Charles Johnson Maynard

Charles Johnson Maynard
Born May 6, 1845
Newton, Massachusetts
Died October 15, 1929
Newton, Massachusetts
Nationality American
Fields Ornithology, natural history, taxonomy, herpetology, taxidermy, conchology, malacology
Known for Founding member of the Nuttall Ornithological Club.
Author abbrev. (zoology) Maynard

Charles Johnson Maynard (May 6, 1845 – October 15, 1929) was an American naturalist and ornithologist born in Newton, Massachusetts. He was a collector, a taxidermist, and an expert on the vocal organs of birds. In addition to birds, he also studied mollusks, moss, gravestones and insects. He lived in the house at 459 Crafts Street in Newton, Massachusetts, built in 1897 and included in the National Register of Historic Places in 1996 as the Charles Maynard House.[1] The Charles Johnson Maynard Award is given out by the Newton Conservators, Inc.

Biography

Charles Johnson Maynard was born in Newton, Massachusetts on May 6, 1845 to Samuel Maynard and Emeline Sanger. He left school at the age of 16 to help out on the family farm. His interests led him to taxidermy, and the collecting and dealing in specimens of natural history. He founded his own company in Boston, Massachusetts called C. J. Maynard & Co. in 1865, which published books and sold naturalist supplies. Maynard eventually married Pauline Thurlow Greenwood

In 1870, at the age of 24, Maynard's Naturalist's Guide was published, becoming America's first publication on a reliable and detailed method of collecting and preserving zoological specimen.[2] This first book was illustrated by the notable artist Edwin Lord Weeks and published by James R. Osgood & Co., formerly Ticknor and Fields.[3] The book mentions other future leading figures in ornithology that he worked with such as William Brewster, Joel Asaph Allen, Henry Augustus Purdie and others.

Maynard was the first editor of the Nuttall Ornithological Club, the first such club in America, founded in 1873. However, he was forced to resign after he had avoided his duties in order to collect specimen during a trip. This roused the ire of his colleague Charles Foster Batchelder, who would later pay penance by compiling Maynard's extensive bibliography after Maynard's death. This event is believed to be the reason that he was excluded from the American Ornithologists' Union when it was first formed in 1883. This angered some, including Joseph M. Wade, the editor of the Ornithologist and Oologist, who defended Maynard as someone who studies while the other ornithologists were "toddling around in petticoats."[4]

Maynard later managed Boston's Naturalists' Bureau, into which he merged C. J. Maynard & Co.[5] He was president of the Newton Natural History Society, Vice President of the Nuttall Ornithologist Club of Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1875.[6]

Maynard died in Newton on October 15, 1929.

Personal life

Charles Johnson Maynard was married twice.

In 1870, he married Pauline Thurlow Greenwood. She was the daughter of Thomas Smith Greenwood, the lighthouse keeper in Ipswich, Massachusetts and the owner of Greeenwood Farm. Her father was also a recipient of an award from the Massachusetts Humane Society. The two children of Charles and Pauline were:[7]

His second marriage was to Elizabeth Cotter. They had a daughter, Pearl, who continued to live in the Charles Maynard House after her father's death.

Discoveries

A subspecies of the mangrove cuckoo and white-eyed vireo are named for him, as was the Ipswich sparrow when it was considered a distinct species of the Savannah sparrow. Maynard named the Caribbean subspecies of the osprey, Pandion haliaetus ridgwayi, for another American ornithologist, Robert Ridgway

Selected publications

He published many books himself under his publishing company C. J. Maynard & Co. Additionally, he illustrated many of his own books.[8] In 1951, the naturalist Charles Foster Batchelder published an extensive bibliography on the works of Maynard.[9] Maynard's work on the mud turtle was cited in Charles Darwin's The Descent of Man in 1872, leading to a brief correspondence.[10]

Books

Selected Journal Publications

References

  1. ↑ National Park Service record for Charles Maynard House, Record Number: 424313
  2. ↑ Barrow, Mark V.. (2000). A Passion For Birds. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press
  3. ↑ Maynard, Charles Johnson. (1870). Naturalists' Guide. Boston, MA: James R. Osgood & Co.
  4. ↑ Barrow, Mark V.. (2000). A Passion For Birds. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press
  5. ↑ Anonymous. (2010). The Naturalist's Directory (International). Nabu Press
  6. ↑ Johnson, Rossiter. (1904) The Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans. Boston, MA: Biographical Society.
  7. ↑ Greenwood, Frederick. Greenwood (1914) Genealogies:1154-1914. New York, NY: Lyons Genealogical Company
  8. ↑ Watkins, Michael. (2009). The Eponym Dictionary of Mammals. Johns Hopkins University Press
  9. ↑ Batchelder, C.F. (1951). A Bibliography of the Published Writings of Charles Johnson Maynard
  10. ↑ Darwin, Charles. The Correspondence of Charles Darwin. Vol 20. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
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