Winifred Goldring

Background

Goldring was born in Kenwood, New New York

Education

In 1905 she graduated as valedictorian from The Milne School in Albany, New New York

Career

She was the first woman in the nation to be appointed as a State Paleontologist. Goldring became the fourth State Paleontologist of New York, and the first woman to hold that position. Goldring was an educator as well as researcher, and she commissioned and designed dioramas for the New York State Museum.

Petrified Sea Gardens, the stromatolite site that she studied, is a National Natural Landmark and a National Historic Landmark of the United States.

Achievements

• Enrolled in Wellesley College with an intended major in classical languages, she became intensely interested in geology and changed her major, attaining an Bachelor of Arts (with honors) in 1909 and an Master of Arts in 1912. In 1949 she was elected president of the Paleontological Society (the largest association of paleontologists in the world)--the first woman to hold that office and one of only three women to attain that position to this day. Because these were (and still are) male-dominated geological societies, large numbers of men must have supported her candidacy for Goldring to win, underscoring her prominence as a nationally-known geologist respected for the quality of her research, despite prevalent gender prejudices in academia.