Overview
Bryan Patterson (1909-1979), British-American paleontologist, was Alexander Agassiz Professor of Vertebrate Paleontology in the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University from 1955 until his retirement in 1975. The collection contains correspondence, memoranda, reports, and paleontological and geological data, such as geologic correlation charts. There are also receipts of museum loans, vouchers and travel statements from Patterson's field expeditions, expense accounts, collecting permits, bibliography cards, photographs, illustrations, paintings, subject files, and reprints. Many of the papers relate to a wide range of topics and concerns pertaining to paleontology, geology, anatomy, and zoology, along with their curatorial and instructional applications in his Harvard courses and within the Museum of Comparative Zoology.
Dates
- Creation: circa 1931-1975 and undated
Creator
- Patterson, Bryan, 1909-1979 (Person)
Researcher Access
The Papers of Bryan Patterson are open for research with the following exceptions: Harvard University records are restricted for 50 years. Personnel and student records are closed for 80 years. Restrictions are noted at the series and folder level. Requires further review by the archivist; please see reference staff for details.
Extent
10 cubic feet (24 document boxes, 2 half-document boxes, 2 card boxes, 1 folder, 1 pamphlet binder, 1 flat box, 1 microfilm box, 1 half-record carton)The Papers of Bryan Patterson document his career as a paleontologist and educator. The collection contains correspondence, memoranda, reports, and paleontological and geological data, such as geologic correlation charts. There are also receipts of museum loans, vouchers and travel statements from Patterson's field expeditions, expense accounts, collecting permits, bibliography cards, photographs, illustrations, paintings, subject files, and reprints. Many of the papers relate to a wide range of topics and concerns pertaining to paleontology, geology, anatomy, and zoology, along with their curatorial and instructional applications in his Harvard courses and within the Museum of Comparative Zoology.
Most of the correspondence, exchanged with many notable scholars, including Louis, Mary, and Richard Leakey, is of a scientific nature, discussing problems and topics in morphology, anatomy, stratigraphy, evolution, phylogeny, and biogeography. The collection contains files relating to the North American continental Cenozoic, including papers relating to the activities of the Cenozoic Committee of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, as well as the National Science Foundation. Additionally, Patterson's papers include letters related to his biology courses taught at Harvard.
The collection's photographs include black-and-white and color prints of expeditionary work in Kenya, showing various geologic formations in the vicinity of fossils. The photographs also show Patterson with assistants uncovering fossils and paleontological excavations in a rhinoceros quarry.
Biographical note on Bryan Patterson
Bryan Patterson (1909-1979), British-American paleontologist, was Alexander Agassiz Professor of Vertebrate Paleontology in the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University from 1955 until his retirement in 1975. He was born in London, England, and relocated to Chicago, Illinois at seventeen years old. He took courses at the University of Chicago from 1927 to 1932, but never received an academic degree. Patterson began working at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, first as a preparator of fossil specimens, then ultimately as curator of fossil mammals.
During World War II, Patterson served in the United States Army, taking part in the Normandy invasion, and was taken prisoner during the Battle of the Bulge. From 1947 to 1955, he held an adjunct appointment at the University of Chicago as lecturer in geology, also continuing his full-time affiliation with the Field Museum.
In 1955, Patterson became Alexander Agassiz Professor of Vertebrate Paleontology in the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard, a position he maintained until his retirement in 1975. Patterson, along with his Museum of Comparative Zoology colleagues George Gaylord Simpson and Alfred Sherwood Romer, helped to make the Museum of Comparative Zoology one of the world's most prevalent centers for paleontology and a leading center for research in fossil vertebrates.
He conducted extensive field work, including expeditionary trips throughout North America, particularly in the American West (Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, and Texas). He also went on fossil-hunting expeditions to Argentina (1952, 1954 to 1955, 1958), Venezuela (1972), the Amazon basin (1973), Peru (1974), and, during six field seasons, to Kenya (1963-1968). His African expeditions found fragments of Australopithecus, an early ancestor of man, and associated faunas.
Patterson was a member of many professional organizations, including the Geological Society of America, the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology (of which he was president in 1948), the Society for the Study of Evolution, the Society of Systematic Zoology, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the National Academy of Sciences. He died in 1979.
Arrangement
This collection is arranged in eight series:
- Correspondence and other papers, circa 1931-1975 (HUGFP 92.10)
- Correspondence and other papers (by subject), circa 1955-1973 (HUGFP 92.15)
- Cenozoic Committee papers, circa (1941), 1948-1969 (HUGFP 92.25)
- Cashbooks, 1963-1967 (HUGFP 92.35)
- Cenozoic bibliography, undated (HUGFP 92.45)
- Field photographs, circa 1964 (HUGFP 92.80 p)
- [Biographical materials, correspondence, and subject files] , 1940s-1974 and undated (HUGFP 92.81)
- Reprints, pamphlets, etc. (HUGB P171.72)
Acquisition
Specific acquisition information, when available, is noted at the series level:
- Gift of Bernice Cain Patterson, May 10, 1984; Accession 10050
- Transferred from the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology, August 1, 2005; Accession 17171
Inventory update
This document last updated 2022 April 22.
Processing Information
This finding aid was created by Olivia Mandica-Hart in April 2021. Information in this finding aid was assembled from legacy paper inventories and container management data. The collection was not re-examined by the archivist.
"Film, undated" (HUGFP 92.85 mpf) could not be located at the time of the creation of this finding aid.
Creator
- Patterson, Bryan, 1909-1979 (Person)
- Title
- Patterson, Bryan, 1909-1979. Papers of Bryan Patterson, circa 1931-1975 and undated : an inventory
- Status
- completed
- Author
- Harvard University Archives
- Date
- April 6, 2021
- Description rules
- dacs
- Language of description
- und
- EAD ID
- hua29021
Repository Details
Part of the Harvard University Archives Repository
Holding nearly four centuries of materials, the Harvard University Archives is the principal repository for the institutional records of Harvard University and the personal archives of Harvard faculty, as well as collections related to students, alumni, Harvard-affiliates and other associated topics. The collections document the intellectual, cultural, administrative and social life of Harvard and the influence of the University as it emerged across the globe.
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