3 The New York Years (1931–1953)

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98 3 The New York Years (1931–1953) collections of Polynesian birds, research for which he is especially qualified by his field experience while a member of our South Sea Expedition” (8 October 1931) and requested an extension of his leave of absence for another six months which was granted on 12 November. When the Rothschild collection began to arrive in New York in the spring of 1932, Mayr got the position of Associate Curator of the Whitney-Rothschild collections without limit of time and terminated his employment in Berlin, effective on 31 July 1932. 4 As Mayr recalled (pers. comm.), he encountered a certain amount of jealousy among young American ornithologists who in the depression years were without a job and quite naturally resented a German “intruder.” However, everybody more or less realized that he was indeed the person best qualified for this position. He was elected a Fellow of the AOU remarkably early (1937) and later never had any problems when organizing meetings, societies and journals in evolutionary biology. Mayr was a staff member of the AMNH until 1953, when he accepted an offer as an Alexander Agassiz professor at the Museum of Comparative Zoology of Harvard University (Cambridge, Massachusetts). In an interview on the occasion of his forthcoming 100th birthday, Mayr related in detail how he came to be attached to the Whitney South Sea Expedition in the Solomon Islands, how he was offered a position in New York and which projects he worked on there; he also described his colleagues in the bird department and his influence on the development of American ornithology (Bock and Lein 2005; CD-ROM in Ornithological Monograph 58). Mayr also recounted his life story for Peoples Archive, a London-based company that filmed the reminiscences of famous scientists and artists (www.peoplesarchive.com). A Manager of Large-scale Ornithological Projects— Dr. L.C. Sanford The transfer of the Rothschild bird collections from Tring to New York as well as Mayr’s employment by the AMNH in the early 1930s were due to the efforts of Dr. Leonard C. Sanford (1868–1950), a wealthy physician in New Haven, an influential member of the New York upper class society, and a Trustee of the AMNH (Murphy 1951; LeCroy 2005). He was not only the family doctor of many prominent families, but also a welcome associate as a splendid tennis player, an excellent bridge player, a superb raconteur, and a good friend (Fig. 3.2). Nobody ever wanted to disappoint him. Through his activities during the 1910s and 1920s the bird collections of the AMNH had become the richest in the world and its Department of Ornithology a global center of research. It was Dr. Sanford who, so to speak, offered to Ernst Mayr the collections which enabled him to carry out a comprehensive research program on geographical variation, zoogeography, and speciation. This fatherly friend for 4 This explains why the year of Mayr’s emigration to the United States is sometimes given as 1931 (when he started his temporary assignment in New York) and sometimes as 1932 (when he terminated his employment in Berlin).
Emigration to the United States and Life in New York City 99 Fig.3.2. Dr. Leonard C. Sanford. (AMNH Department of Ornithology archives.) 20 years (1931–1950) was an important figure in Ernst Mayr’s life, “the knight in shining armor of this tale” (Bock 2004a) and a “manager of major ornithological ventures.” He initiated (1) the Brewster-Sanford Expedition to the coastal areas of South America 1912–1917, (2) the Whitney South Sea Expedition to the islands in the Pacific Ocean 1920–1940, and (3) several expeditions to New Guinea, Celebes (Sulawesi) and the northern Moluccas in 1928–1932. He raised the necessary funds through his connections with financial circles in New York, laid the basic plans for these long-term expeditions and finally arranged for qualified scientists to be employed to study the collections obtained. As detailed below, his motivation was not entirely science but friendly rivalry with his comrade Thomas Barbour. Through his acquaintance with the Whitney family Sanford also raised, in 1929, thefinancial means for theconstruction of theWhitney Wing of theAMNHtohouse
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Jürgen Haffer Ornithology, Evoluti
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Jürgen Haffer Ornithology, Evoluti
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Preface Ernst Mayr (1904-2005), emi
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Contents Introduction 1 Part I The
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Contents IX 2 Bibliography of Ernst
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2 Introduction and speciation, the
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4 Introduction (1928-1929) to repla
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Ernst Mayr has been an observer all
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The Family 9 court system. He had a
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The Family 11 Fig.1.1. Family genea
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The Family 13 where they learned La
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Birdwatching 15 even finishing befo
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Birdwatching 17 Fig.1.5. ErnstMayr
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Birdwatching 19 Fig.1.6. Ernst Mayr
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Birdwatching 21 he simply smoked ci
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University Student in Greifswald an
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Friendships at School and Universit
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2 The Budding Scientist PhD Thesis
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TheInfluenceofTeachers 37 excellent
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Erwin Stresemann—Teacher and Frie
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Erwin Stresemann—Teacher and Frie
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Assistant Curator at the Museum of
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Assistant Curator at the Museum of
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184 5 Biological Species and Specia
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6 Life in North America during Worl
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244 6 Life in North America during
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Part III Professor of Zoology at Ha
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256 7 The Harvard Years (1953-2005)
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8 Evolutionary Biology— Mayr’s
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268 8 Evolutionary Biology—Mayr
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284 9 Ernst Mayr—the Man his coll
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294 9 Ernst Mayr—the Man Prize (1
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296 9 Ernst Mayr—the Man the inte
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298 9 Ernst Mayr—the Man I have s
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300 9 Ernst Mayr—the Man Fig.9.4.
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302 9 Ernst Mayr—the Man not mali
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304 9 Ernst Mayr—the Man papers d
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306 9 Ernst Mayr—the Man 2005. Me
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308 9 Ernst Mayr—the Man Fig.9.5b
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310 9 Ernst Mayr—the Man health i
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312 9 Ernst Mayr—the Man person a
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314 9 Ernst Mayr—the Man with a r
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10 Systematics and Classification T
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322 10 Systematics and Classificati
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11 History and Philosophy of Biolog
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340 11 History and Philosophy of Bi
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376 12 Summary: Appreciation of Ern
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Acknowledgments Iamdeeplygratefulto
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List of Abbreviations AAAS American
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386 References Beehler BM, Pratt TK
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388 References Cracraft J (2002) Go
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390 References Haffer J (1997a) Ess
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392 References Keast JA (1996) Avia
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394 References Olson SL (1975) The
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396 References Smith JJ (1936) Eric
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398 References Wiglesworth LW (1898
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Appendix 1 Curriculum Vitae (includ
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Appendix 1 403 1978 Prêmio Jabuti,
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Appendix 1 405 Society Offices Linn
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Appendix 2 407 1926c Das Freibrüte
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Appendix 2 409 1932 1932a Birds col
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Appendix 2 411 1936g Melidectes bel
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Appendix 2 413 1941e Birds collecte
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Appendix 2 415 1944f Chromosomes an
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Appendix 2 417 1947g On the correct
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Appendix 2 419 1952e Six new subspe
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Appendix 2 421 1954g The tail molt
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Appendix 2 423 1958c Concluding rem
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Appendix 2 425 in E. Mayr, Evolutio
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Appendix 2 427 1964l Introduction [
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Appendix 2 429 1967d Subfamily Pach
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Appendix 2 431 in Acta Soc. Zool. B
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Appendix 2 433 1974b The diversity
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Appendix 2 435 1976m Evolution and
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Appendix 2 437 Mankind 13:430; P.W.
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Appendix 2 439 (1984) in Queen’s
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Appendix 2 441 1984c Evolution and
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Appendix 2 443 1987b The status of
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Appendix 2 445 1990 1990a The Myth
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Appendix 2 447 1992f Haldane’s Ca
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Appendix 2 449 1995g The search for
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Appendix 2 451 1999 1999a Thoughts
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List of Books by Ernst Mayr 453 200
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Coauthorship 455 Coauthorship In th
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Appendix 3 457 (4) Systematics 1942
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Index Achievements 379 Adaptation 2
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Index 461 Faunas 164-165 Family 8-1
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Index 463 Realism and education 372
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