Reference Request
Finding Aids to Personal Papers and Special Collections in the Smithsonian Institution Archives
Record Unit 7178
Raven, Henry Cushier, 1889-1944
Henry Cushier Raven Field Journal, 1912-1914
Historical Note
Henry Cushier Raven (1889-1944) began his zoological career in the Department of Preparation of the American Museum of Natural History in 1907. While there he worked with Jesse D. Figgins and Herbert Lang, noted taxidermists. When Figgins moved to the Colorado Museum of Natural History in 1910, he took Raven with him.
In 1912, the Smithsonian Institution and William Louis Abbott were looking for a young collector and explorer to carry on Abbott's work in the East Indies. Hearing good reports regarding Raven, they hired him; and he spent most of the next six years in the islands. His travels in the Pacific took him to Borneo, the Celebes, and the Moluccas.
Raven entered Cornell as a special student in zoology in 1918 and also served as Curator of the zoology museum. In 1919, the Smithsonian again employed him as a field collector, this time for the Cape-to-Cairo African Expedition. Upon his return in 1920, he entered Columbia and there studied comparative anatomy under William King Gregory. From 1921 to his death, Raven was employed by the American Museum of Natural History as a collector and Curator of Comparative Anatomy. He also held appointments with New York University, 1924-1926; Columbia University, 1926-1944; Johns Hopkins University, 1936-1938; and the New York Zoological Park, 1921-1944. Raven's major research contributions dealt with the distribution of animals in East Asia, the sperm and beaked whales, and the comparative anatomy of primates, especially gorillas.
Descriptive Entry
This collection consists of a field journal of Raven's kept in the East Indies from 1912 to 1914 and a field map of Borneo.
Index Terms
This collection is indexed under the following access terms. These are links to collections with related topics, persons or places.
Name
- Abbott, William Louis, 1860-1936
- American Museum of Natural History
- Cape-to-Cairo African Expedition (1919)
- Colorado Museum of Natural History
- Columbia University
- Cornell University
- Figgins, J. D. (Jesse Dade), 1867-1944
- Gregory, William K. (William King), 1876-1970
- Johns Hopkins University
- Lang, Herbert, 1879-1957
- New York University
- New York Zoological Park
- Raven, Henry Cushier, 1889-1944
Subject
Administrative Information
Preferred Citation
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 7178, Henry Cushier Raven Field Journal