Collecting specimens of biodiversity was a boyhood passion of Vernon Bailey’s, leading him to a position as chief field naturalist with the United States Bureau of Biological Survey. Join us in transcribing his personal field notes of the plants and animals observed and gathered between El Paso, Texas and Sonoma County, California in the summer of 1900.
Collecting specimens of biodiversity was a boyhood passion of Vernon Bailey’s, leading him to a position as chief field naturalist with the United States Bureau of Biological Survey. Join us in transcribing his personal field notes of the plants and animals observed and gathered between El Paso, Texas and Sonoma County, California in the summer of 1900.
Vernon Orlando Bailey (1864-1942) was born in Manchester, Michigan. At an early age his family moved to Elk River, Minnesota, where he developed an interest in natural history. Around 1885, Bailey began sending collections of birds and mammals to Clinton Hart Merriam, Chief of the newly created Division of Economic Ornithology and Mammalogy of the United States Department of Agriculture (in 1896 the name was changed to the Bureau of Biological Survey). In 1887, Bailey was appointed Special Field Agent for the Division of Economic Ornithology and Mammalogy. His title was changed to Chief Field Naturalist in 1890, and he remained with the Biological Survey until his retirement in 1933. Bailey's chief biological interest was the study of the life history and distribution of mammals. During his career with the Biological Survey, he made field investigations throughout the United States, Canada, and Mexico, including intensive biological surveys of Texas, New Mexico, North Dakota, and Oregon. His bibliography numbered 244 titles and included scientific monographs, as well as publications for the general reader.
