Vertebrate paleontology has attracted the attention of the general public for decades. In the first decade of this century, the infamous "Piltdown Man" was discovered in a field in Britain but was shown to be a chimera in l953. More reputable discoveries include the famous Peking Man, lost during the Japanese invasion of China, and "Lucy," 2.8 million-year-old skeletal remains where over half the individual was recovered, found in Hadar, Ethiopia, by Donald Johanson under an NSF grant in the 1970's. The public is less familiar with vertebrate paleontology as a serious interdisciplinary science. The emergence of vertebrate paleontology as a well defined, well organized field of scientific inquiry in the period from 1850 to 1930 involves a delineation not only of who practiced it and what that practice entailed, but also importantly the different institutional settings that gave American paleontology its form and structure. Essential to Dr. Rainger's inquiry is the consideration of the half dozen or so most important centers where scientists, collectors and preparators pursued research, learned methods and techniques for work in the laboratory and the field, and laid the foundations for scientific careers. Specifically, Dr. Rainger will examine archival materials under this grant in order to obtain new information and insights into the research of prominent individuals and the context within which they worked. These are housed in the U.S. Geological Survey, the Smithsonian Institution, the National Archives, the Library of Congress, and the U.S. National Museum. The history of science will be enriched by this examination yielding information on the ways in which institutions provided financial support for, developed an infrastructure of facilities and staff for, and promoted work in the science of vertebrate paleontology.
