George and Elizabeth Peckham
George Williams Peckham (March 23, 1845 – January 10, 1914) and Elizabeth Maria Gifford Peckham (December 19, 1854 – February 11, 1940) were a married couple who were early American teachers,
Lives and careers
George Peckham was born in
Elizabeth Maria Gifford (later Peckham) was born in
Family
George W. Peckham and Elizabeth Maria Gifford were married in 1880. In an obituary (in 1940), their daughter Mary Peckham Gross writes of her parents marriage that "it was one of those perfect marriages of minds as well as hearts".[5] Long before that, in 1914, a notification to Vassar alumnae (for class of 1876) records the birth of their grandson as "Born, August, 1914, a grandson George Peckham Gross, to Bessie Gifford Peckham",[7] unfortunately several months after the death of his grandfather and apparent namesake George W. Peckham. In later years, Elizabeth M. Gifford-Peckham is recorded as living with her daughter Mary Peckham Gross, whose children were "a comfort and joy to her".[5]
Natural science studies
Together, they introduced Darwinian concepts into secondary education and began their studies on the taxonomy and behavior of jumping spiders (
The Peckhams were lifetime collaborators, as researchers and educators. From 1883 to 1909, they described 63 genera and 366 species. The North American Peckham Society is named after them. It is dedicated to salticid research; its irregular publication is titled Peckhamia.[11]
Travels
Prior to later 1885, the Peckhams appear to have spent time in eastern Guatemala, as attested to in a series of papers on jumping spiders of the zone, culminating in a statement given in Peckham & Peckham 1896 (Attidae from Central America and Mexico) as "a large part of our collection we made ourselves in Guatemala and Honduras". They may also have collected some specimens themselves in Mexico, such as a few specimens in MCZ are labelled as "Frontera". In November 1912, the Alumnae Bulletin of Vassar reports that "Elizabeth Gifford Peckham and her husband spent last winter in Mexico".[12]
Taxa named after the Peckhams
The salticid genus
- Cicurina peckhami (Simon, 1898)
- Acragas peckhami (Chickering, 1946)
- Bellota peckhami Galiano, 1978
- Chapoda peckhami Banks, 1929
- Compsodecta peckhami Bryant, 1943
- Corythalia peckhami Petrunkevitch, 1914
- Goleta peckhami Simon, 1900
- Habrocestum peckhami Rainbow, 1899
- Habronattus peckhami (Banks, 1921)
- Hasarius peckhami Petrunkevitch, 1914
- Heliophanus peckhami Simon, 1902
- Hyllus brevitarsis peckhamorum Berland & Millot, 1941
- Myrmarachne peckhami Roewer, 1951
- Pachomius peckhamorum Galiano, 1994
- Pelegrina peckhamorum (Kaston, 1973)
- Pensacola peckhami Bryant, 1943
- Salticus peckhamae (Cockerell, 1897)
- Thorell, 1891
- Thiodina peckhami (Bryant, 1940)
- Uroballus peckhami Zabka, 1985
- Viciria peckhamorum Lessert, 1927
Tributes
In addition to the various taxa named after them, in 1929, Milwaukee Public Schools built a new junior high school, which was named Peckham Junior High School. The name was changed in the early 1970s to honor Jackie Robinson. It was shut down in 2005, and converted to apartments in 2011–2012 with the help of historic preservation tax credits.[13]
References
- ^ a b c Dumas Malone, ed. (1934). Dictionary of American Biography. pp. 384–85.
- ^ "Council" in, Transactions of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters Madison: Democrat Printing Company, State Printers, 1892. Volume VIII (1888-1891); n.p.
- ^ Muttkowski, R. A. (1914). "George Williams Peckham, M.D., LL.D." Entomological News and Proceedings of the Entomological Section, Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia. 25 (4): 145–148.
- ^ a b "Elizabeth Gifford Peckham: Obituary". Milwaukee Journal. February 13, 1940.
- ^ a b c "1940 (Elizabeth Gifford Peckham: Obituary)". Vassar (Quarterly alumnae magazine), XXV (5). April 1, 1940.
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: CS1 maint: location (link) - ^ "1916 ("Bessie Gifford Peckham": Correspondence)". Vassar (Quarterly alumnae magazine), I (3). July 1, 1916.
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: CS1 maint: location (link) - ^ a b "1876 (Elizabeth Gifford Peckham: Grandson)". The Vassar Miscellany (Miscellany News), XLIV (2). December 1, 1914.
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: CS1 maint: location (link) - ^ ISBN 9780890966341.
- ^ Peckham, George W.; Peckham, Elizabeth G. (1905). Wasps, Solitary and Social. Houghton, Mifflin; with an introduction by John Burroughs
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: CS1 maint: postscript (link) - ^ "Review of Wasps, Solitary and Social by George W. Peckham and Elizabeth G. Peckham". The Oxford Magazine. 23. The Proprietors: 421. June 21, 1905.
- ^ "The Peckham Society". www.peckhamia.com.
- ^ "1912 Mexican travel". ALUMNAE BULLETIN (Vassar Miscellany), XLII (1). November 1, 1912.
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: CS1 maint: location (link) - ^ "Wisconsin Historical Society. "Peckham Junior High School" Wisconsin National Register of Historic Places". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2012-12-13.
External links
- The Peckham Society
- Works by George and Elizabeth Peckham at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)