Montague Chamberlain (April 5, 1844 – February 10, 1924) was a Canadian-American businessman, naturalist, and

ethnographer Ethnography (from Greek ''ethnos'' "folk, people, nation" and ''grapho'' "I write") is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. Ethnography explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject o ...

Biography

Chamberlain was born in St. John,

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. He spent the first few decades of his life as a bookkeeper and later manager of a grocery company in St. John. In his mid-twenties, he also became a dedicated amateur ornithologist. In 1883 he co-founded the

American Ornithologists' Union The American Ornithological Society (AOS) is an ornithological organization based in the United States. The society was formed in October 2016 by the merger of the American Ornithologists' Union (AOU) and the Cooper Ornithological Society. Its m ...

, which today stakes its claim as "the oldest and largest organization in the New World devoted to the scientific study of birds." In 1888 Chamberlain became a resident member and editor for the

Nuttall Ornithological Club The Nuttall Ornithological Club is the oldest ornithology organization in the United States. History The club initially was a small informal group of William Brewster's childhood friends, all of whom shared his interest in ornithology. These fr ...

, and a founding member of the

. After quitting the grocery business, he became the assistant secretary of the

Harvard Corporation The President and Fellows of Harvard College (also called the Harvard Corporation or just the Corporation) is the smaller and more powerful of Harvard University's two governing boards, and is now the oldest corporation in America. Together with ...

in 1889 and the secretary of the

Lawrence Scientific School The Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) is the engineering school within Harvard University's Faculty of Arts and Sciences, offering degrees in engineering and applied sciences to graduate students admitted ...

in 1893. Chamberlain was married at the age of 63, to Anna Sartoris Prout of

Petersburg, Virginia Petersburg is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 33,458. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines Petersburg (along with the city of Colonial Heights) with Din ...

. Their marriage lasted six years before Anna died. Chamberlain died in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, in 1924. The same year,

Theodore Sherman Palmer Theodore Sherman Palmer (January 26, 1868 – July 24, 1955) was an American zoologist. Palmer was born in Oakland, California, and studied at the University of California. He was the son of Henry Austin and Jane Olivia (Day) Palmer, and his m ...

, secretary of the American Ornithologists' Union, wrote an obituary of Chamberlain in ''

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. ...

''. Percy Algernon Taverner later published an obituary of Chamberlain in ''

Canadian Field-Naturalist ''The Canadian Field-Naturalist'' is a quarterly scientific journal publishing original scientific papers related to natural history in North America. It accepts submissions by both amateur and professional naturalists and field biologists. It is ...

''. Palmer's obituary includes a lament that Chamberlain made no direct contributions to ornithology during the last twenty years of his life.

Writings

He was a frequent contributor to ''The Bulletin of the Nuttall Ornithological Club'', ''

'' (of which he was also a founding associate editor ), and ''Bulletin of the Natural History Society of New Brunswick'', the first of which published his ''A Catalogue of the Birds of New Brunswick: With brief notes relating to their migrations, breeding, relative abundance, etc.'' in 1882. He also authored the following books: *''A Catalogue of Canadian Birds'', 1887 *''Birds of Greenland'', 1889 *''The Church Army'', Damrell and Upham, 1897 *''Maliseet Vocabulary'', Harvard Cooperative Society, 1899 *''The Penobscot Indians'', 1899 Chamberlain's interest in the Native Americans grew after spending time at the

Penobscot The Penobscot (Abenaki: ''Pαnawάhpskewi'') are an Indigenous people in North America from the Northeastern Woodlands region. They are organized as a federally recognized tribe in Maine and as a First Nations band government in the Atlantic pr ...

haven of Indian Island in

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...

, where he helped start a museum. He maintained that a Penobscot had saved his grandfather's life. Chamberlain also became familiar with the nearby and related

Passamaquoddy The Passamaquoddy ( Maliseet-Passamaquoddy: ''Peskotomuhkati'') are a Native American/First Nations people who live in northeastern North America. Their traditional homeland, Peskotomuhkatik'','' straddles the Canadian province of New Brunswick ...

and

Maliseet The Wəlastəkwewiyik, or Maliseet (, also spelled Malecite), are an Algonquian-speaking First Nation of the Wabanaki Confederacy. They are the indigenous people of the Wolastoq ( Saint John River) valley and its tributaries. Their territory ...

, leading to his drafting of the first significant English-Maliseet dictionary. Although Maliseet is still spoken today by around 1,500 people, ''Maliseet Vocabulary'' has become a valuable source on the Maliseet language, as the first published, substantial characterization of the language, recorded at a relatively early date. The book includes translations for about 1,600 Maliseet words; perhaps owing in part to Chamberlain's particular interests as a naturalist and

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

enthusiast, 481 of the 1,600 words are related to

plants Plants are predominantly Photosynthesis, photosynthetic eukaryotes of the Kingdom (biology), kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all curr ...

and

animal Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the Kingdom (biology), biological kingdom Animalia. With few exceptions, animals Heterotroph, consume organic material, Cellular respiration#Aerobic respiration, breathe oxygen, are Motilit ...

s, including 124 Maliseet words for different types of birds.

References

External links

Maliseet Vocabulary
by Montague Chamberlin ic most of the text hosted free online by the Mi'kmaq-Maliseet Institute at the

University of New Brunswick The University of New Brunswick (UNB) is a public university with two primary campuses in Fredericton and Saint John, New Brunswick. It is the oldest English-language university in Canada, and among the oldest public universities in North Americ ...

.
''The Auk''
index, including many contributions from Chamberlain beginning in volume 1, number 1 (1884). * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chamberlain, Montague American ornithologists Canadian businesspeople 1844 births 1924 deaths Harvard University staff