego County, California. His final expedition was to the Baja peninsula in 1928. Sternberg lived in San Diego from 1921 to 1939, and held the honorary title of Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology at the San Diego Natural History Museum. Sternberg sold and donated over a thousand fossils and copies of his books to the San Diego Natural History Museum, then the San Diego Society of Natural History. Sternberg married Anna Reynolds in 1880 and had three sons who survived into adulthood. All three sons – George F. Sternberg, Charles M. Sternberg, and Levi Sternberg – joined their father on fossil-finding expeditions and made important contributions to the field of paleontology. Sternberg wrote two autobiographies, The Life of a Fossil Hunter (1909) and Hunting Dinosaurs in the Bad Lands of the Red Deer River, Alberta, Canada (1917), and a book of poetry, A Story of the Past or the Romance of Science (1911). Charles H. Sternberg died on July 21st, 1943 in Toronto, Canada.

Aber, J.S. (2007). Charles Hazelius Sternberg and Sons, George F., Charles Mortram, and Levi. History of Geology. Emporia State University, Emporia, KS. Retrieved 3/22/2011 from http://academic.emporia.edu/aberjame/histgeol/stern/stern.htm

Everhart, M. (2010) Charles H. Sternberg, Fossil Hunter, 1850 – 1943. Oceans of Kansas. Retrieved 7/19/2011 from http://www.oceansofkansas.com/CHStrnbrg.html

Research Copies, 1910-1934, Charles Hazelius Sternberg Papers (LA 2019-0205-01.

Research Library, San Diego Natural History Museum

Sale and Donation Records, Charles Hazelius Sternberg Papers (LA 2019-0205-01).

Research Library, San Diego Natural History Museum

Ward, P. T. (2011). Sternberg, Charles Hazelius (1850-1943). San Diego Natural History Museum. Retrieved 2/5/2019 from https://www.sdnhm.org/about-us/history/sternberg-charles-hazelius-1850-1943/

Conditions Governing Access

The collection is open to researchers by appointment. Contact the

Research Library Director, San Diego Natural History Museum

Conditions Governing Use

San Diego Natural History Museum Research Library

Director for more information.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Charles Hazelius Sternberg Papers (LA 2019-0205-01).

Research Library, San Diego Natural History Museum .

Subjects and Indexing Terms

Paleontology

Paleontology -- Fieldwork

Vertebrates, Fossil

Fossils -- Collection and preservation

Fossils -- Photographs

Sternberg, Charles H. (Charles Hazelius), 1850 -- Correspondence

Scripps, Ellen Browning, -- 1836-1932

Sternberg, George Fryer, -- 1883-1969

Stephens, Kate -- (Kate Brown) -- c. 1853-1954

Cope, E. D. (Edward Drinker), 1840-1897

Box 82, Folder 1

Papers, Manuscripts, and Notes 1894-1937

Scope and Contents

Various paperwork by or about Sternberg and his collections. Includes pages of unfinished manuscripts with information on various dinosaurs and stories about different expeditions, some typed and some handwritten. Includes information on fossils sold to Ellen B. Scripps as part of her donation to the San Diego Natural History Museum. Includes lists of fossils collected by Sternberg and fossil hunting localities in San Diego. Includes an inventory of books and scientific papers from Sternberg's personal library, a copy of Sternberg's book A Story of the Past, or the Romance of Science, (1911) and his article "Five Years' Explorations in the Fossil Beds of Alberta" (1918). Includes an article about Sternberg and his sons, "Kin Follow in Footsteps of San Diegan" (1935) by Newell Jones.

Box 82, Folder 2

Postcards 1887-1899

Scope and Contents

12 postcards addressed to Sternberg, including one from E. D. Cope.

Box 82, Folder 3

Letters to Sternberg 1875-1899

Scope and Contents

21 letters addressed to Sternberg received between the years 1875 and 1899 regarding the purchase and sale of fossils to various institutions or collectors, including the Smithsonian, the Boston Society of Natural History, Stanford University, and E. D. Cope.

Box 82, Folder 4

Letters to Sternberg 1900-1905

Scope and Contents

27 letters to Sternberg received between 1900 and 1905. Most letters refer to fossil sales or collection inquiries from various institutions or collectors such as the Department of Paleontology at Princeton University, the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, and fellow paleontologist C. R. Eastman.

Box 82, Folder 5

Letters to Sternberg 1906-1909

Scope and Contents

30 letters addressed to Sternberg between the years 1906-1909. They primarily deal with the sales of fossils to various collectors and institutions such as Charles Schuchert from the Geology department of Yale University, State Geologist of Vermont G. H. Perkins, the Department of Biology at Purdue University.

Box 82, Folder 6

Letters to Sternberg 1910-1911

Scope and Contents

29 letters received by Sternberg between 1910 and 1911. The letters primarily reference the sales of fossils to various museums, including the British Museum of Natural History, the Alte Akademie in Munich, and Dr. F. V. Huene at the University of Tübingen.

Box 82, Folder 7

Letters To Sternberg 1912-1918 1938

Scope and Contents

13 letters addressed to Sternberg regarding the sales of various fossil specimens and of Sternberg's books from institutions and collectors such as the American Natural History Museum of New York, the Smithsonian Institute, and Kansas Governor Arthur Capper.

Box 82, Folder 8

Letters From and About Sternberg 1920-1930

Scope and Contents

Contains many copies of letters from Sternberg regarding the sales of his fossils and books. Other letters concern Sternberg's relationship and work with the San Diego Natural History Museum. Includes correspondence from George F. Sternberg to Kate Stephens.

Box 82, Folder 9

Sale and Donation Records 1921-1939

Scope and Contents

Four documents relating to donations and bill of sale for fossils to the San Diego Natural History Museum.

Box 82, Folder 10

Photographs: Fossils and Dinosaurs

Scope and Contents

27 black and white photos of fossils, skeletons, and excavation sites. Includes artistic renderings of dinosaurs, and a page with illustrations and pictures used in Sternberg's autobiographies.

Box 82, Folder 11

Photographs: New Mexico

Scope and Contents

Eight photographs from an expedition in northern New Mexico. Subjects include Sternberg, his assistants, New Mexico landscapes, and dig sites. Five images digitized (see item: Sternberg Digital Images).

Box 82, Folder 12

Research Copies 1910-1934

Scope and Contents

Contains photocopies of inventories of archived material. Includes a copy of the article "Kin Follow in Footsteps of San Diegan" by Newell Jones (c. 1935) which is about Sternberg and his sons, and a photocopy of a page from the American Museum Journal (1910) which mentions Sternberg's name and work. The folder includes a photograph of Sternberg.

Sternberg Digital Images

Charles H. Sternberg, Fossil Collector

view online item

Scope and Contents

Five digital images of photographs (see item: Photographs: New Mexico) showing Sternberg conducting field work in San Juan County, New Mexico. Includes images of labels on back of photos.

Sternberg Images

113.11. Sternberg assistants, Ned Shouver and Dan Padilla, standing at fossil trunk of Palmetto (hoodoo), Meyers Creek, San Juan County, New Mexico, 1921. SDNHM Sternberg Collection.
113.13 South branch Meyers creek San Juan Co. N. Mexico. SDNHM Sternberg Collection.
113.6 C. H. Sternberg at work excavating the Pentaceratops skeleton, Meyers Creek, San Juan County, New Mexico, 1921. SDNHM Sternberg Collection.
113.8-1 SDNHM Sternberg Collection.
113.8-2 SDNHM Sternberg Collection.