Daniel Giraud Elliot (March 7, 1835 – December 22, 1915) was an American
zoologist and the founder of the American Ornithologist Union.
Life
He was born in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
on March 7, 1835, to George and Rebecca Elliot.
In 1858, he married Ann Eliza Henderson.
From 1869 to 1879, he was in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
and established strong links to British ornithologists and naturalists.
Elliot used his wealth to publish a series of sumptuous color-plate books on birds and other animals. Elliot wrote the text himself and commissioned artists such as
Joseph Wolf and
Joseph Smit, both of whom had worked for
John Gould, to provide the illustrations. The books included ''A Monograph of the Phasianidae (Family of the Pheasants)'' (1870–72), ''A Monograph of the Paradiseidae or Birds of Paradise'' (1873),
''A Monograph of the Felidae or Family of Cats'' (1878) and ''Review of the Primates'' (1913).
In 1890, he was President of the American Ornithologists' Union.
Elliot became the first curator of zoology at the
Field Museum
The Field Museum of Natural History (FMNH), also known as The Field Museum, is a natural history museum in Chicago, Illinois, and is one of the largest such museums in the world. The museum is popular for the size and quality of its educational ...
in Chicago, and in 1896, accompanied by
Carl Akeley, led the museum's expedition to Somaliland, the first African zoological collecting expedition to be mounted by a North American museum.
In 1899, Elliot was invited to join the elite
Harriman Alaska Expedition to study and document wildlife along the
Alaskan
Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...
coast.
[Goetzmann, W.H. & Sloan, K. (1982). ''Looking far north: The Harriman expedition to Alaska, 1899''. New York: The Viking Press.]
Elliot was one of the founders of the
American Museum of Natural History
The American Museum of Natural History (abbreviated as AMNH) is a natural history museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. In Theodore Roosevelt Park, across the street from Central Park, the museum complex comprises 26 int ...
in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, of 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 ...
and of the
Société zoologique de France
La Société zoologique de France ( en, "Zoological Society of France"), founded in 1876 by Aimé Bouvier, is a scientific society devoted to Zoology. It publishes a bulletin and organises the Prix Gadeau de Kerville de la Société zoologique d ...
.
Death
He died in New York City on December 22, 1915, of pneumonia.
Legacy
The
National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nat ...
awards the
Daniel Giraud Elliot Medal
The Daniel Giraud Elliot Medal is awarded by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences "for meritorious work in zoology or paleontology study published in a three- to five-year period." Named after Daniel Giraud Elliot, it was first awarded in 1917.
L ...
"for meritorious work in zoology or paleontology published in a three- to five-year period. Established through the Daniel Giraud Elliot Fund by gift of Miss Margaret Henderson Elliot."
Selected publications
A monograph of the Paradiseidae or birds of paradise by Elliot, Daniel Giraud, 1873
''Catalogue of a Collection of Birds Obtained by the Expedition into Somali-land''(1897).
* ''The Gallinaceous Game Birds of North America, Including the Partridges, Grouse, Ptarmigan, and Wild Turkeys'' (1897).
''Accession Record, Zoology 141''(1897).
''Catalogue of Mammals from the Olympic Mountains, Washington, with Descriptions of New Species''(1899).
''Description of an Apparently New Species of Mountain Goat''(1900).
''The Caribou of the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska''(1901).
''The Deer Family''(1902,
with
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...
, Theodore S. Van Dyke and A.J. Stone).
''Catalogue of Mammals Collected by E. Heller in Southern California''(1904).
''The Land and Sea Mammals of Middle America and the West Indies''(1904).
''A Check List of Mammals of the North American Continent, the West Indies and the Neighboring Seas''(1905).
''A Catalogue of the Collection of Mammals in the Field Columbian Museum''(1907).
* Review of the Primates, Volume I : Lemuroidea; Anthropoidea (Seniocebus to Saimiri) NY, 191
Smithsonian Libraries
Gallery
File:Daniel-Giraud-Elliot-001.jpg, Hybrid pheasant ''Chrysolophus pictus'' × ''Chrysolophus amherstiae''.
File:Penelopides manillae.jpg, ''Penelopides manillae''.
File:Tockus fasciatus.jpg, ''Tockus fasciatus''.
File:Anorrhinus galeritus.jpg, ''Anorrhinus galeritus''.
File:Penelopides panini (Couple).jpg, ''Penelopides panini''.
Footnotes
External links
*
Works by Daniel Giraud Elliot at
Hathi Trust
* View works b
Daniel Giraud Elliotonline at the Biodiversity Heritage Library.
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People associated with the American Museum of Natural History