Charles Wallace Richmond (December 31, 1868 – May 19, 1932) was an American ornithologist. He is best remembered for a compilation of the Latin names of birds that is called the Richmond Index.

Life and work

He was born in

Kenosha, Wisconsin Kenosha () is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the seat of Kenosha County. Per the 2020 census, the population was 99,986 which made it the fourth-largest city in Wisconsin. Situated on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan, Kenos ...

and was the eldest son of Edward Leslie and Josephine Ellen Richmond. His mother died when he was 12. His father who was a railway mail clerk moved to Washington, D.C. and joined the Government Printing House there. His father remarried and he had the additional duty of taking care of younger stepbrothers. During his early life he earned extra income for the family by leaving school and working as a page in the House of Representatives. At the age of 15 he got a position as a messenger in the Geological Survey. In 1897 he graduated after studied medicine in Georgetown University and in the next year he married Louise H. Seville. While still at Wisconsin he had collected the eggs of a Kingbird and when he moved to Washington, in 1881. He visited the Smithsonian Institution museum and seeing the large collection of nests and eggs he decided that he would never produce such a collection himself and decided to hand over his own collections to the museum. This led him to meet

Robert Ridgway Robert Ridgway (July 2, 1850 – March 25, 1929) was an American ornithologist specializing in systematics. He was appointed in 1880 by Spencer Fullerton Baird, secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, to be the first full-time curator of bi ...

. He subsequently met Ridgway often and this early influence was very strong. His work in the House of Representatives let him use the library there which had a good collection of books on birds. In 1888, Richmond took part in a

United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...

expedition to

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...

. He became an ornithological clerk at the

United States Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the United States federal executive departments, federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, ...

. After a collecting trip to

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the cou ...

he joined the staff of the

United States National Museum The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

as a nightwatchman. He was promoted to Aid, followed by Assistant in the birds department. He became Associate Curator of Birds in 1894. Richmond then became Associate Curator in 1918. He moved up to Curator in 1929, but stepped back to stay as Associate Curator, so that

Herbert Friedmann Herbert Friedmann (April 22, 1900 – May 14, 1987) was an American ornithologist. He worked at the Smithsonian Institution for more than 30 years. In 1929 he became a fellow of the American Ornithologists' Union (AOU) and served as the Presiden ...

could become Curator.

Research

Richmond started a

card catalog A library catalog (or library catalogue in British English) is a register of all bibliographic items found in a library or group of libraries, such as a network of libraries at several locations. A catalog for a group of libraries is also c ...

when he was twenty one. He continued to maintain the catalog throughout his life. Research wise he focused on naming authorities for bird names, and was considered the foremost expert on the subject. His card catalog continues to be utilized by ornithologists, today.

Legacy

The scientific name of the northern cardinal, ''Richmondena cardinalis'', was named in his honor, as was the

wrasse The wrasses are a family, Labridae, of marine fish, many of which are brightly colored. The family is large and diverse, with over 600 species in 81 genera, which are divided into 9 subgroups or tribes. They are typically small, most of them le ...

, ''

Halichoeres richmondi ''Halichoeres richmondi'', commonly called the Richmond's wrasse or chain-lined wrasse, is a fish species in the wrasse family native from the central Indo-Pacific. Description The Richmond's wrasse is a small fish that can reach a maximum lengt ...

''.

References

External links

The Richmond Index

Guide to the microfiche
{{DEFAULTSORT:Richmond, Charles Wallace 1868 births 1932 deaths American ornithologists Smithsonian Institution people