Anna Allen Wright (née Anna Maria Allen; 4 March 1882 – 5 December 1964) was an American herpetologist, and a recognized authority on the ecology and natural history of amphibians and reptiles.

Life

Anna Maria Allen was born in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...

on 4 March 1882. She graduated from

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

in 1909, where she was elected to

Sigma Xi Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society () is an international non-profit honor society for scientists and engineers. Sigma Xi was founded at Cornell University by a faculty member and graduate students in 1886 and is one of the oldest ...

. Her brother, Arthur A. Allen was an ornithologist. In 1910, she married

Albert Hazen Wright Albert Hazen Wright (August 15, 1879 – July 5, 1970) was an American herpetologist and professor at Cornell University. He was also an honorary member of the International Ornithological Congress. He did a great deal of study of the Okefenokee ...

. They collaborated on natural history projects, writing and illustrating several books in the ''Handbooks of American Natural History'' series, published by Cornell University's Comstock Press. Their ''Handbook of Frogs and Toads: The Frogs and Toads of the United States and Canada'' was published in 1933, the first in Comstock's Handbook series. It was dedicated to "four American women who, in addition to serving the public and science generously, have in the last half-century contributed most notably to the study of this group". They were Mary Hewes Hinckley (1845–1944), Mary Cynthia Dickerson (1866–1923), Helen Dean King (1869–1955), and Helen Thompson Gaige (1890–1976). This unusual dedication in a scientific work of the period has been speculated to have been largely thanks to Anna. ''The Handbook of Snakes'' (in three volumes) followed in 1957. The Wrights traveled extensively in order to compile their handbooks, working to observe every species of snake in North America, gathering data and live specimens. ''The Handbook of Snakes'' contained more than 300 species and subspecies, with photographs, drawings, and distribution maps. These were accompanied by excerpts from the Wrights' field journals. Anna Allen Wright provided illustrations. The couple have been described as "constant companions in and out of science." Wright also contributed 500 of her pictures to the ''Handbook of Turtles'' and ''Handbook of Lizards''. She was known as a capable botanist and floriculturist, as well as a versatile naturalist. Anna Allen Wright died at home in

Ithaca, New York Ithaca () is a city in and the county seat of Tompkins County, New York, United States. Situated on the southern shore of Cayuga Lake in the Finger Lakes region of New York (state), New York, Ithaca is the largest community in the Ithaca metrop ...

on 5 December 1964.

Legacy

Following her death, a memorial fund for the Cornell University Library was established in Wright's name. In his foreword to the 1995 edition of The Handbook of Frogs and Toads, Roy McDiarmid wrote:

I would guess that no North American scientist in the first half of this century had a more profound effect on students interested in the ecological aspects of the natural history of frogs than Anna Allen and Albert Hazen Wright.

He also noted that although "Albert Hazen Wright received numerous accolades during his distinguished career", he was "unaware of any bestowed on Anna, even though she likely deserved many". In 2019, the ''Handbook of Frogs and Toads'' was selected as one of Cornell University Press' 150 most notable books.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wright, Anna Allen 1882 births 1964 deaths 20th-century American women scientists Scientists from Buffalo, New York Cornell University alumni