Sophonisba Angusciola (Peale) Sellers (April 24, 1786 – October 26, 1859), known by the nickname "Sopy", was an early American ornithologist and artist. She was also a noted quilt-maker and a surviving example of her work is preserved in the

Philadelphia Museum of Art The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMoA) is an art museum originally chartered in 1876 for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The main museum building was completed in 1928 on Fairmount, a hill located at the northwest end of the Benjamin Fr ...

. She is recognized as the first woman in America to collect and prepare bird specimens for scientific study.

Early life

Sophonisba was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She was the daughter of the

polymath A polymath ( el, πολυμαθής, , "having learned much"; la, homo universalis, "universal human") is an individual whose knowledge spans a substantial number of subjects, known to draw on complex bodies of knowledge to solve specific pro ...

Charles Willson Peale Charles Willson Peale (April 15, 1741 – February 22, 1827) was an American Painting, painter, soldier, scientist, inventor, politician and naturalist. He is best remembered for his portrait paintings of leading figures of the American Revolu ...

(1741–1827) and his wife, Rachel Brewer Peale (1744–1790).Peale-Sellers Family Collection, Mss.B.P31. American Philosophical Society Library, Philadelphia, PA. https://search.amphilsoc.org/collections/view?docId=ead/Mss.B.P31-ead.xml;query=peale;brand=default She was named after the Italian Renaissance painter, Sophonisba Angusciola (1532–1625). She grew up surrounded by her father's natural history collection, which included hundreds of mounted bird specimens. The collection was moved into

Philosophical Hall Philosophical Hall is a historic building at 104 S. 5th Street in Center City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. Located near Independence Hall, the building has, for over 200 years, been the headquarters of the American Philosophical Society. It ...

in 1794, when Sophonisba was 8 years old, and again to the Pennsylvania State House (now

Independence Hall Independence Hall is a historic civic building in Philadelphia, where both the United States Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution were debated and adopted by America's Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Fa ...

) in 1802, when she was 16.

Ornithology

During the spring of 1803, Sophonisba trained with her father and learned to collect and prepare bird specimens with

arsenic Arsenic is a chemical element with the symbol As and atomic number 33. Arsenic occurs in many minerals, usually in combination with sulfur and metals, but also as a pure elemental crystal. Arsenic is a metalloid. It has various allotropes, but ...

. On May 31, 1803, these activities were described in a letter from C. W. Peale to Sophonisba's brothers,

Rembrandt Peale Rembrandt Peale (February 22, 1778 – October 3, 1860) was an American artist and museum keeper. A prolific portrait painter, he was especially acclaimed for his likenesses of presidents George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. Peale's style w ...

and

Rubens Peale Rubens Peale (May 4, 1784 – July 17, 1865) was an American museum administrator and artist. Born in Philadelphia, he was the son of artist-naturalist Charles Willson Peale. Due to his weak eyesight, he did not practice painting seriously until ...

I am now amidst my hurry of preserving birds—Sophonisba not only preserving them well but she also accompanies me in my hunting excursions and is now fond of Shooting with the little Fuzee hotgun

Rubens responded to his father on July 20, 1803:

It gives me pleasure to learn that Sophonisba has become a collector, I hope she may prosper in it, for I hope to of the same pleasure when I return to ''Dear Philadelphia''. I should like to see foreign countries and collect in them, but in my situation do but little.

During the yellow fever epidemic that plagued Philadelphia during the late summer and fall of 1803, Sophonisba and her father remained in the city and worked on renovations to the museum. Yellow fever had been an ongoing problem in Philadelphia since 1793. During the 1803 outbreak, Sophonisba worked for several months, copying Latin binomials (following the

Linnaean system Linnaean taxonomy can mean either of two related concepts: # The particular form of biological classification (taxonomy) set up by Carl Linnaeus, as set forth in his '' Systema Naturae'' (1735) and subsequent works. In the taxonomy of Linnaeus ...

), English, and French common names from a handwritten "Book Catalogue", which had been prepared in 1795–1797 by

Palisot de Beauvois Ambroise Marie François Joseph Palisot, Baron de Beauvois (27 July 1752, in Arras – 21 January 1820, in Paris) was a French naturalist and zoologist. Palisot collected insects in Oware, Benin, Saint Domingue, and the United States, from 1 ...

, onto wooden frames, which were then attached to the glass cases containing the mounted birds. On August 7, 1803, Charles wrote to his sons again:

The Museum will now in a short time have the Catalogue in frames over each Box — Sophonisba has advanced so far, that I have now Taken out of the Room the Book Catalogue.

Shortly after Sophonisba completed her "Catalogue in frames", Charles printed a summary of the bird collection in a pamphlet entitled ''A Guide to the Philadelphia Museum'' (1804):

There are now in this collection, perhaps all the birds belonging to the Middle, many of which likewise belong to the Northern and Southern States, and a considerable number from South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, New Holland, and the recently discovered islands of the South Seas. The number exceeds 760 pecimenswithout the admission of any duplicates, contained in 140 cases.

Personal life

Sophonisba Angusciola Peale married Coleman Sellers (1781–1834), an engineer and inventor, in 1805. They had two daughters and four sons, including

George Escol Sellers George Escol Sellers (November 26, 1808 – January 1, 1899) was an American businessman, mechanical engineer, and inventor. He owned and managed different businesses and patented several inventions. He established a company with his brother Cha ...

(1808–1899) and

Coleman Sellers II Coleman Sellers II (January 28, 1827 – December 28, 1907) was a prominent American engineer, chief engineer of William Sellers & Co., professor of mechanics at the Franklin Institute, professor of engineering practice at Stevens Institute of Tec ...

(1827–1907).

Death

Sophonisba Angusciola (Peale) Sellers died in

Upper Darby, Pennsylvania Upper Darby Township, often shortened to Upper Darby, is a home rule township in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. The township borders Philadelphia, the nation's sixth most populous city as of 2020 with 1.6 million residents. As of the 2020 ce ...

, on October 26, 1859, at the age of 73. She was buried in a family plot in New Jerusalem Burial Ground in Upper Darby, and her remains were later moved to

West Laurel Hill Cemetery West Laurel Hill Cemetery is a historic rural cemetery located in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1869, is 200 acres in size and contains the burials of many notable people. It is affiliated with Laurel Hill Cemetery in neighboring Ph ...

, Bala Cynwyd, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, US.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Peale, Sophonisba Angusciola 1786 births 1859 deaths American ornithologists Women ornithologists Quilters Scientists from Philadelphia 19th-century American zoologists 19th-century American women scientists Sophonisba Angusciola Peale Burials at West Laurel Hill Cemetery