Background
Althea Rosina Sherman was born on October 10, 1853, in Farmersburg, Iowa, United States. Daughter of Mark Bachelor and Sibyl Melissa (Clark) Sherman.
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1911
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1913
(Birds of an Iowa Dooryard contains Althea Sherman's often...)
Birds of an Iowa Dooryard contains Althea Sherman's often caustic, always careful studies of the phoebes, wrens, cuckoos, rails, catbirds, owls, flickers, and many other species that inhabited her Acre of Birds in northern Iowa. Birds of an Iowa Dooryard, first published in 1952, is full of Sherman's meticulous observations of species both avian and human.
https://www.amazon.com/Birds-Iowa-Dooryard-Bur-Book/dp/0877455686/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Althea+Sherman&qid=1605014196&sr=8-1
1996
illustrator ornithologist writer
Althea Rosina Sherman was born on October 10, 1853, in Farmersburg, Iowa, United States. Daughter of Mark Bachelor and Sibyl Melissa (Clark) Sherman.
Althea Sherman attended school in Farmersburg Township and later enrolled in the preparatory division of Upper Iowa University in Fayette. In 1869 she entered Oberlin College in Ohio and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in art in 1875. After teaching for several years, she returned to Oberlin and earned her master's degree in 1882.
Althea Sherman was an instructor of drawing at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, and at schools in Wichita, Kansas, and was supervisor of drawing for the Tacoma, Washington, public schools. She also attended the Art Institute in Chicago and the Art Student's League in New York City.
Althea Sherman returned to National in 1895 to care for her ailing parents and stayed on in the family home. She found National "unsuitable for progress" in the study of art. With her skills as a trained observer, illustrator, and writer, and her love of the natural world, she chose to become an ornithologist. After her mother died in 1902, Althea Sherman began her second career at the age of 50.
Rather than killing birds to study them, Althea Sherman became a pioneer in the life study of specific bird species. Her "Acre of Birds" became a living laboratory. She sought out natural cavities and nesting sites and added birdhouses, nesting platforms, brush piles, and bird food to the yard and barn. Her bird boxes had peepholes for viewing and hand holes for accessing the nestlings.
Althea Sherman subscribed to 26 scientific and ornithological journals and joined 15 scientific societies. She kept meticulously detailed journals of her observations and sent articles, field notes, and reports of her findings to scientific and ornithological journals. Althea Sherman corresponded with the leading researchers of the day.
Althea Sherman created compelling, realistic illustrations of her subjects, and her paintings of the American goldfinch inspired the Iowa legislature to adopt it as the state bird. She offered the first published nesting research on screech owls and kestrels, leading to national acclaim.
Althea Sherman was elected as a member of the American Ornithologists' Union in 1912 and was also selected for inclusion in "Who's Who of the Women of the Nation" and "American Men of Science."In 1914 she traveled 33,000 miles through Europe, the Middle East, and Asia; from her observations, she produced a series of monographs, Birds by the Wayside, which brought international acclaim.
At her home in 1915, Althea Sherman constructed a 28-foot-tall, 9-foot-square wooden tower to attract and observe nesting chimney swifts. A staircase wound from bottom to top through four floors and enclosed a 2-foot-square artificial chimney. Doors, windows, and peepholes allowed Althea Sherman to be the first person to witness and record the entire nesting cycle of the swifts. Her chimney swift journals, covering 18 years and more than 400 pages, may offer the most extensive study of this species in existence. The chimney swift's tower has been historically documented as the only structure of its kind, and hundreds of people from around the world have climbed its stairs.
Althea Sherman pursued her science for nearly four decades and studied 38 species extensively, with the research of specific species continuing from 7 to 36 years. She published more than 70 articles. Her observations revealed many previously unknown facts and, in some cases, corrected the findings of other researchers. Her thorough studies of several species were used by Arthur Cleveland Bent in his Life Histories of North American Birds series.
In 1925 Althea Sherman ignited controversy among ornithologists and bird lovers by indicting the house wren as a despoiler of the eggs and nestlings of other species in its territory, causing great declines in songbird populations in many areas. She blamed backyard bird lovers who created the wrens' artificially high numbers by erecting wren boxes throughout cities, towns, and farms all over the country. She implored people to tear down the wren boxes. "The Great Wren Debate" continued for the next 15 years in the scientific and popular press.
Her career in ornithology also lead to her publishing more than 70 articles in scientific and ornithological journals and lead to her election as a member of the American Ornithologists' Union and inclusion in the Who's Who of Women in Science. Additionally, her work as an illustrator, particularly of the American goldfinch, inspired the Iowa Legislature to adopt the American goldfinch as the State bird.
(Birds of an Iowa Dooryard contains Althea Sherman's often...)
1996Member American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Ornithologists Union, National Association Audubon Societies, Cooper and Wilson ornithological clubs, American Museum Natural History, American Society Mammalogists, American Genetic Association, Biological Society Washington, Iowa Academy Science, State History Society Iowa, Mississippi Valley History Association, Society of Mayflower Descendents. Has published many articles in ornithological magazines on life histories of birds.
