3 The New York Years (1931–1953)

116 3 The New York Years (1931–1953)
Museum Tasks
Before the Whitney Wing was completed the Bird Department in the eastern half of
the north wing of the museum was very crowded. Chapman, Chapin, and Murphy
had offices, whereas J. T. Zimmer and Ernst Mayr sat at small tables in a little
empty space among the collection cases. Whenever they needed to compare series
of specimens they had to take them to a larger table in Chapman’s office. After the
department had moved into the new quarters during 1935, Mayr had a spacious
office at the north end of the 4th floor with large windows overlooking Central
Park (Fig. 3.6).
One of his main tasks at the museum during the mid- and late-1930s (besides
his study of the Whitney birds) was to supervise the unpacking, storing, and
cataloguing of the Rothschild Collection comprising 280,000 bird skins. The sale of
this collection in 1932 had come about by the blackmailing activity of a “charming,
witty, aristocratic, ruthless lady” beginning in the early years of the century. She
continued her activity so successfully that (it is rumored) Lord Rothschild was
in debt around 1930 (Murphy 1932; Snow 1973; M. Rothschild 1983: 92, 139, 302;
LeCroy 2005). The sale was kept a secret until the deal was concluded. “If Sanford
was the shining knight in this tale, she was the dark lady, but just as important
to the outcome of Mayr’s career” (Bock 2004c), because her activity led to Mayr’s
employment in New York. In a sense we may say he owed his career in New York
to this still anonymous aristocratic lady. Mayr attempted to find out her name for
50 years but was unsuccessful. Historically more important was, however, to what
good use through hard work Mayr put the new opportunities at the AMNH.
The 185 wooden packing cases (76×76×152 cm) in which Rothschild’s birds had
been packed in Tring under R.C. Murphy’s supervision arrived successively in New
York during the course of 1932 and were stored in an unused hall at AMNH. They
could be unpacked only during the summer of 1935 (Fig. 3.8). The approximately
30,000 New World birds of the AMNH had been transferred to the 5th and 6th
floors, the other 250,000 to the 3rd and 4th floors of the Whitney Wing during the
course of 1933 and 1934, on completion of this building. For about three months
Mayr and several colleagues calculated for each family of birds how many cases
or half-cases were required. The calculations turned out to be correct with one
exception—the unexpected size of the giant Siberian eagle owls required some
last minute changes. The catalogue of the 185 large packing cases prepared by
Phyllis Thomas, Ernst Hartert’s former secretary, and R.C. Murphy was useful;
furthermore Ms. Thomas herself came to New York for several weeks to assist
with the organization. The ornithology collection manager Charles O’Brien was
in charge of the move, assisted by three helpers: H. Birckhead, T. Gilliard, and
C. O’Brien’s younger brother. They transferred the birds from the shipping boxes
in the storage room to the trays of three different sizes, wheeled them on carriages
over to the Whitney Wing, and then placed the trays into the proper cases where
they would remain permanently.
“The unpacking of the Rothschild collection is progressing favorably. We are
now working on the small birds, of which we can unpack only a case and a half