Granger, Walter, 1872-1941
Biographical Note
Walter Granger (1872-1941) was born in Vermont and was interested in natural history in high school. Outside of his academic studies, Granger worked as a professional taxidermist. At 17, he left school to start at the American Museum of Natural History in the Mammalogy and Bird Department after securing a job through his father’s taxidermist friend, Jenness B. Richardson. After doing field work with the Department of Paleontology in 1895, Granger transferred to that department in 1896 to do field work, preparation, and museum assistant work full time. From 1908-1909, he served as an Assistant in Paleontology, then becoming Assistant Curator in 1910, Associate Curator of Fossil Mammals from 1911-1926, and finally Curator of Fossil Mammals from 1927 onwards.
Granger led and participated in notable expeditions to the Bone Cabin Quarry in Wyoming; the Paleocene of New Mexico; the Bridger, Wind River, Wasatch, and Uinta Badlands in and around Wyoming; Fayum, Egypt; and the Central Asiatic Expeditions to Mongolia and China. His publications include works on Eocene horses; Wasatch and Wind River Fauna; and the fossil mammals found on the Central Asiatic Expeditions. His contributions to the paleontological field include the discoveries of the velociraptor, the oviraptor, the protoceratops, dinosaur egg nests, and the full skull of the Baluchitherium.
Granger was married to his cousin Anna Deane Granger, who went with him on the Central Asiatic Expeditions. Although he never attended any institutions of higher education, he received an honorary doctorate in science from Middlebury College in 1932. In 1935, Granger became President of Explorers Club. After his death, the Asiatic Hall of Fossils was named the Walter Granger Memorial Hall.
Selected Bibliography
Granger, Walter, and George Gaylord Simpson. A Revision of the Tertiary Multituberculata. Bulletin / American Museum of Natural History, Vol. 56. New York: Published by order of the Trustees, the American Museum of Natural History, 1929.
Granger, Walter, and Newton H Brown. Tertiary Faunal Horizons in the Wind River Basin, Wyoming, with Descriptions of New Eocene Mammals. Bulletin / American Museum of Natural History, Vol. 28. New York: Published by order of the Trustees, American Museum of Natural History, 1910.
Granger, Walter. A Revision of the American Eocene Horses. Bulletin / American Museum of Natural History, Vol. 24. New York: Published by order of the Trustees, American Museum of Natural History, 1908.
Granger, Walter, and William John Sinclair. On the Names of Lower Eocene Faunal Horizons of Wyoming and New Mexico. Bulletin / American Museum of Natural History, Vol. 33. New York: Published by order of the Trustees, American Museum of Natural History, 1914.
Granger, Walter, William K Gregory, Henry Fairfield Osborn, and Central Asiatic Expeditions. Further Notes on the Gigantic Extinct Rhinoceros, Baluchitherium, from the Oligocene of Mongolia. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, V. 72, Article 1. New York: American Museum of Natural History, 1936.
Granger, Walter, William K Gregory, Henry Fairfield Osborn, and Central Asiatic Expeditions. A Revision of the Mongolian Titanotheres. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, Vol. 80, Art. 10. New York: American Museum of Natural History, 1943.
Sources
"Science: In the Museums", Time Magazine. https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,748771,00.html
Found in 11 Collections and/or Records:
Frederick B. Butler collection on the 1925 field season of the Third Asiatic Expedition
Central Asiatic Expeditions records
Department of Vertebrate Paleontology field work collection
The Department of Vertebrate Paleontology began sending staff into the field as early as the first year of its founding, 1891. Since then the department has organized and supported decades of seminal field work as it continues to do so today.
Department of Vertebrate Paleontology correspondence
[Field books of the Third Asiatic Expedition], 1922-1930, 1987 (digitized)
William King Gregory papers, 1889-1948 (bulk 1906-1948)
Chester A. Reeds Mongolia Studies papers
Eleven folders containing drafts of chapters appearing in vol. 1 of Natural History of Central Asia, as well as correspondence between Reeds and other authors of the book regarding the content of the volume from 1932.
Series 1: Correspondence , 1892-1947
Series 1 (Boxes 1 to 6) contain Osborn’s correspondence, both general and relating to specific publications including “Age of Mammals” 2nd edition, “Ape Man,” and “Men of the Old Stone Age.” This series also contains accession information for the entire Henry Fairfield Osborn Papers collection. Most materials are in English, but there is also some correspondence in German. It is arranged alphabetically and thematically, then chronologically.
Series 1: Field diaries, 1891-1998
Consist of diaries, lists of specimens found, locations of finds, records of day to day activities, and step by step findings.
Most of the diaries from the Central Asiatic Expedition were transferred to the main museum archive in the 1970's. The Department of Vertebrate Paleontology Archive holds copies of those diaries.
The diaries of the Frick Laboratory expeditions have been trasferred to VPA 108 Frick Laboratory Field Work.
Series 2: Professional Correspondence, 1896 - 1942
The professional correspondence includes letters between Brown and other paleontologists both within AMNH and elsewhere. It also contains correspondence regarding Brown's lecture tours and his application for copyright. There are also some letters from the public with paleontological enquiries.
American Museum of Natural History
Museum Archives at the Gottesman Research Library
200 Central Park West
New York, NY 10024-5192