Alvin Seale diaries, circa 1890-1955

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Summary

Creators:
Seale, Alvin, Alexander, Annie Montague, 1867-1950, Eastwood, Alice, 1859-1953, Hancock, Allan, 1875-, Bryan, E. H. (Edwin Horace), 1898-1985, and Forbes, W. Cameron (William Cameron), 1870-1959
Extent:
2.5 Linear Feet (5 boxes)
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item] Alvin Seale Diaries, M0172, Dept. of Special Collections, Stanford Libraries, Stanford, Calif.

Background

Scope and content:

Alvin Seale's diaries were recorded from 1901 to 1940, with accounts of travel to various parts of the world including the Philippines, Hawaii, Alaska, the South Seas, Mexico, and the Galapagos, as well as the United States. While the diaries are generally personal in nature, with many photos of Seale and his wife rather than scientific documentation, there are some notes on fish and bird specimens. Most volumes contain large quantities of captioned photographs and some postcards. Entries and photographs are frequently not in chronological order, and there is some duplication of images among volumes. Newspaper clippings include an editorial by Seale arguing for annexation of the Philippines, followed by rebuttals by Filipino nationals. Some correspondence is included in the diaries as well. Note that a few photographs depict images of corpses, executed criminals, and the Bud Dajo massacre.

Biographical / historical:

Alvin Seale (1871–1958) was an ichthyologist and naturalist known for his aquarium design. Seale was born on July 8, 1871, in Fairmount, Indiana, to a family of Quakers. In 1892, he attended Stanford University, and was tutored by David Starr Jordan. Four years later, the year that Seale would have graduated with a degree in zoology, he was picked by Jordan along with fellow student Norman B. Scofield, to go to Point Barrow in Alaska in search of salmon in the Mackenzie River. Before returning to Stanford Seale collected sea birds along the Alaskan coast on behalf of the British Museum. In 1899 Seale briefly returned to Stanford but left to take the job of field naturalist at the Bishop Museum in Honolulu, Hawaii. Within two years he was promoted to Curator of Fishes. a position he held until 1904, when he returned to Stanford. While still curator, Seale made the first zoological survey of Guam in 1900. He returned to Hawaii via Manila, Hong Kong, China, and Japan. From the time of his return until 1903 Seale collected specimens from all over Polynesia. He went exploring in the Society Islands, the Tuamotu Archipelago, and the Marquesas, Gambier, Austral, Cook, and Samoan islands. He also visited New Zealand, Australia, the New Hebrides and the Solomon Islands. In May, 1905 he finally received his degree from Stanford, 13 years after beginning his studies.

In 1906 Seale undertook another Alaskan expedition, this time for the University of California's Anna Alexander Museum. Then in 1907 President Theodore Roosevelt appointed him chief of the Division of Fisheries of the Philippine Bureau of Science. He spent the next 10 years in the Philippines conducting many first studies on fish, shellfish, and sponges. He drew plans for an aquarium in Manila, supervised its construction, and collected fish for its displays. He resigned his post in Manila in 1917 and accepted a job as ichthyologist at the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology. He retired from that position in 1920, and returned to California, settling on a ranch in Corallitos. However, the next year he was recruited by Barton W. Evermann of the California Academy of Sciences to assist in the planning of the Steinhart Aquarium being built in Golden Gate Park. When it opened in 1923, he was appointed Superintendent, and held that post until his final retirement in 1941, at the age of 70. During these years he traveled to Hawaii, Samoa and the Galapagos as head of scientific staff on the 1932 G. Allan Hancock Expedition, where he encountered and photographed the German ex-pats Friedrich Ritter and Dore Strauch.

By this time he was already recognized as an authority on the fishes of Polynesia, as well as an expert ichthyologist. He knew more about Polynesia and its fish and fisheries than anyone else in the United States, publishing several important papers on the subject. He was the author or co-author of some 162 books and articles, including Systematic Icthyology, Icthyology of the Pacific Islands, and Aquarium Building and Management.

Widowed in 1936, he donated 1300 volumes from his personal library in memory of his wife Ethel Prouty, to the Pacific Grove Public Library. Two years later he married Jessie Frapwell. He traveled with her on a worldwide tour of aquariums in Ceylon, Italy, Germany, Holland, France, England, and the one he had built in the Philippines. Alvin Seale died on July 28, 1958 at his ranch in Corallitos, California.

adapted from various sources including https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvin_Seale and https://researcharchive.calacademy.org/research/library/special/bios/Seale.pdf.

Acquisition information:
Gift of Elvis Frapwell, 1967.
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

Open for research. Note that material must be requested at least 36 hours in advance of intended use.

Terms of access:

While Special Collections is the owner of the physical and digital items, permission to examine collection materials is not an authorization to publish. These materials are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study. Any transmission or reproduction beyond that allowed by fair use requires permission from the owners of rights, heir(s) or assigns. Some of these materials are believed to be in the public domain. There are no restrictions on use of public domain materials.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item] Alvin Seale Diaries, M0172, Dept. of Special Collections, Stanford Libraries, Stanford, Calif.

Location of this collection:
Department of Special Collections, Green Library
557 Escondido Mall
Stanford, CA 94305-6004, US
Contact:
(650) 725-1022
specialcollections@stanford.edu
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