Bird census notes, 1908, 1909

This collection primarily includes materials from William Beebe's earliest years on the Bronx Zoo's curatorial staff. It includes a handwritten record of wild birds sighted in the Zoological Park during 1910, correspondence concerning the publication and sale of A Monograph of the Pheasants (Witherby & Co., 1918-1922), and one letter to Beebe from Arthur Erwin Brown, Superintendent of the Philadelphia Zoo. This collection also contains two scrapbooks Beebe compiled, primarily of clippings of his own writings on birds, circa 1895-1915, and an album of photographs dating from 1902-1903. The album includes photographs of Mary Rice Blair, Beebe's first wife, and her family around the time of their wedding; other photographs were taken during their 1902 trip to Nova Scotia and their 1903 trip to Florida. Additionally, portions of this collection predate Beebe's tenure with the Zoological Park and include catalogs of birds collected and skinned, 1896-1897, and student course notes from lectures by Frank M. Chapman, among others, circa 1894.