We had an area with kangaroos. We had delicate hoof, which had dorcas gazelles, dik-dik. And then we had muntjac. Then there there’s a large hill, the sable antelope. We had a number of reindeer, because the National Zoo provided reindeer for the Christmas pageant down on the mall, so… Read More
Who was he?… Read More
Well, the large mammal, when I started in ’74, the large mammals included the Elephant House, which was basically the, was built during, in the 30s during the depression. They had converted an area that was built for rhinos for the giant pandas. I mean, they had, because the presidential… Read More
How would you describe the National Zoo when you first started?… Read More
What else was there?… Read More
What kind of animals did that include?… Read More
Basically the zoo was divided. It was large mammals, which was North mammals. And that was basically from the Elephant House to Connecticut Avenue, everything in that section. The bird house was a separate area. Small mammals and primates was an area. And then the Lion House was a another… Read More
What kind of zoo did you find when you first started?… Read More
So the job didn’t state you had to be a man or?… Read More
No, no. Okay. No, I was not the first woman hired at the National Zoo. I was fifth or sixth. So, but it was, and it wasn’t so much being a woman, that was one thing, but it was just the whole thing of college education. The National Zoo had… Read More
In large mammals. Yeah, north mammals, north mammal. Read More
No testing, nothing. I mean, at that point, all the zookeepers, and probably the same when you started, were World War II vets. Most of them had, you know, if they had finished high school, they were considered educated, you know, some of them had difficulty reading and writing. Read More
And it was all these young kids who were suddenly interested in wildlife getting jobs at the zoo and they just didn’t, they just went, you know, “What are you doing here?… Read More
You have a college degree. You can get a real job.” So yeah, it was different. Read More
Get on the list, exactly. Read More
So you learned about the opportunity through friends to get on the list?… Read More
Okay, and there was no testing or?… Read More
What was your… Oh, let’s see. I graduated from college in December of ’72. I got married in ’73 and I started at the National Zoo in February of ’74. I had my first interview with Miles Roberts. And I was looking for a job in large mammals, ’cause I… Read More
As an animal keeper?… Read More
As an animal keeper. So your first job at the National Zoo was- Animal keeper. Animal keeper, $3 and 25 cents an hour. Read More