G. Arthur Cooper in Marathon, Texas

Object Details

Author: Grant, Richard E
Subject: Cooper, G. Arthur (Gustav Arthur) 1902-; National Museum of Natural History (U.S.); National Museum of Natural History (U.S.) Dept. of Paleobiology; National Museum of Natural History (U.S.) Dept. of Paleobiology Division of Invertebrate Paleontology; United States National Museum

Category: Historic Images of the Smithsonian
: Photograph included in the transcript of G. Arthur Cooper Interview by Pamela M. Henson, January 26, 1984, in Smithsonian Institution Archives
Summary: G. Arthur (Gustav Arthur) Cooper (1902-2000), stands gazing up at a century plant at the Hess Ranch near Marathon, Texas. Cooper, a paleobiologist specializing in the classification and stratigraphy of Paleozoic brachiopods, was appointed Assistant Curator in the Division of Stratigraphic Paleontology of the United States National Museum (USNM) in 1930. He advanced to Curator of the Division of Invertebrate Paleontology in 1944. He assumed the Head Curatorship of the Department of Geology in 1957, oversaw its split in 1963, and continued as Chairman of the new Department of Paleobiology. In 1967, he was appointed Senior Paleobiologist, to devote his time completely to research, and continued as Paleobiologist Emeritus after his retirement in 1974. Throughout his career he conducted extensive field work in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, adding significantly to the national collections.
Contained within: Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 9524, Box 1, G. Arthur Cooper Oral History Interviews
Contact information: Institutional History Division, Smithsonian Institution Archives, 600 Maryland Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20024-2520, SIHistory@si.edu

c. 1960

Physical description: Color: Color; Size: 8w x 10h; Type of Image: person, candid; Landscape; Medium: Photographic print

Smithsonian Archives - History Div

Topic: Century plant; Hess Ranch, Marathon, Texas; Field Work; Flora and fauna; Museum curators; Paleobiologists; Scientific expeditions; Smithsonian Institution--Employees