This is the only biography of William Diller Matthew (1871-1930), a paleontologist's paleontologist, and a man who occupies a major position in the history of North American paleontology. Using personal letters, archives, and accounts from those who knew Matthew, Edwin Colbert paints a compelling portrait of the scientist's work, presenting a delightful look at Matthew's family and life in New York at the turn of the century, complete with photographs of his excavations and world travels, relatives, and environs.
The collection consists of departmental and administrative reports, minutes of meetings, and typewritten (many carbon copies) and handwritten correspondence, all in connection with Matthew's management of the the Dept. of Geology and Paleontology, following the death of E.O. Hovey. Charles P. Berkey is considered for the position of curator, but is committed to work in Mongolia during the ongoing Central Asiatic Expeditions. Topics of the correspondence cover acquisitions of material, job applications and research reports. Reports contained in the collection include: A report on glacial clay studies by Chester A. Reeds; and Origin of the "Brown Mountain light," in North Carolina, by G.R. Mansfield. Museum director George H. Sherwood, curator Reeds, and Matthew correspond on the possibility of acquiring models of coral islands created by William M. Davis. Sherwood and Matthew correspond with George P. Merrill concerning various meteorites, and Matthew corresponds with other geologists in connection with a planned exhibit on economic geology. Applicants for employment include Cleveland Abbe Jr., E.C. Andrews, Radcliffe H. Beckwith, Charles Cabeen, Winnie McGlamery, I.P. Tolmachev and Herbert P. Woodward. Materials offered to the department for sale or exchange include a collection of fossil crinoids and Pleistocene shells collected in the area of San Pedro, Calif., by James O. Beebe; and volcanic material and photographs from Frank A. Perrett. Additional correspondents include Ray S. Bassler, J.F. Kemp, Heinrich Ries, and Rudolf Ruedemann.
William Diller Matthew (1871 -1930) was a vertebrate paleontologist and curator of the American Museum of Natural History from the mid-1890s to 1927, and director of the University of California Museum of Paleontology from 1927 to 1930. In 1915, Matthew published "Dinosaurs with special reference to the American museum" which he described as a consecutive and intelligible account of the Dinosaur collections in the American Museum. Contents: I. THE AGE OF REPTILES: ITS ANTIQUITY, DURATION AND SIGNIFICANCE IN GEOLOGIC HISTORY. II. NORTH AMERICA IN THE AGE OF REPTILES, ITS GEOGRAPHIC AND CLIMATIC CHANGES. III. KINDS OF DINOSAURS: COMMON CHARACTERS AND DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE VARIOUS GROUPS. IV. THE CARNIVOROUS DINOSAURS, ALLOSAURUS, TYRANNOSAURUS, ORNITHOLESTES, ETC.SUB-ORDER THEROPODA. V. THE AMPHIBIOUS DINOSAURS, BRONTOSAURUS, DIPLODOCUS, ETC. SUB-ORDER OPISTHOCOELIA (CETIOSAURIA OR SAUROPODA). VI. THE BEAKED DINOSAURS. ORDER ORTHOPODA (ORNITHISCHIA OR PREDENTATA.) VII. THE BEAKED DINOSAURS (Continued). VIII. THE BEAKED DINOSAURS (Continued.) IX. THE BEAKED DINOSAURS (Concluded.) X. GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF DINOSAURS. XI. COLLECTING DINOSAURS. HOW AND WHERE THEY ARE FOUND. Other works by this author include: Fossil mammals of the Tertiary of northeastern Colorado: American Museum collection of 1898. 1901. The evolution of the horse. 1903. The Carnivora and Insectivora of the Bridger Basin, Middle Eocene. 1909.
Paleontology deals with the History of Life. Its time is measured in geologic epochs and periods, in millions of years instead of centuries. Man, by this measure, is but a creature of yesterday--his "forty centuries of civilization"[1] but a passing episode. It is by no means easy for us to adjust our perspective to the immensely long spaces of time involved in geological evolution. We are apt to think of all these extinct animals merely as prehistoric--to imagine them all living at the same time and contending with our cave-dwelling ancestors for the mastery of the earth.
