Descriptive Entry
David G. Smith, Museum Specialist, Susan L. Jewett, Collection Manager, and Inci Altug Bowman, volunteer, Division of Fishes, at the National Museum of Natural History, conducted a series of oral history interviews with senior staff in the division to provide biographical information to the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists.
Bruce B. Collette (1934- ), an Adjunct Scientist, Systematics Laboratory, National Marine Fisheries Service, Department of Commerce, received the B.S. in 1956 and the Ph.D. in 1960 from Cornell University and has spent most of his career at the National Museum of Natural History. His research specialties include the systematics, evolution, zoogeography, anatomy, and biology of marine fishes, especially Scombroidei (mackerels and tunas), Xiphioidei (bill-fishes), Beloniformes (needlefishes and halfbeaks), and Batrachoididae (toadfishes).
Susan L. Jewett (1945- ), Collections Manager, Division of Fishes, National Museum of Natural History, received the B.S. from the University of Louisville in 1967. She joined the staff of the Division of Fishes, National Museum of Natural History, in 1969 as a technician and advanced to Collections Manager. She was involved of the primitive coelacanths and their study in the 1990s.
Victor Gruschka Springer (1928- ), Senior Scientist Emeritus, Department of Vertebrate Zoology, National Museum of Natural History, received the B.A. in 1948 from Emory University, the M.S. in 1954 from the University of Miami, and the Ph.D. in 1957 from the University of Texas. His research specialties include the systematics, zoogeography, and anatomy of tropical marine fishes.
James C. Tyler (1935- ), Senior Scientist Emeritus, Department of Vertebrate Zoology, National Museum of Natural History, received the B.A. in 1957 from The George Washington University and the Ph.D. in 1962 from Stanford University. His research specialties include systematic ichthyology, especially Tetraodontiformes (specialized ray-finned fish) and community ecology of coral reef fishes.
Stanley H. Weitzman (1927-2017) was Curator of Fishes Emeritus, Department of Vertebrate Zoology, National Museum of Natural History. He received the B.A. in 1951 and the M.A. in 1953 from the University of California, Berkeley, and the Ph.D. in 1960 from Stanford University. He joined the Division of Fishes in 1962 until his retirement in 2007. His research specialties include the systematics, anatomy and phylogeny of South American characiform or ray-finned fishes. He and spouse Marilyn J.S. Weitzman often collaborated in their work.
Marilyn Jean Sohner Weitzman (1926- ), Research Associate, Division of Fishes, National Museum of Natural History, received the bachelor degree in Landscape Architecture from the University of California at Berkeley in 1949. She married her childhood friend Stanley Weitzman in 1948. She began assisting Weitzman in his NMNH lab in the 1960s and by the 1970s was doing her own work on Lebiasininae or pencil fish, as well as collaborating with Weitzman.
George R. Zug (1938- ) was named Emeritus Research Zoologist after serving as Curator of Amphibians and Reptiles Emeritus, Department of Vertebrate Zoology, National Museum of Natural History. He received the B.A. in 1960 from Albright College, the M.S. in 1963 from the University of Florida, and the Ph.D. in 1968 from the University of Michigan. His research specialties include the evolution and systematics of amphibians and reptiles, with emphasis on South Pacific species, and the biology and systematics of turtles.
Jeffrey T. Williams (1953-), Research Associate in the Division of Fishes, National Museum of Natural History, received the Ph.D. in Zoology, University of Florida in 1986, the M.S. in Zoology, University of South Alabama in 1979, and B.S. in Zoology, Florida State University in 1975. His research focused on the systematics, taxonomy and zoogeography of tropical marine fishes. William came to the Smithsonian in 1983 and served as Ichthyologist and Collections Manager of Fishes until his retirement in 2020.
The Division of Fishes Interviews cover their childhood, educations, the history of the Division of Fishes, National Museum of Natural History, the careers of these senior scientists in the department, and reminiscences of colleagues such as Carl L. Hubbs, George S. Myers, and Leonard P. Schultz. The James C. Tyler interviews also cover his role as an administrator at the Museum of Natural History and the National Air and Space Museum.
The collection contains twenty-two interview sessions, totaling approximately 46 hours of recordings and transcripts.
