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Herbert Keightley Job Collection, 1879 - 1911

 Collection

Scope and Contents

The collection consists of nearly 400 letters, 14 notebooks, a few incomplete, and most pertaining to Job’s scientific work. It also contains approximately 820 lantern slides from Job’s research in the the Northeastern United States and Canada from the early 1900s depicting waterfowl and other birds. Topics of letters consist of discussion of works by Job, writing and publishing, as well as correspondence with other bird enthusiasts such as W. Henninger on where they can find certain specimens to study. Numerous letters are from his publishers including Houghton, Mifflin and Company, spanning 1899 to 1905. Notebooks recount travels to the Dakotas, the Carolinas, Louisiana, as well as Canada through field notes, diaries, memos, and schedules for lectures spanning 1880 to 1923.

Dates

  • Creation: 1879 - 1911

Creator

Language of Materials

Material is in English.

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open to research with no restrictions.

Biographical / Historical

Herbert Keightley Job (1864-1933), minister, lecturer, author, ornithologist, and pioneer wildlife photographer, was born in Boston, Massachusetts. He received an A.B. from Harvard and trained as a minister at the Hartford Theological Seminary. He married Elsie Ann Curtiss in 1891 and had two children, George Curtiss and Muriel Marion. He was originally a Congregational minister, first in North Middleboro, Massachusetts, 1891-1898 and then in Kent, Connecticut, 1898-1908. Between 1908 and 1914, he served as State Ornitholgist of Connecticut and member of the faculty of the Connecticut Agricultural College (today, University of Connecticut, Storrs), 1908-1914 and between 1914-1924, he was economic ornithologist in charge of the Department of Applied Ornithology. From 1918, he served as Director of the Summer School and the Ornithological Experimental Station of the National Association of Audubon Societies, Amston, Connecticut. Between 1926 and 1930, he was Field Agent for South Carolina of the National Association of Audubon Societies and State Director of Nature Conservation Education, South Carolina. He traveled often in wilder areas of North America in connection with his scientific interests and attained wide recognition for his wildlife photography.

Extent

3 Cubic Feet (9 boxes)

Arrangement

This collection contains three series arranged by material type. Series I contains notebooks related to miscellaneous topics and ornithology. Ornithology notebooks are arranged chronologically. Series II consists of correspondence arranged alphabetically by correspondent. Series III contains 820 lantern slides and 326 glass plate negatives.

Related Materials

This collection contains digitized copies of Job's lantern slides. They can be accessed via the following link: https://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/jobslides/.

Repository Details

Part of the Watkinson Library - Archival Collections Repository

Contact:
Trinity College Library
300 Summit St.
Hartford Connecticut 06106