Sylvia Crandall correspondence, circa 1920s-1930s

This series comprises the bulk of Crandall’s collection; it is divided into the following thirteen subseries: Correspondence, New York Zoological Society [NYZS] administrative records, Personal correspondence and papers, Posthumous correspondence and papers, Trips and conferences, Writings and publications, Mammal notes and correspondence, Bird notes and correspondence, Pigeons and poultry, Notebooks and scrapbooks, Photographs and paintings, Artifacts, and Cardfiles. These materials date from much of the span of Crandall’s life, from his childhood in upstate New York through his year at Cornell Medical College, and from the entirety of his career at the Bronx Zoo. Taken as a whole, the series documents Crandall’s work as a zoo professional and authority on birds and mammals as evidenced through his correspondence and writings, his friendly relationships with colleagues and ongoing interest in professional organizations, his expeditions to Papua New Guinea and Costa Rica, his student work at Cornell, and his personal interests in topics such as gardening, poultry breeding, and pigeon racing. There is a fair amount of overlap between this series and series 1, especially in the areas of Crandall’s expedition to Papua New Guinea and his retirement.

Crandall’s correspondence documents his far-flung ties across the zoo field. Notable correspondents include Belle Benchley at the San Diego Zoo, David and Sigrid Fleay of the eponymous Australian wildlife park, Leonard Goss of the Cleveland Zoo, Freeman Shelly of the Philadelphia Zoo, and Walter Van den Bergh of the Antwerp Zoo. Additionally, the papers include correspondence with various colleagues in their roles as representatives of professional organizations such as the American Association of Zoological Parks and Aquariums, and the International Union of Directors of Zoological Gardens. Crandall’s professional and personal ties are further highlighted by the subseries containing his NYZS records, personal and posthumous correspondence and papers, and materials pertaining to pigeons and poultry. The memorial materials, as well as numerous files of anniversary accolades and salutations, document the great affection felt for Crandall by his co-workers and by the profession at large. Memoranda and other NYZS records provide evidence of the day-to-day business of running the Bronx Zoo. Meanwhile Crandall’s personal papers include correspondence between and among Crandall, his parents Charles and Ada, his wife Celia and daughter Sylvia, other family members, and NYZS staff including Bronx Zoo founding Director William Hornaday and Crandall’s long-time Secretary, Grace Davall. Grace Davall’s work is of particular relevance in the posthumous subseries, as she managed Crandall’s correspondence during his terminal illness and after his passing. Other materials in these four subseries document Crandall’s interest in his family genealogy, his time at Cornell Medical College, and his interest in homing pigeons and prize-winning poultry.

The Writings and publications subseries, Mammal notes and correspondence subseries, Bird notes and correspondence subseries, and Cardfiles subseries are all closely related in that the latter three are largely composed of source material for Crandall’s written works. In particular, the mammal notes and correspondence and the bulk of the cardfiles pertain to Crandall’s magnum opus, The Management of Wild Mammals in Captivity. The material related to that work—which comprises over half of the bulk of the Writings subseries—includes Crandall’s original manuscript, several draft typescripts, and files of correspondence on the publication and distribution of the volume. Other Crandall writings represented by manuscripts, typescripts, lecture notes, correspondence, and indexes include his monographs Paradise Quest and A Zoo Man’s Notebook, his two volumes on pets, and scores of articles and longer works that mostly but not exclusively pertain to birds. The files of mammal notes and correspondence, as well as the mammal-related portion of Crandall’s cardfiles, are arranged according to the accepted taxonomy of the era and contain observations, citations, and references on the wide variety of mammals kept by zoos of the day; the same holds true of the bird files and cardfiles. Many of the observations come from Crandall’s own deep knowledge of the Bronx Zoo collection, but there are also extensive reports from his colleagues at U.S. zoos and beyond. There is also some overlap between these subseries and the main Correspondence subseries; for example correspondence regarding Crandall’s publications or containing mammal observations from Leonard Goss and Marvin Jones shows up in both places. Other than citations on mammals, Crandall’s cardfiles include an index of his written works; contact information for colleagues, animal dealers, employees, vendors, and other correspondents; information on tropical epiphytes and related fauna; and files of observations of and citations on bird breeding and hatchings, diet, and general behavior (again, mostly but not exclusively related to Bronx Zoo animals).

The remaining four subseries, Trips and conferences, Notebooks and scrapbooks, Photographs and paintings, and Artifacts, are also closely related to each other. The trips and conferences documented in that subseries—specifically his 1912 collecting trip to European zoos and animal dealers, his trips to Europe from the late 1930s through the 1950s to attend meetings of the International Ornithological Congress and the International Union of Directors of Zoological Gardens, and his trips through the U.S. and to other countries for meetings of the American Association of Zoological Gardens and Aquariums and for tours of other zoos—are all well-represented by notebooks and scrapbooks with observations, expenses, and souvenirs, by photographs of Crandall and his colleagues at the meetings, and by conference badges and other memorabilia. Similarly, Crandall’s more famous collecting expeditions, to Costa Rica in 1914 and to Papua New Guinea in 1928-1929, are also well-documented through notebooks, scrapbooks, photographs, illustrations, and, in the case of the Papua New Guinea trip, paintings and artifacts. Other notable material in the Trips and conferences subseries includes correspondence and postcards sent among Crandall and his family and between Crandall and Grace Davall back at the Bronx Zoo. The Notebooks and scrapbooks additionally include records of the Bronx Zoo Bird Department, personal compilations of bird-watching and gardening observations, notebooks from Crandall’s courses at Cornell, breeding and pedigree records of birds hatched at Ladnarc Farm, and a wide variety of newsclippings featuring Crandall and/or the Bronx Zoo. Finally, the photographs, illustrations, paintings, and artifacts also include portraits of Crandall, his friends, and family; illustrations and paintings created for Crandall by friends and coworkers; group photographs of New York Zoological Society staff; certificates, awards, proclamations, and other commemorative artifacts presented to Crandall; materials related to racing pigeons; and memorabilia from the 1939-1940 New York World’s Fair. (Note that photographs and other visual materials appear in many of the other subseries as well; those filed in this subseries were already separated from other materials at the time of processing.)