3 The New York Years (1931–1953)

Acknowledgments
IamdeeplygratefultoErnstMayrwithwhomIcorrespondedsincetheearly
1960s. I was always astonished that despite his busy schedule as Director of the
Museum of Comparative Zoology, he would take time to answer my enquiries in
detail. I met him at Harvard University in 1968 and discussed aspects of speciation
and evolution with him when we met several times in the United States and in
Germany in later years. I also thank him for his contributions to this volume and
forhispermissiontoreviewmaterialintheMayrPapersattheErnstMayrLibrary
(Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University) as well as portions of his
correspondence at the Harvard University Archives. During visits to Cambridge
and Bedford, Massachusetts in September 2003 and October 2004, we discussed an
early version of this manuscript. I was also permitted to use a 12-page manuscript
by Margarete (Gretel) Mayr, Ernst’s wife, on “Our life in America during the Second
World War.” Their daughters Mrs. Christa Menzel and Mrs. Susanne Mayr Harrison
also supplied additional information. Mrs. Harrison mentioned to me details of
the family’s frequent visits to Cold Spring Harbor (New York) during the 1940s
and Mrs. Menzel and her husband Gerhart Menzel kindly showed me The Farm
near Wilton, New Hampshire. Mrs. Harrison also provided prints and electronic
files of family photographs and reviewed various parts of the manuscript. I thank
the nephews Dr. Otto Mayr and Dr. Jörg Mayr who maintain a family archive
in Lindau, Germany, for historical photographs and data regarding the family.
Ernst Mayr’s niece Roswitha Kytzia (née Mayr) and her husband Peter Kytzia
(Hammersbach near Hanau, Germany), who served as E. Mayr’s main family
contact in Germany during the last 20 years, also furthered this project and helped
with various information.
At the American Museum of Natural History (New York), Ms. Mary LeCroy of the
Department of Ornithology kindly placed at my disposal relevant documents such
as the unpublished reports of members of the Whitney South Sea Expedition (1920–
1940), the annual reports of the department during the 1930s and its historical
correspondence files. She also helped in locating historical photographs, answering
questions regarding several collecting sites in New Guinea, and sent information
on certain birds that Mayr had obtained on one of the Solomon Islands in 1929. She
also sent me taxonomic notes on several subspecies of birds described by Mayr and
later synonymized by other authors. I am very grateful for her help and substantial
contributions. I take this opportunity to also thank the curators of the Department
of Ornithology (AMNH) for their support during many visits in the course of the
last 40 years.