Fowler, Henry Weed, 1878-1965

Biographical History

Henry Weed Fowler (1878-1965) was born in Holmesburg, Pennsylvania. His post-high school academic career was limited to two years, circa 1900, spent at Stanford University as a special student under David Starr Jordan. His entire professional life was spent in association with the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, where he was employed as a museum assistant, 1903-1922; a museum fellow, 1922-1923; Associate Curator of Vertebrate Zoology, 1925-1934; Curator of Fishes and Reptiles, 1934-1940; and Curator of Fishes, 1940-1965. Although Fowler published papers on crustaceans, birds, reptiles, and amphibians, ichthyology was his main interest. He was a founder of the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists and Treasurer for seven years. He was also President of the Society in 1927. Fowler's connection with the Smithsonian included two major projects. Around 1918, Barton A. Bean, Assistant Curator of Fishes at the United States National Museum, recommended that the fishes collected by the United States Exploring Expedition of 1838-1842 be sent to Fowler since they had never been properly identified. Fowler returned a manuscript of approximately 750 pages in 1920. This manuscript was never published, although Fowler did publish a summary of the paper in 1940 in the Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, volume 82. Bean and Fowler also published a report on eighteen new species of fish in the United States Exploring Expedition collection in the Proceedings of the United States National Museum, volume 63. In 1925, Fowler and Bean began a collaborative work on the fishes collected by the Bureau of Fisheries steamer Albatross in the Philippines from 1907 to 1910. Six volumes were published from 1928 to 1941 as parts 7-8 and 10-13 of United States National Museum Bulletin 100. The first three were jointly authored by Bean and Fowler and the latter three by Fowler alone. In addition, Fowler submitted six additional manuscripts which were never published.

Related entities

Academy of natural sciences of Philadelphia: His entire professional life was spent in association with the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia.

Birth Date

1878

Death Date

1965

Topic

• Herpetologists
• Ichthyologists

Form/Genre

Personal name

Occupation

• Ichthyologists
• Herpetologists