Arthur Augustus Allen (28 December 1885 – 17 January 1964) was an American professor of

ornithology Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the "methodological study and consequent knowledge of birds with all that relates to them." Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and th ...

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

. Allen was born in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

, the son of Daniel Williams Allen and Anna née Moore. He studied at

, where he obtained his Bachelor of Arts in 1907, his Master of Arts in 1908 and his Ph.D. in 1911. His thesis is entitled "The Red-Winged Blackbird: A Study in the Ecology of a Cattail Marsh". From 1911 to 1912 he went on an expedition to

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

, and from 1912 to 1916, he was appointed an instructor in zoology at Cornell. Former stockbroker

Albert R. Brand Albert Rich Brand (October 22, 1889 – March 28, 1940) was an author and innovator in the recording of bird songs. Herbert J. Seligmann wrote ''Man and Bird Together: A Portrait of Albert R. Brand'' about him. He was a stockbroker until age 39. A ...

was one of his graduate students. Brand collaborated with Cornell's engineering department to record bird songs, publishing two books accompanied by photographs. He became an assistant professor in 1916, and a professor in 1926. Arthur continued his career at Cornell until his retirement in 1953. After his retirement, he was a public lecturer for the

National Audubon Society The National Audubon Society (Audubon; ) is an American non-profit environmental organization dedicated to conservation of birds and their habitats. Located in the United States and incorporated in 1905, Audubon is one of the oldest of such organ ...

from 1953 to 1959. It has been estimated that over 10,000 students took his courses, including over 100 doctoral students, at a time when Cornell was the only institution to offer advanced degrees in ornithology. Through his work, Allen introduced the field of ornithology to generations of professionals and amateurs. In 1935 Allen led an expedition to the Singer Tract in Louisiana to search for

ivory-billed woodpecker The ivory-billed woodpecker (''Campephilus principalis'') is a possibly extinct woodpecker that is native to the bottomland hardwood forests and temperate coniferous forests of the Southern United States and Cuba. Habitat destruction and hunting ...

s. They did discover some, in what was to turn out to be the last documented, definite sighting, including photographs and audio. In the early 2000s there was a flurry of excitement at possible sightings in the same region, but controversy surrounds how sure the sightings were. Allen published an ornithological history in 1933 under the title ''Fifty Years' Progress of American Ornithology, 1883–1933''. He was dedicated to promoting the study of birds to a wide audience, in his books, films and public lectures. His ''Book of Bird Life'' (1930, reissued in 1961) was a well-written introduction to ornithology for its time. He also conducted pioneering studies on recording bird songs in 1929 which led to the first record on the phonograph of bird songs in 1932. He worked on what eventually became the independent

Cornell Lab of Ornithology The Cornell Lab of Ornithology is a member-supported unit of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, which studies birds and other wildlife. It is housed in the Imogene Powers Johnson Center for Birds and Biodiversity in Sapsucker Woods Sanctuar ...

in 1955, and founded the

Wildlife Society The Wildlife Society (TWS) is an international non-profit association involved in wildlife stewardship through science and education. The Wildlife Society works to improve wildlife conservation in North America by advancing the science of wildlif ...

in 1936, leading the organization from 1938 to 1939.

Personal life

Allen married Elsa Guerdrum in 1913. They had five children. His wife also received a doctorate at Cornell and pursued a successful career as a historian of ornithology.

References

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Arthur A. 1885 births 1964 deaths American ornithologists Scientists from Buffalo, New York Scientists from Ithaca, New York Cornell University alumni Cornell University faculty 20th-century American zoologists