Clinton Hart Merriam
| Clinton Hart Merriam | |
|---|---|
Picture of Clinton Hart Merriam, by Frances Benjamin Johnston
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| Born |
December 5, 1855 New York City |
| Died | March 19, 1942 (aged 86) Berkeley, California |
| Nationality | USA |
| Fields |
Zoology Ornithology Mammalogy Ethnography Anthropology |
| Institutions |
Academy of Sciences US Biological Survey United States Department of Agriculture National Geographic Society Biological Society of Washington American Ornithologists' Union US Board of Geographic Names American Society of Mammalogists Anthropological Society of Washington American Society of Naturalists |
| Known for | Life zone concept |
| Author abbrev. (botany) | Merriam |
Clinton Hart Merriam (December 5, 1855 – March 19, 1942) was an American zoologist, mammalogist, ornithologist, entomologist, ethnographer, and naturalist.
Clinton Hart Merriam was born in New York City in 1855 to Clinton Levi Merriam, a U.S. congressman, and Caroline Hart, a judge's daughter and graduate of Rutgers Institute. The name Clinton, shared by both father and son, was in honor of New York governor DeWitt Clinton, whom the Merriam family had connections. To avoid confusion, the younger Merriam went by his first initial combined with his middle name, his mother's maiden name, and thus often appears as C. Hart Merriam in both the literature of his time and thereafter.
While born in New York City, where his parents were staying the winter, the family home and place where Merriam spent his boyhood days was "Locust Grove," Lewis County, New York, a homestead near the Adirondack Mountains, in which Merriam's interests in the natural world flourished. Encouraged by his father, who gave the young Merriam a muzzle-loading rifle and an old storeroom to keep his trophies, Merriam began a collection of natural specimens at a young age, learning the basics of taxidermy from a retired army surgeon. At the age of fifteen, Merriam's father took him to see naturalist Spencer F. Baird at the Smithsonian Institution, who was impressed with the boy's collection. Professor Baird would have a lasting impact on Merriam's career as a naturalist, and he supported Merriam's entrance into the scientific community by setting up lessons with the taxidermist John Wallace, recommending Merriam to the Hayden Geological Survey, and providing assistance in Merriam's first publication following the expedition.
Though the recommendation of Professor Baird, the sixteen-year-old Merriam was appointed as naturalist of the 1872 Hayden Geological Survey, a continuation of the notable Hayden Expedition of 1871, which contributed to the formation of Yellowstone National Park. Beginning in the Wasatch Mountains of Utah, the expedition pushed up through Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana and into the newly established Yellowstone National Park. Merriam returned from the expedition with 313 bird skins and 67 nests with eggs. His report from the trip appears in the Sixth Annual Report of the U.S. Geological Survey of the Territories and marks his first major contribution to the zoological literature. Following the expedition, Lt. George Wheeler, a rival of Hayden's in surveying the American West, tried to poach Merriam for his own survey, putting Merriam in the midst of an old feud between the two explorers. Again Professor Baird stepped in on behalf of Merriam, resolving the issue by recommending that Merriam return to school to prepare for college. Merriam followed Professor Baird's advice and prepared for college by attending Pingry Military School in Elizabeth, New Jersey and Williston Seminary in Easthampton, Massachusetts in 1872 and 1873.
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