New York Zoological Society. Department of Publications. Office of Curator. William Bridges records

William Andrew Bridges (January 27, 1901-March 28, 1984) was the Editor and Curator of Publications for the New York Zoological Society from 1935 until his retirement in 1966. He wrote many books on animals both during and after his tenure at the Zoo, including Gathering of Animals: An Unconventional History of the New York Zoological Society, published in 1974 for the Zoo's 75th anniversary. He also wrote articles regularly for the Zoological Society Bulletin (1935-1941) and Animal Kingdom (1942-1974).

Born in Franklin, Indiana, Bridges’s earliest job was as a paperboy for The Franklin Star. At thirteen, he began working in the Star's print shop, learning skills such as setting linotype. In 1919, he began attending Franklin College, where he edited the yearbook; by his senior year he also edited and reported for the college's newspaper. After graduating in 1923, he moved to Paris to work as a rewrite man at the American edition of the Chicago Tribune. Bridges returned to Franklin for a year in 1925 to work at the Star before heading back to Paris to work at the Paris Times.

He moved back to the United States for good in 1928, first living in Greenwich Village and later in Pleasantville, NY. He joined the rewrite staff of The New York Sun in 1929. In 1934 he traveled to Trinidad and British Guinea to report on Dr. Raymond L. Ditmars's search for the venomous bushmaster snake; Ditmars was a herpetologist at the New York Zoological Society. This began Bridges's career of writing about animals. He wrote human interest stories about the Bronx Zoo for the Sun up until the retirement of Elwin R. Sanborn, whereupon Bridges was hired on December 31, 1934 as its Curator of Publications. He was chosen to travel to the Belgian Congo on a Zoological Society expedition to find the rare Congo Peacock because of his knowledge of the French language and continued to travel extensively, mainly in Central America and Africa. He wrote countless articles for both the Zoo and for outside publications. Bridges was the author of 19 books on animals, 15 of which were written during his tenure at the Zoo. After retiring, he wrote The Bronx Zoo Book of Wild Animals (1968), New York Aquarium Book of the Water World (1970), Zoo Careers (1971), and Gathering of Animals.

Bridges was married three times. Lynn Vandivier attended Frankiln College with Bridges and was married to him in Paris in 1924. She passed away in 1949. His second marriage was to Lucille Hedges in 1962. After her passing in 1968, he married Nana Hedges Marts in 1969.