Hildegarde Howard

Hildegarde Howard (April 3, 1901 – February 28, 1998) was an American pioneer in paleornithology, mentored by the famous ornithologist, Joseph Grinnell, at the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology (MVZ) and in avian paleontology.[1] She was well known for her discoveries in the La Brea Tar Pits, among them the Rancho La Brea eagles. And she discovered and described Pleistocene flighless waterfowl at the prehistoric Ballona wetlands of coastal Los Angeles County at Playa del Rey. In 1953, Howard became the first woman to be awarded the Brewster Medal. She was also the first woman president of the Southern California Academy of Sciences.[2]

Hildegarde Howard
Hildegarde Howard, ca. 1936 (Condor 38: 128)
Born(1901-04-03)April 3, 1901
Washington, D.C.
DiedFebruary 28, 1998(1998-02-28) (aged 96)
Laguna Hills, California
Alma materU.C. Berkeley
Known forSignificant contributions to the field of paleornithology
AwardsBrewster Medal
Scientific career
FieldsPaleornithology
InstitutionsLos Angeles County Museum of Natural History
Doctoral advisorsJoseph Grinnell
Other academic advisorsWilliam Diller Matthew, Loye H. Miller

Biography

Howard was born in Washington, D.C., and moved with her parents to Los Angeles in 1906; her father was a scriptwriter and her mother a musician and composer.[3] In 1920 Howard commenced her studies at the Southern Branch of the University of California (later renamed UCLA).[3] Her first biology teacher, Pirie Davidson, inspired her to change her concentration from journalism to biology; Davidson helped her get a job working for the paleontologist Chester Stock.[3] She completed her bachelor's degree at U.C. Berkeley, where she took courses in paleontology.[3] In 1924, Howard joined the scientific staff of the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History part-time; her work there on the extinct turkey Parapavo californicus was credited towards her master's degree at Berkeley, where she would also earn the Ph.D. in 1928, with a dissertation on the fossil birds of the Emery Shellmound.[4] In 1929, Howard returned to the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History. Named chief curator of science in 1951, she retired in 1961, but continued to conduct research and to publish on avian evolution. While at the museum and in retirement, Howard described 3 families, 13 genera, 57 species, and 2 subspecies.[5]

Howard married Henry Anson Wylde in 1930. Wylde, who would become chief of exhibits at the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History, died in 1984.[3]

Significant works

Howard published some 150 scientific papers over the course of her career.[5]

  • Howard, Hildegarde (1929), "The avifauna of Emeryville shellmound", University of California Publications in Zoology, 32 (2): 301–394
  • Howard described the first "toothed" bird from North America and assigned the name "Osteodontornis" to it.[6]
  • Howard, Hildegarde (1962), "Fossil Birds", Science Series, 17: 44
  • Howard, Hildegarde (1969), "A New Avian Fossil from Kern County, California", The Condor, 71 (1): 68–69, doi:10.2307/1366050, JSTOR 1366050
  • Howard, Hildegarde (1970), "A review of the extinct avian genus, Mancalla", Contributions in Science, 203: 1–12

Awards

Notes
  1. Joyce Harvey & Marilyn Ogilvie (2000), The Biographical Dictionary of Women in Science, Volume 1, pp.621 et seq
  2. Oliver, Myrna (March 4, 1998). "Hildegarde Howard; Avian Paleontologist, Curator". Los Angeles Times.
  3. Frank Perry, "Hildegarde Howard" Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine, Monterey Bay Paleontological Society (last visited April 13, 2013).
  4. "Hildegarde Howard" (obituary), Toledo Blade, March 6, 1998.
  5. Campbell, Kenneth E.; Jr (2000). "In Memoriam: Hildegarde Howard, 1901-1998". The Auk. 117 (3): 775–779. doi:10.1642/0004-8038(2000)117[0775:IMHH]2.0.CO;2. JSTOR 4089601.
  6. Perry, Frank. "Hildegarde Howard". Calcentral.com. Archived from the original on 7 January 2009.
  7. Hildegarde Howard Archived 2012-06-14 at the Wayback Machine, John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (last visited April 13, 2013).
  8. "Honorary Members" Archived 2013-05-09 at the Wayback Machine, Cooper Ornithological Society (last visited April 13, 2013).

Further research
  • Joy Harvey & Marilyn Ogilvie (2000), The Biographical Dictionary of Women in Science, Volume 1, pp. 621 et seq
  • Campbell, Kenneth E., Jr., editor. 1980. "Papers in Avian Paleontology Honoring Hildegarde Howard", Contributions in Science: Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, No. 330 (Sept. 15 1970), 296 p. (Includes biographical sketches and a bibliography of her works.)
  • Campbell, Kenneth E. Jr (2000). "In Memoriam: Hildegarde Howard, 1901-1998". The Auk. 117 (3): 775–779. doi:10.2307/4089601. JSTOR 4089601.
  • Campbell, Kenneth E. Jr (2000). "Hildegarde Howard". Society of Vertebrate Paleontology News Bulletin. 178: 131–133.
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