Annie Montague Alexander
Encyclopedia
Annie Montague Alexander (1867–1950) was an American
philanthropist
and paleontological
collector. She established the University of California Museum of Paleontology
(UCMP), Museum of Vertebrate Zoology
(MVZ), and financed their collections as well as a series of paleontological expeditions to the western United States at the turn of the 20th century. She took part in many of these expeditions, gathering a significant collection of fossil
s and exotic game animals in her own right.
in what is now the Mission Houses Museum
.
She was the granddaughter of New England
missionaries in Maui
, part of the Kingdom of Hawaii
. Her father Samuel Thomas Alexander
and her uncle Henry Perrine Baldwin
were founders of Alexander & Baldwin
. Her mother Martha Cooke was daughter of Amos Starr Cooke
, the founder of Castle & Cooke
. These were two of the "Big Five
" corporations that started as sugar cane plantation owners and then dominated the economy of the Territory of Hawaii
. Her cousins included Henry Alexander Baldwin
(1871–1946) and Clarence Hyde Cooke
(1876–1944) who carried on the family businesses, Charles Montague Cooke, Jr. (1874–1948) who studied snails (malacology
), and architect Charles William Dickey
(1871–1942).
She attended Punahou School
for one year, but in 1882 her family moved to Oakland, California
to get medical attention for her grandfather, and she enrolled in Oakland High School
.
In 1886 she attended La Salle Seminary for girls in Auburn, Massachusetts
. In 1888 she traveled with her family to Paris
and studied painting. She returned to Oakland and trained briefly as a nurse, but enjoyed being outside instead. Her father left the business to others and took Annie on a bicycle trip through Europe in 1893, and sailed through the Pacific in 1896. In 1899 she went camping in Oregon
and then went with her father to Bermuda
.
Alexander first became fascinated with paleontology in 1900 while attending a lecture by Professor John C. Merriam
at the University of California, Berkeley
. She offered to underwrite the entire cost of his upcoming expeditions. She took part in Merriam's 1901 expedition to Fossil Lake in Oregon
, and his 1902 and 1903 expeditions to Mount Shasta
in northern California
.
In 1904, Alexander left on a trip with her father and Thomas L. Gulick, son of missionary Peter Johnson Gulick
(1796–1877) and younger brother of John Thomas Gulick (1832–1923) who was an early developer of theories of evolution
. The men were looking forward to hunting big game in Africa
, while Annie was collecting fossils and taking pictures. Gulick became ill and died August 15, 1904 in Kijabe
, Kenya
. On September 8 the Alexanders reached Victoria Falls
. The next day they crossed the Zambezi river and climbed down the canyon for a better view. While she was preparing to take a picture, Samuel was hit by a boulder tossed down from workers above that crushed his foot.
The foot was amputated and her father was buried at the Old Drift cemetery
after dying a day later on September 10, 1904.
In 1905 she financed and took part in the Saurian Expedition
to the West Humboldt Range
in Nevada
. The expedition discovered many of the finest specimens of ichthyosaur
.
From April to August 1907 Alexander financed and led a trip to Alaska
.
From 1908 she collaborated continuously in the field with her companion Louise Kellogg.
She proposed a Natural History Museum at the University of California, offering to support its research and collections. In 1908 she helped finance the newly established Museum of Vertebrate Zoology
after the state fell short in its appropriations. At her request, Joseph Grinnell
served as its first director until his death in 1939. In 1920 when Merriam left the University to become president of the Carnegie Institution, the paleontology department was merged with the geology
department, displeasing both Merriam and Alexander. She subsequently helped establish the UCMP and created an endowment for its funding. She also helped finance much of the work of William Diller Matthew
and his protégé George Gaylord Simpson
.
Alexander shared her life with Kellogg for forty-two years. By all accounts, it was a devoted "Boston marriage
". Among other activities, the two ran a working farm together; their asparagus was sold nationwide. Alexander continued to finance expeditions and perform field work throughout her life, celebrating her 80th birthday while in the Sierra de la Laguna
mountains. She died of a stroke
on September 10, 1950, and her ashes were buried at Makawao Union Church
cemetery, overlooking her childhood home on Maui.
At least seventeen species of plants and animals honor Alexander in their scientific names (such as Hydrotherosaurus
alexandrae), and several others are named after Kellogg. Lake Alexander
in Alaska is named for her.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
philanthropist
Philanthropist
A philanthropist is someone who engages in philanthropy; that is, someone who donates his or her time, money, and/or reputation to charitable causes...
and paleontological
Paleontology
Paleontology "old, ancient", ὄν, ὀντ- "being, creature", and λόγος "speech, thought") is the study of prehistoric life. It includes the study of fossils to determine organisms' evolution and interactions with each other and their environments...
collector. She established the University of California Museum of Paleontology
University of California Museum of Paleontology
The University of California Museum of Paleontology is a paleontology museum located on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley....
(UCMP), Museum of Vertebrate Zoology
Museum of Vertebrate Zoology
The Museum of Vertebrate Zoology is a natural history museum at the University of California, Berkeley, USA. The museum was founded by philanthropist Annie Montague Alexander in 1908...
(MVZ), and financed their collections as well as a series of paleontological expeditions to the western United States at the turn of the 20th century. She took part in many of these expeditions, gathering a significant collection of fossil
Fossil
Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...
s and exotic game animals in her own right.
Life
Annie Montague Alexander was born December 29, 1867, in Honolulu during the Kingdom of HawaiiKingdom of Hawaii
The Kingdom of Hawaii was established during the years 1795 to 1810 with the subjugation of the smaller independent chiefdoms of Oahu, Maui, Molokai, Lānai, Kauai and Niihau by the chiefdom of Hawaii into one unified government...
in what is now the Mission Houses Museum
Mission Houses Museum
The Mission Houses Museum at 553 South King Street in Honolulu, Hawaii, was established in 1920 by the Hawaiian Mission Children’s Society, a private, non-profit organization and genealogical society, on the 100th anniversary of the arrival of the first Christian missionaries in Hawaii...
.
She was the granddaughter of New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
missionaries in Maui
Maui
The island of Maui is the second-largest of the Hawaiian Islands at and is the 17th largest island in the United States. Maui is part of the state of Hawaii and is the largest of Maui County's four islands, bigger than Lānai, Kahoolawe, and Molokai. In 2010, Maui had a population of 144,444,...
, part of the Kingdom of Hawaii
Kingdom of Hawaii
The Kingdom of Hawaii was established during the years 1795 to 1810 with the subjugation of the smaller independent chiefdoms of Oahu, Maui, Molokai, Lānai, Kauai and Niihau by the chiefdom of Hawaii into one unified government...
. Her father Samuel Thomas Alexander
Samuel Thomas Alexander
Samuel Thomas Alexander co-founded a major agricultural and transportation business in the Kingdom of Hawaii.-Early life:In November 1831, the Reverend William Patterson Alexander and Mary Ann McKinney Alexander arrived in April 1832 as missionaries to the Hawaiian Islands...
and her uncle Henry Perrine Baldwin
Henry Perrine Baldwin
Henry Perrine Baldwin was a businessman and politician on Maui in the Hawaiian islands. He supervised the construction of the East Maui Irrigation System and co-founded Alexander & Baldwin, one of the "Big Five" corporations that dominated the economy of the Territory of Hawaii.-Life:Henry Perrine...
were founders of Alexander & Baldwin
Alexander & Baldwin
Following World War II, the company entered a new business: land development and real estate. The company formed a new subsidiary, the Kahului Development Co., to develop housing in the Kahului area. In the following years, the company became more involved in the development of its land and the...
. Her mother Martha Cooke was daughter of Amos Starr Cooke
Amos Starr Cooke
Amos Starr Cooke was an educator and businessman in the Kingdom of Hawaii. He was patriarch of a family that influenced Hawaii during the 20th century.-Life:Amos Starr Cooke was born in Danbury, Connecticut, December 1, 1810....
, the founder of Castle & Cooke
Castle & Cooke
Castle & Cooke, Inc. is a Los Angeles-based company that was once part of the Big Five companies in territorial Hawaii. The company at one time did most of its business in agriculture...
. These were two of the "Big Five
Big Five (Hawaii)
The Big Five was the name given to a group of what started as sugarcane processing corporations that wielded considerable political power in the Territory of Hawaii during the early 20th century and leaned heavily towards the Hawaii Republican Party. The Big Five were Castle & Cooke, Alexander &...
" corporations that started as sugar cane plantation owners and then dominated the economy of the Territory of Hawaii
Territory of Hawaii
The Territory of Hawaii or Hawaii Territory was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from July 7, 1898, until August 21, 1959, when its territory, with the exception of Johnston Atoll, was admitted to the Union as the fiftieth U.S. state, the State of Hawaii.The U.S...
. Her cousins included Henry Alexander Baldwin
Henry Alexander Baldwin
Henry Alexander Baldwin or Harry Alexander Baldwin was a sugarcane plantation manager, and politician who served as Congressional Delegate to the United States House of Representatives representing the Territory of Hawaii...
(1871–1946) and Clarence Hyde Cooke
Clarence Hyde Cooke
-Life:Clarence Cooke was born April 17, 1876 in Honolulu, Hawaii. He was the second son of Charles Montague Cooke and Anna Rice Cooke, and grandson of New England Congregational missionaries to Hawaii Amos Starr Cooke and William Harrison Rice, and thus partial heir to the fortune of Castle &...
(1876–1944) who carried on the family businesses, Charles Montague Cooke, Jr. (1874–1948) who studied snails (malacology
Malacology
Malacology is the branch of invertebrate zoology which deals with the study of the Mollusca , the second-largest phylum of animals in terms of described species after the arthropods. Mollusks include snails and slugs, clams, octopus and squid, and numerous other kinds, many of which have shells...
), and architect Charles William Dickey
Charles William Dickey
Charles William “C.W.” Dickey was an American architect famous for developing a distinctive style of Hawaiian architecture...
(1871–1942).
She attended Punahou School
Punahou School
Punahou School, once known as Oahu College, is a private, co-educational, college preparatory school located in Honolulu CDP, City and County of Honolulu in the U.S. State of Hawaii...
for one year, but in 1882 her family moved to Oakland, California
Oakland, California
Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...
to get medical attention for her grandfather, and she enrolled in Oakland High School
Oakland High School (California)
Oakland Senior High School is a public high school in California. Established in 1869, it is the oldest high school in Oakland, California and the sixth oldest high school in the state.-Background:...
.
In 1886 she attended La Salle Seminary for girls in Auburn, Massachusetts
Auburn, Massachusetts
Auburn is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 16,188 at the 2010 census.- History :Auburn was first settled in 1789 and was officially incorporated in 1808 as the town of Ward, in honor of American Revolution General Artemas Ward...
. In 1888 she traveled with her family to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
and studied painting. She returned to Oakland and trained briefly as a nurse, but enjoyed being outside instead. Her father left the business to others and took Annie on a bicycle trip through Europe in 1893, and sailed through the Pacific in 1896. In 1899 she went camping in Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
and then went with her father to Bermuda
Bermuda
Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...
.
Alexander first became fascinated with paleontology in 1900 while attending a lecture by Professor John C. Merriam
John C. Merriam
John Campbell Merriam was an American paleontologist. The first vertebrate paleontologist on the West Coast of the United States, he is best known for his taxonomy of vertebrate fossils at the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles, particularly with the genus Smilodon, more commonly known as the...
at the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
. She offered to underwrite the entire cost of his upcoming expeditions. She took part in Merriam's 1901 expedition to Fossil Lake in Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
, and his 1902 and 1903 expeditions to Mount Shasta
Mount Shasta
Mount Shasta is located at the southern end of the Cascade Range in Siskiyou County, California and at is the second highest peak in the Cascades and the fifth highest in California...
in northern California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
.
In 1904, Alexander left on a trip with her father and Thomas L. Gulick, son of missionary Peter Johnson Gulick
Peter Johnson Gulick
Peter Johnson Gulick was a missionary to the Kingdom of Hawaii and Japan. He was patriarch of a family that also carried on the tradition of missionary work, and included several scientists.-Life:...
(1796–1877) and younger brother of John Thomas Gulick (1832–1923) who was an early developer of theories of evolution
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
. The men were looking forward to hunting big game in Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, while Annie was collecting fossils and taking pictures. Gulick became ill and died August 15, 1904 in Kijabe
Kijabe
Kijabe is a town in Kenya. Its name is Maasai for "Place of the Wind". It stands on the edge of the Great Rift Valley at an altitude of 2200m, some 50 kilometres north-west of Nairobi. Kijabe is located in the Lari division of Kiambu District. Kijabe has a population 17,334 . Kijabe has a railway...
, Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
. On September 8 the Alexanders reached Victoria Falls
Victoria Falls
The Victoria Falls or Mosi-oa-Tunya is a waterfall located in southern Africa on the Zambezi River between the countries of Zambia and Zimbabwe.-Introduction:...
. The next day they crossed the Zambezi river and climbed down the canyon for a better view. While she was preparing to take a picture, Samuel was hit by a boulder tossed down from workers above that crushed his foot.
The foot was amputated and her father was buried at the Old Drift cemetery
Old Drift cemetery
The Old Drift Cemetery is a small burial site near the Zambezi river in modern-day Zambia. It includes the graves of early European settlers and visitors to nearby Victoria Falls who died of causes such as malaria and is located in Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park...
after dying a day later on September 10, 1904.
In 1905 she financed and took part in the Saurian Expedition
Saurian Expedition of 1905
The Saurian Expedition of 1905 was a noted paleontological research mission in northern Nevada in the United States. The expedition recovered many of the finest specimens of ichthyosaur ever found.The expedition was led by Prof. John C...
to the West Humboldt Range
West Humboldt Range
The West Humboldt Range is a short mountain range in the western Great Basin in northwestern Nevada in the United States. It runs for approximately 40 mi southwest to northeast in northern Churchill County and southern Pershing County...
in Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
. The expedition discovered many of the finest specimens of ichthyosaur
Ichthyosaur
Ichthyosaurs were giant marine reptiles that resembled fish and dolphins...
.
From April to August 1907 Alexander financed and led a trip to Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
.
From 1908 she collaborated continuously in the field with her companion Louise Kellogg.
She proposed a Natural History Museum at the University of California, offering to support its research and collections. In 1908 she helped finance the newly established Museum of Vertebrate Zoology
Museum of Vertebrate Zoology
The Museum of Vertebrate Zoology is a natural history museum at the University of California, Berkeley, USA. The museum was founded by philanthropist Annie Montague Alexander in 1908...
after the state fell short in its appropriations. At her request, Joseph Grinnell
Joseph Grinnell
Joseph Grinnell was a field biologist and zoologist. He made extensive studies of the fauna of California, and is credited with introducing a method of recording precise field observations known as the Grinnell System...
served as its first director until his death in 1939. In 1920 when Merriam left the University to become president of the Carnegie Institution, the paleontology department was merged with the geology
Geology
Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...
department, displeasing both Merriam and Alexander. She subsequently helped establish the UCMP and created an endowment for its funding. She also helped finance much of the work of William Diller Matthew
William Diller Matthew
William Diller Matthew FRS was a vertebrate paleontologist who worked primarily on mammal fossils....
and his protégé George Gaylord Simpson
George Gaylord Simpson
George Gaylord Simpson was an American paleontologist. Simpson was perhaps the most influential paleontologist of the twentieth century, and a major participant in the modern evolutionary synthesis, contributing Tempo and mode in evolution , The meaning of evolution and The major features of...
.
Alexander shared her life with Kellogg for forty-two years. By all accounts, it was a devoted "Boston marriage
Boston marriage
Boston marriage as a term is said to have been in use in New England in the decades spanning the late 19th and early 20th centuries to describe two women living together, independent of financial support from a man. The term was little known until the debut in 2000 of the David Mamet play of the...
". Among other activities, the two ran a working farm together; their asparagus was sold nationwide. Alexander continued to finance expeditions and perform field work throughout her life, celebrating her 80th birthday while in the Sierra de la Laguna
Sierra de la Laguna
The Sierra de la Laguna is a mountain range on the Baja California Peninsula of Mexico. It lies at the southern end of the peninsula in the state of Baja California Sur, and is the southernmost range of the Peninsular Ranges....
mountains. She died of a stroke
Stroke
A stroke, previously known medically as a cerebrovascular accident , is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by blockage , or a hemorrhage...
on September 10, 1950, and her ashes were buried at Makawao Union Church
Makawao Union Church
Makawao Union Church is a church near Makawao on the Hawaiian island of Maui. It was founded by New England missionary Jonathan Smith Green during the Kingdom of Hawaii. The third historic structure used by the congregation was designed by noted local architect C.W. Dickey and dedicated in 1917 as...
cemetery, overlooking her childhood home on Maui.
At least seventeen species of plants and animals honor Alexander in their scientific names (such as Hydrotherosaurus
Hydrotherosaurus
Hydrotherosaurus is an extinct genus of elasmosaurid plesiosaur from the Upper Cretaceous of Fresno County, California, measuring up to 13 m in length. The species H. alexandrae was named for its discoverer, Annie Montague Alexander by Samuel Paul Welles.-References:* Welles, S. P. 1943...
alexandrae), and several others are named after Kellogg. Lake Alexander
Lake Alexander (Alaska)
Lake Alexander is a lake in Southeast Alaska, West of Mole Harbor, on East coast of Admiralty Island; North-East of Sitka, Alaska in the Alexander Archipelago....
in Alaska is named for her.
External links
- Gay Bears: Annie Alexander and Louise Kellogg
- Annie Montague Alexander. Museum of Vertebrate Zoology,