======================================================================
=                            Witmer_Stone                            =
======================================================================

                            Introduction
======================================================================
Witmer Stone (September 22, 1866 - May 24, 1939) was an American
ornithologist, botanist, and mammalogist. He worked for over 51 years
in the Ornithology Department at the Academy of Natural Sciences of
Philadelphia, and served in multiple roles including as Director from
1925 to 1928. Stone was a founding member of the Delaware Valley
Ornithological Club in 1890 and established their periodical
'Cassinia'. He served as editor of the American Ornithologists'
Union's periodical 'The Auk' from 1912 to 1936 and as president of the
organization from 1920 to 1923. He was a member of multiple scientific
societies and president of the American Society of Mammalogists and
the Pennsylvania Audubon Society. He published several books and
hundreds of articles on birds, flora, and mammals with a focus on
Eastern Pennsylvania and South Jersey.

The Witmer Stone Wildlife Sanctuary in Cape May Point, New Jersey, was
established in 1935 by the National Audubon Society and named in his
honor. He was posthumously awarded the Brewster Medal by the American
Ornithologists' Union in 1939.


                      Early life and education
======================================================================
Stone was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on September 22, 1866,
to Anne Eveline (née Witmer) and Frederick Dawson Stone. He was raised
in the Germantown neighborhood of Philadelphia which bordered wooded
areas and the Wingohocking Creek. Stone, along with his brother
Frederick and neighborhood friends, loved to explore the woods and
formed the “Wilson Natural Science Association”, named in honor of the
pioneering American ornithologist Alexander Wilson.

Stone graduated from Germantown Academy in 1883, and received an A.B.
degree from the University of Pennsylvania. After graduation, he
worked for a brief time as an assistant in the library of the
Historical Society of Pennsylvania. In March 1888, he was appointed a
Jessup Fund Student at the Academy of Natural Sciences of
Philadelphia, and helped organize their extensive collection of birds.
The academy established an ornithology department in 1891, the same
year that Stone completed an A.M. degree at the University of
Pennsylvania. Stone married Lillie May Lafferty on August 1, 1904;
they had no children. He received an honorary ScD. from the University
of Pennsylvania in 1913, and was presented with the Alumni Award of
Merit in 1937.


                               Career
======================================================================
Stone worked at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia for
over 51 years. He inherited an ornithological specimens collection
that had not been cared for properly since the death of John Cassin in
1869. Stone led efforts to salvage the ornithological collections and
others. Some specimens were historically valuable, including types
described by pioneering ornithologists and mammalogists. The size of
the academy's bird collection increased fivefold during Stone's
tenure, from 26,000 specimens to 143,000.

Stone participated in hundreds of academy sponsored field expeditions
to the Pine Barrens and coastal regions of New Jersey. He also
participated in field expeditions to various locations including
Arizona, Bermuda, Kentucky, Maryland, Mexico, Minnesota, and South
Carolina.

From 1893 to 1908, he worked as Assistant Curator at the academy;
Curator 1908-1918 and Executive Curator 1918-1925; Director 1925-1928;
Curator of Vertebrates, 1918-1936; and lastly, three titles (with year
of appointment) that Stone held at the time of his death: Vice
President (1927), emeritus Director (1928), and Honorary Curator of
Birds (1938). In regard to Stone's tenure at the academy, the
zoologist John Percy Moore stated that, "His life became so merged
with that of the Academy that for many years it was difficult to think
of them apart."

Stone was an original member of the Philadelphia Botanical Club.  His
focus was ornithology, but Stone also had a good knowledge of
crustaceans, insects, mollusks, reptiles and the local flora. The
Dutch botanist Frans Stafleu stated that "Stone's concentration on
ornithology was a definite loss for botany."  Stone produced 20
botanical publications during his lifetime.

After a joint meeting of the Philadelphia and Torrey Botanical Clubs
in Toms River, New Jersey, in early July 1900, Stone resolved to write
a book on the flora of the New Jersey Pine Barrens.  Over the next
decade Stone made hundreds of collecting trips to southern New Jersey.
His research culminated in his publication of 'The Plants of Southern
New Jersey' in 1911. It has been described as “the only comprehensive
floristic treatment for southern New Jersey and it continues to be
used today [2002].”


Stone's first ornithology manuscript was “The Turkey Buzzard Breeding
in Pennsylvania” published in 'American Naturalist' in 1885.  His
first note in 'The Auk' was
[http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044072188717;view=1up;seq=175
“A migration of hawks at Germantown, Pennsylvania”] in 1887.  Stone
was a founding member of the Delaware Valley Ornithological Club
(DVOC) in 1890. His role at the Academy of Natural Sciences of
Philadelphia allowed for the DVOC to meet at the academy. He founded
the DVOC publication 'Cassinia' and published multiple scientific
papers, club activities and memorials. He authored the DVOC's
[http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/002005710 'The Birds of Eastern
Pennsylvania and New Jersey'], published in 1894 and 'Bird Studies at
Old Cape' in 1937. He wrote
[http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/007924393 'The Birds of New
Jersey, Their Nests and Eggs'], published in 1909 and hundreds of
other ornithological papers.

Stone was elected an Associate of the American Ornithologists’ Union
(AOU) in 1885; a Fellow in 1892; and a member of the council in 1898.
He served as chairman of the AOU Committee on Bird Protection
1896-1901; as a member (from 1901) and later as Chairman (1915-1931)
of the AOU Committee on Classification and Nomenclature of North
American Birds; and as editor of 'The Auk' 1912-1936 (after editing
the DVOC's Cassinia for ten years).  Stone was vice-president of the
AOU 1914-1920, and President 1920-1923.  He chaired the committee
which produced the 4th edition of the AOU checklist, published in
1931.

Stone was an honorary member of many ornithological and scientific
societies including the Nuttall Ornithological Club, the Cooper
Ornithological Club, and the Zoological Society of Philadelphia (Stone
was also Director of the latter). He was awarded the Otto Hermann
Medal of the Hungarian Ornithological Society in 1931 and was a member
of the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature, the
Advisory Committee of the National Audubon Society, and the American
Philosophical Society. He was president of the Pennsylvania Audubon
Society and of the American Society of Mammologists.

Stone's most enduring legacy is his 'Bird Studies at Old Cape May'.
1,400 two-volume sets were originally published by the Delaware Valley
Ornithological Club in 1937. This was an ornithological history of the
New Jersey coast, with an emphasis on Cape May County, particularly
the coastal areas.  The bulk of the work consists of species accounts
of all the birds that had been found in Cape May County at the time of
the writing, with their historical occurrence in the state and notes
on seasonality, habits, and behavior gleaned from Stone's notes and
the records of fellow DVOC members. Stone dedicated 'Bird Studies at
Old Cape May' to his wife. Stone made frequent trips to Cape May, New
Jersey, and it became his annual summer residence.

He died on May 23, 1939, and was interred at Laurel Hill Cemetery in
Philadelphia.


                               Legacy
======================================================================
In 1935, the National Audubon Society leased 25 acres of land in Cape
May Point, New Jersey, for the creation of a wild life sanctuary and
named it the Witmer Stone Wild Life Sanctuary in his honor. The
location of the sanctuary is ideal for birding as it attracts
migratory birds of the eastern seaboard looking for cover and food as
they await favorable winds to cross the Delaware Bay. The sanctuary
expanded to 1,000 acres, however in 1941, a magnesite factory for the
production of fire brick needed to produce steel for the war effort
was located in the middle of the sanctuary. The emissions from the
factory damaged the flora and fauna of the sanctuary and the lease and
sanctuary were abandoned in 1959. The former sanctuary is now part of
Cape May Point State Park.

Stone was posthumously awarded the Brewster Medal by the American
Ornithologists’ Union in 1939.

In 1943, The Delaware Valley Ornithological Club established the
Witmer Stone Award to recognize ornithological publications not
conducted during professional duties.


                            Publications
======================================================================
*'[https://www.google.com/books/edition/The%20Birds%20of%20Eastern%20Pennsylvania%20and%20Ne/la8zAQAAMAAJ
The Birds of Eastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey]', Philadelphia:
Delaware Valley Ornithological Club, 1894
*'[https://www.google.com/books/edition/American%20Animals/sccGAAAAYAAJ
American Animals - A Popular Guide to the Mammals of North America
North of Mexico, With Intimate Biographies of the Most Familiar
Species]', New York: Doubleday, Page and Company, 1904
*'[https://www.google.com/books/edition/%20/VYNAvgAACAAJ The Plants of
Southern New Jersey; With Especial Reference to the Flora of the Pine
Barrens and the Geographic Distribution of the Species]', Creative
Media Partners LLC, 1911
*'[https://www.google.com/books/edition/The%20Phylogenetic%20Value%20of%20Color%20Characte/95kaAAAAYAAJ
The Phylogenetic Value of Color Characters in Birds]', Philadelphia,
1912
*'[https://www.google.com/books/edition/The%20Hawaiian%20Rat/CKNkHK2KIQoC
The Hawaiian Rat]', Honolulu, Hawaii: Bishop Museum Press, 1917
*'[https://www.google.com/books/edition/%20/9TyavAEACAAJ Bird Studies
at Old Cape May]', Dover Publications, 1937


                             References
======================================================================
Citations


Sources
*
*


                          Further reading
======================================================================
*
*Sutton, Clay and Pat. 'Birds and Birding at Cape May'. Stackpole
Books. 2006.


License
=========
All content on Gopherpedia comes from Wikipedia, and is licensed under CC-BY-SA
License URL: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
Original Article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witmer_Stone

You are viewing proxied material from gopherpedia.com. The copyright of proxied material belongs to its original authors. Any comments or complaints in relation to proxied material should be directed to the original authors of the content concerned. Please see the disclaimer for more details.