Introduction

This finding aid was digitized with funds generously provided by the Smithsonian Institution Women's Committee.

Descriptive Entry

These papers consist of incoming and outgoing correspondence primarily documenting Wirth's career at the USDA and his research on Diptera. Also included are small amounts of correspondence concerning his work with the United States Public Health Service and his tenure as a Fulbright Research Scholar in Australia, 1956-1957. The correspondence concerns the identification of specimens, the preparation and publication of research papers, and the review of manuscripts and proposals.

Historical Note

Willis W. Wirth (1916-1994), an entomologist, was educated at Iowa State College, B.S., 1940; Louisiana State University, M.S., 1947; and the University of California, Ph.D., 1950. From 1942 to 1947 he served as Senior Assistant Sanitarian with the United States Public Health Service. In 1949, Wirth was appointed Entomologist with the Division of Insect Identification, Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), and assigned to taxonomic work at the United States National Museum. He remained with the USDA until 1984, when he retired from the Systematic Entomology Laboratory. Wirth's research specialty was the taxonomy of Diptera. He died September 3, 1994, in Gainesville, Florida.