Background

Charles Wallace Richmond was born December 31, 1868 in Kenosha, Wisconsin. A descendant of John Richmond, one of the proprietors of Taunton, Massachussets, in 1637, he was the eldest son of Edward Leslie and Josephine Ellen (Henry) Richmond, and had one brother and two sisters as well as five half-brothers, a step-brother, and a step-sister by his father's second marriage. His mother died when he was twelve and the family moved to Washington.

Education

He was a student at the Corcoran Scientific School in Washington, 1886-87. He entered the Georgetown University Medical School, where he was graduated with the degree of M. D. in 1897.

Career

At the age of thirteen, Charles became a page in the House of Representatives in the Forty-seventh Congress in Washington. When he was advanced to the position of mail page, he was given access to the books in the Library of Congress, and from that time dates his interest in the bibliographic aspects of ornithology. As a boy he had begun to form a collection of birds' eggs, but after seeing the extensive collections of the Smithsonian Institution he presented his material to its museum. He thereby came in contact with Robert Ridgeway, the curator of birds and the first professional ornithologist he ever knew.

In 1888 he was a member of a Geological Survey expedition to Montana and there gained some first-hand knowledge of western birds, previously known to him only as names in books. The following year he received an appointment in the division of economic ornithology and mammalogy (forerunner of the Biological Survey), in the Department of Agriculture, where he remained until January 1892. Then, in company with his brother and three friends, he went to Central America with the idea of engaging in horticultural work there, especially in Nicaragua. Disaster, illness, and discouragement were the lot of the venture, and after a year Richmond returned to Washington. During his sojourn in Costa Rica and Nicaragua he made extensive collections of birds and became familiar with tropical bird life.

He never practised medicine, however, his interests being wholly in ornithology.

While a medical student, he had joined the staff of the United States National Museum as a night watchman in the telephone room; the following year he was appointed "assistant to the scientific staff" and was assigned to the bird department. Here he remained until his death, advancing to the position of assistant curator in 1894, and to that of associate curator in 1918.

In 1929 he was made curator, but at his own suggestion was reappointed associate curator in the same year to make room for a new chief. His last field work was done in 1900, in Puerto Rico, in company with Dr. Leonhard Stejneger, on behalf of the United States National Museum. His scientific work dealt largely with problems of avian nomenclature and bibliography, in which fields he was a recognized international authority. He published approximately 150 papers, chiefly on these topics. "Through his self-sacrifice in cataloguing all bird names" he furnished "the backbone of recent systematic work".

For the last ten years of his life he was in constant ill health.

He died in Washington, D. C.

Achievements

• His greatest single contribution to ornithology was his card catalogue of the published names of birds, which came to be consulted by ornithologists all over the world.

Works

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  • List Of Generic Terms Proposed For Birds During The Years 1890 To 1900, Inclusive, To Which Are Added Names Omitted By Waterhouse In His "index Generum Avium,"

    ( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultura...)

  • Generic Names Applied To Birds During The Years 1901 To 1905, Inclusive, With Further Additions To Waterhouse's "index Generum Avium"

    ( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)

  • British Zoology; Volume C. 1, V. 3

    ( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)

  • British Zoology; Volume C. 1, V. 4

    ( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)

  • British Zoology; Volume C. 1, V. 2

    ( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)

  • An Annotated List Of Birds Collected In The Vicinity Of La Guaira, Venezuela (1901)

    (This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of th...)

  • Animals in menageries

    (Animals in menageries. 400 pages.)

Membership

He was a member of ornithological societies both at home and abroad, including the American Ornithologists' Union, of which he was a fellow and a member of the council; the British Ornithologists' Union, of which he was one of the ten honorary members; and the Cooper Ornithological Club, of which he was made an honorary member only a year before his death.

Connections

On August 31, 1897 he married Louise H. Seville; they had no children.

Father:

Edward Leslie Richmond

Mother:

Josephine Ellen (Henry) Richmond

Spouse:

Louise H. Seville