Laurence Markham Huey (1892–1963) was an American zoologist and the Curator of Birds and Mammals at the

San Diego Natural History Museum The San Diego Natural History Museum is a museum located in Balboa Park in San Diego, California. It was founded in 1874 as the San Diego Society of Natural History. It is the second oldest scientific institution west of the Mississippi and th ...

from 1923 to 1961. His main research field was the study of mammals and birds of

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

and

Baja California Baja California (; 'Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California), is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mex ...

. He also did field work on mammals and birds in Utah and Arizona, in particular at the

Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument is a U.S. national monument and UNESCO biosphere reserve located in extreme southern Arizona that shares a border with the Mexican state of Sonora. The park is the only place in the United States where the ...

Career

Huey was born on 6 September 1892 in

Tijuana River Valley, San Diego The Tijuana River Valley is a rural community in the southern section of San Diego, California. It neighbors Imperial Beach to the north and west, Egger Highlands and Nestor to the north, San Ysidro to the east, and the U.S.-Mexico border to t ...

, California. Of humble origins (Huey left school at 8th grade), he worked in a planing mill at age 15 and began his self-education in natural history. At 16, he became a Junior Member of the San Diego Society of Natural History. During a trip to Coronado Island in 1913 he met the ornithologist and mammalogist

Donald Ryder Dickey Donald Ryder Dickey (1887–1932) was an American ornithologist, mammalogist, and nature photographer. He collected 50,000 specimens and produced 7,500 photographs and moving images of nature subjects. At his death, his collection of bird and mam ...

with whom he worked for the next ten years. In 1923 he became curator of mammals and birds at the

until he retired in 1961. From January 1946 to February 1947 he served as acting director of the museum. Huey published over 200 articles, several of them in the ornithological journals ''

The Auk ''Ornithology'', formerly ''The Auk'' and ''The Auk: Ornithological Advances'', is a peer-reviewed scientific journal and the official publication of the American Ornithological Society (AOS). It was established in 1884 and is published quarterly. ...

'' and '' The Condor'' as well as in the ''

Journal of Mammalogy The ''Journal of Mammalogy'' is a bimonthly peer-reviewed scientific journal published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Society of Mammalogists. Both the society and the journal were established in 1919. The journal covers r ...

'', and the ''Transactions of the San Diego Society of Natural History''. He described mammal species and subspecies from several families, including '' Dipodomys gravipes'', '' Peromyscus crinitus pallidissimus'', '' Perognathus alticolus inexpectatus'', '' Dipodomys panamintinus argusensis'', '' Perognathus longimembris internationalis'', and ''

Sylvilagus bachmani The brush rabbit (''Sylvilagus bachmani''), or western brush rabbit, or Californian brush rabbit, is a species of cottontail rabbit found in western coastal regions of North America, from the Columbia River in Oregon to the southern tip of the ...

howelli''. He also described some bird taxa, including '' Nyctanassa violacea bancrofti'', ''

Cardinalis cardinalis The northern cardinal (''Cardinalis cardinalis'') is a bird in the genus ''Cardinalis''; it is also known colloquially as the redbird, common cardinal, red cardinal, or just cardinal (which was its name prior to 1985). It can be found in southea ...

seftoni'', '' Egretta tricolor occidentalis'', and '' Megascops kennicottii cardonensis''. Overall he is named as author or co-author of 84 species and subspecies.

Professional Societies

At age 16, Huey became a junior member of the San Diego Society of Natural History and in 1923 became a charter member of the Fellows of the Society. He later served terms as president and secretary. He was a member of the American Ornithologists' Union from 1920 (an elective member from 1932). Other professional memberships included the

Cooper Ornithological Society The Cooper Ornithological Society (COS), formerly the Cooper Ornithological Club, was an American ornithological society. It was founded in 1893 in California and operated until 2016. Its name commemorated James Graham Cooper, an early California b ...

, the

Wilson Ornithological Society The Wilson Ornithological Society (WOS) is an ornithological organization that was formally established in 1886 as the Wilson Ornithological Chapter of the Agassiz Association. It is based at the Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor ...

, the American Society of Mammalogists, the

Society of Systematic Zoology A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Societi ...

, and the

Biological Society of Washington The Biological Society of Washington is a worldwide acting scientific organisation established on 3 December 1880 in Washington, D.C., United States. The original purpose was "to encourage the study of the Biological Sciences and to hold meetings ...

. He died in

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United State ...

, California on 11 June 1963.

Footnotes

References

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External links

Works by Laurence M. Huey at Internet ArchiveWorks by Laurence M. Huey at JSTORFinding aid to the Laurence M. Huey Collection, Online Archive of California.The San Diego Natural History Museum Research Library
houses a significant collection of Laurence M. Huey's papers and photographs.
Photographs of Laurence M. Huey, 1922 to 1962 (MS 241)
Special Collections at the University of Arizona Libraries
(Collection Guide)
Arizona Archives Online {{DEFAULTSORT:Huey, Laurence Markham American ornithologists American mammalogists American curators 1892 births 1963 deaths People associated with the San Diego Natural History Museum Scientists from California 20th-century American zoologists