Feathery Tribe November 15, 2012

The Feathery Tribe - Golden Gate Audubon features Daniel Lewis

Bird-watchers owe a hidden debt to history: the scientific study of birds took a specific route in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that dictated how birds were understood and enjoyed. For example, the ways that both common and scientific names were standardized caused a great deal of passionate argument. After Charles Darwin's work, everything changed, affecting our understanding of birds. Daniel Lewis will cover these developments in his discussion of The Feathery Tribe (Yale University Press), his biography of Robert Ridgway, the Smithsonian's first curator of birds. His new book traces key changes in ornithology leading to the present-and what it meant to be a natural scientist at the dawn of the 20th century.

Dan is Dibner senior curator of the history of science and technology at the Huntington Library in San Marino, California. He is also an adjunct associate professor at the University of Southern California in the biology and history departments. As the Huntington's chief curator of manuscripts, he oversees a large department of 20 staff members and approximately seven linear miles of manuscripts. Dan's permanent exhibit at the Huntington, "Beautiful Science: Ideas That Changed the World," won the American Association of Museum's Grand Prize in 2009 as the best exhibition in the United States.

Free for GGAS members, $5 for non-members.

Location: First Unitarian Universalist Church & Center
1187 Franklin Street (at Geary), San Francisco

Official Website: http://www.goldengateaudubon.org