Bibliography and Zoological Taxa of Paul Bartsch - Smithsonian ...

NUMBER 143
mail three times a day to Dr. Dall's office on the
third floor of the North Tower, copying Dall's letters
in a press copy book, and then taking them
to the mail room. In addition he cataloged and
labeled specimens and helped prepare the index for
one of Dall's large papers on the Tertiary fauna
of Florida. Shortly after his arrival he and Simpson
were also given the task of overhauling and
indexing the alcoholic collection which was kept
in the west end of the basement. This index on
4" x 5" cards is still used to locate desired specimens.
As Bartsch still expected eventually to make
ornithology his life work, he spent much of his
spare time in the Division of Birds, located at that
time on the southwest gallery in the Great Hall.
Here he came to know Robert Ridgway, Charles
Richmond, E. C. Oberholser, and Major Bendire;
the latter was in charge of the oological collection
housed in the northeast corner of the Arts and
Industries Building, then known as the National
Museum.
On weekends and holidays Bartsch explored the
surrounding countryside, first on foot or by streetcar,
a little later by bicycle, observing and collecting
the birds and plants of the area.
In the fall of 1899, he became an instructor in
zoology at the Columbian University, later to become
the George Washington University. In the
following year the University offered him a fulltime
position as professor at double the salary that
he was receiving at the Smithsonian. Bartsch declined
this offer, feeling that his interests lay more
in the atmosphere of scientific research in the
Museum. Nevertheless, he did offer to continue his
teaching in the evening and on weekends, as well
as in summer school, and he was given the title of
professor. For several years his only teaching associate
was the eminent Smithsonian zoologist Theodore
N. Gill, who, while relinquishing the teaching
of undergraduate courses, retained his professorship
in the Graduate School. A few years later Bartsch
joined him in directing graduate students. For
forty-five years he trained and inspired hundreds
of students in the area of zoology, and his graduate
students included many who became highly eminent
in their fields. In 1945 he retired from teaching,
with the rank of professor emeritus.
Beginning in the fall of 1924, and continuing
for about thirteen years, Bartsch allowed a number
of students of George Washington University to
work on their masters' dissertations in the Division
of Mollusks; in one year as many as ten students
spent time in the Division on such projects.
Another local institution with which he became
closely associated was Howard University. When
his sister, Anna Bartsch, came to Washington from
Iowa in 1898 she entered the Medical School of
Howard University as a first-year student. It was
probably through this contact that in 1901 Bartsch
was appointed lecturer on histology at the Medical
School. In the next year he was promoted to Professor
of Histology and made Director of the Histology
Laboratory; added to these duties in the
following year was that of Director of the Physiology
Laboratory and Lecturer in Medical Zoology.
In this capacity he served for thirty-seven years, and
in later trips to the West Indies he had the pleasure
of meeting former students of his serving as medical
officials in some of the islands of the Lesser Antilles.
During his first years at the Museum much of
the curatorial work in the Division fell upon him
and Charles T. Simpson, with whom he cleaned
and rearranged the exhibit collection. He also did
cataloging, and assisted Dr. Dall in his researches.
His leisure hours were devoted to his first love,
ornithology, and during the early years in Washington,
he published several brief articles on birds.
It was not until 1901 that he published his first
malacological paper—one jointly authored with Dr.
Dall describing a new species of Bittium from California.
In the following year, as sole author, he
published the description of a new Rissoina from
California. In September 1903 he took part in the
faunal survey of Lake Maxinkuckee, Indiana, resulting
in a large collection of mollusks.
By this time he had commenced the study of the
family Pyramidellidae, very probably at Dr. Dall's
suggestion. In 1905 he was awarded the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy by his alma mater, the University
of Iowa, the subject of his dissertation: "A
Study in Distribution Based upon the Family Pyramidellidae
of the West Coast of America." In that
same year he was promoted to Assistant Curator.
Some years earlier he had been offered the opportunity
of transferring to the Division of Birds, but
Bartsch felt there was a greater future for original
work in malacology.
His interest in birds remained with him throughout
his life, however, and on all of his trips he