100 years ago in the American Ornithologists’ Union

Abstract

The year 1923 marked the 40th anniversary of the American Ornithologists’ Union and its 41st annual meeting. When counting the 1887 meetings held at the Boston Society of Natural History, which included a trip to see William Brewster’s Collection at Harvard’s Museum of Comparative Zoology, it was the 9th held in Cambridge, Massachusetts. As earlier, when the AOU met in Cambridge, attendees stayed in Boston. In 1923, they lodged at Boston’s renowned Copley Square Hotel in Back Bay on Huntington Avenue and Exeter Street. The hotel became a confluence for attendees (Palmer 1924) who traveled approximately 5 miles to activities in Cambridge. To avoid the congestion on Harvard Bridge connecting Back Bay and Cambridge, many may have made the trek via the relatively new technology of subway or streetcar (O’Connell 2013). Business meetings convened Monday, October 8. Two council meetings, one in the morning and the other early afternoon, were held at 7 Kirkland Street in Cambridge, home of Charles F. Batchelder (1856–1954), sole Founder among Fellows in attendance that year. Meetings of Fellows and Members were held late that afternoon and evening at the Colonial Club (current site of Harvard’s Faculty Club) at 20 Quincy Street. The Meetings of Fellows had 24 attending due to the death of Founder Walter Bradford Barrows (1855–1923), respected for his broad knowledge as a general naturalist and ornithologist (Fisher 1925). Barrows had enjoyed a diverse career, with positions as instructor and professor at colleges and universities in Argentina and the U.S., including Wesleyan and Michigan State University. He also held positions with the Biological Survey in the Division of Ornithology and Mammalogy from 1886 until 1894 and is best known for his publications, “The English Sparrow in North America” and “Michigan Bird Life”.