Yes, definitely. The collection at the Philadelphia Zoo far surpassed that of the Kansas City Zoo, so the learning opportunity was there. It was very good. And it was just a matter of me taking advantage of that opportunity. We had birds that the Kansas City Zoo would never have… Read More
Things that I’ve probably forgotten a lot of but he always had answers very quick because he had the expedition experience. And I don’t know of any other bird curator ever in this business, who had the expedition experience that Gus Griswold had ’cause he did that for the universities,… Read More
So, the words that Roger Conant said to you about being the small frog in the big pond and growing, were you learning things about birds that you couldn’t have learned in the other zoo, now at this zoo that you were maturing?… Read More
Wow, haven’t thought about that. Gus was a very prim and proper person. In fact, if you looked at Gus, you’d thought he was an English professor. He wore the tweed jacket and everything and that’s the type of persona he projected. But I don’t know that there were really… Read More
And then he brought a camera that he’d had in Borneo, (laughs) which took lousy pictures. He just was a man of tradition. And if I was gonna think of anything funny, it was just that Gus didn’t really step up to a lot of new things very easily. And… Read More
Can you give any memorable Gus Griswold stories that he shocked and surprised you or something where it was very memorable?… Read More
Would you say there’s anybody comparable to him today?… Read More
No. No, not at all. Unfortunately or fortunately, we’ve come to a point in life we’ve outlived our mentors, we’ve outlived some of the people we really looked up to and that were there and so graciously gave of their time and knowledge. They’re all gone but I don’t see… Read More
I can’t ever remember having a conversation I didn’t learn something. And particularly, the opportunity to get out one of these big monographs and open it up and say, “Now, Gus, tell me about da, da, da, da, da.” And he could. And so, he was a very interested, interesting… Read More
And he was like a second father. He really was. And even today, I miss my conversations with Gus. Read More
Anyhow and he worked for some of the great ornithologists at that time. Tom Barber. And so, he got hands on ornithological training in taxonomy, as well as the general science of ornithology. And he had a book collection that was priceless. And in fact, after his death, his book… Read More
Gus’s background. Gus, his name was John Augusta Griswold and that’s why everybody called him Gus. Gus’s background was very unique and I don’t know that there will ever be anyone like him in this profession again. Gus’s upbringing was one… He came from a very wealthy family. He was… Read More
He read it very well. He had not gone to college but he was very interested in birds and he was interested in doing field work that he did some expedition work as a young man. He actually is the one, I still believe this, that put the first bird… Read More
So, my entire function was working with the bird collection and working under Gus’s direction and tutoring and working with the keepers that managed the collection. Now, I’m told Gus was a dapper kind of guy. Read More
And how did your styles, as you were developing yours, mesh with his and what kind of influence did he have on you down the road with birds?… Read More
I was Gus’s guy. The Reptile Department, the Mammal Department and the Bird Department were all sanctioned. Everybody did their own thing. We met and had weekly meetings and certainly Conant, he was also curator of reptiles and director of the zoo. But this was bird business. This was mammal… Read More
Was there a hierarchy there?… Read More
Did Fred and the other curators not mentor you but accept you or were you Gus’s guy?… Read More
The mammal curator was Fred Omer. Fred’s background was in museums and he had been there for years and years, that he didn’t have an assistant. Read More
No, there wasn’t. Well, there were two, I guess his title was Supervisor. His job was largely the management of the keepers. If I had a keeper problem, I had a personnel issue, I went to this individual to get it solved. So, my direct, although I worked with these… Read More