Ida Shepard Oldroyd
Ida Shepard Oldroyd | |
---|---|
Born | Ida Mary Shepard November 25, 1856 |
Died | July 9, 1940 | (aged 83)
Nationality | American |
Education | University of Michigan |
Known for |
|
Spouse | Tom Shaw Oldroyd |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Malacology, Conchology |
Institutions | Stanford University |
Ida Shepard Oldroyd (1856–1940) was an American
Early life
Ida Mary Shepard was born on November 25, 1856, in Goshen, Indiana, to parents William H. and Delia Mary (Gillett) Shepard. She attended high school in Saline, Michigan, and attended the University of Michigan from 1883 to 1885, earning a teaching certificate but not graduating. In 1888, her family moved to Long Beach, California, where she began collecting shells. In September, 1895, she married Tom Shaw Oldroyd, a fellow shell collector. The two collected extensively in southern California, amassing a large collection and obtaining rare specimens brought in on the nets of fishermen.[1][2][3]
Career
In 1914, Oldroyd was recruited by the California Academy of Sciences to classify and pack a portion of the shell collection of Henry Hemphill, in preparation of the collection's transfer to the Academy following Hemphill's death. In 1916, she was hired by Stanford University, which had then acquired the Hemphill collection, to catalog the collection. A year later, Stanford purchased the Oldroyds' private collection and hired the Oldroyds as curators in the Department of Geology, where they served for the rest of their lives. In the mid 1920s, the Stanford shell collection was the second largest in the world.[4][5] They continued to collect shells in California and Washington state, and in 1929–30 traveled the world, collecting and facilitating the acquisition of large collections upon their return.[1][2][6]
In 1922, Oldroyd was hired as a consultant by the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, where she spent several months studying and organizing the conchology collection. Oldroyd produced several papers, and is known for her major works: Marine Shells of Puget Sound and Vicinity (1924) and The Marine Shells of the West Coast of North America, a four-volume series published between 1924 and 1927. Oldroyd was a charter member of the American Malacological Union and served as its vice-president in 1934 and as honorary president from 1935 to 1940.[1]
Death and legacy
Oldroyd died on July 9, 1940, in Palo Alto, California, at the age of 83 after several months of declining health. At the time of her death, the Stanford shell collection was considered the largest of any American university.[7][8]
Oldroyd described over 20 species of mollusk as well as a species of coral.
Husband
Tom Shaw Oldroyd was born in
References
- ^ a b c d e Coan, Eugene V.; Kellogg, Michael G. (1990). "The Malacological Contributions of Ida Shepard Oldroyd and Tom Shaw Oldroyd". The Veliger. 33 (2): 174–184.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-585-27684-7.
- ^ Howes, Durward, ed. (1935). American Women: The Official Who's who Among the Women of the Nation, 1935–36. Los Angeles: Richard Blank Publishing Company. p. 413.
- ^ "Stanford's Shell Collection". Oakland Tribune. 1 November 1925. p. 59 – via NewspaperArchive.com.
- ^ "University Shell Collection Second Largest in World". The Daily Palo Alto. Vol. 68, no. 14. 20 October 1925. p. 4.
- ^ Anonymous (1942). "Ida Shepard Oldroyd". Nautilus. 55 (4): 140–141.
- ^ "Stanford Shell Expert Succumbs". The Stanford Daily. Vol. 97a, no. 8. 18 July 1940. p. 3.
- ^ "Stanford Collection Curator, 85, Dies". Oakland Tribune. Associated Press. 10 July 1940 – via NewspaperArchive.com.
- ^ a b Hans G. Hansson (14 November 1997). "Biographical Etymology of Marine Organism Names (BEMON)". Tjärnö Marine Biological Laboratory, Göteborg University. Retrieved 3 November 2018.
- .: 34–35
- ^ Anonymous (1933). "Tom Shaw Oldroyd". Nautilus. 46 (3): 108.
External links
- Guide to the Ida Shepard Oldroyd Papers — Stanford University archives.
- Works by Ida Shepard Oldroyd at the Biodiversity Heritage Library