Bert+Heald+Bailey

Original Author: Allyson Borkgren, ENG340 FL10 Revision Author:  Bert Heald Bailey (May 2, 1875 - June 22, 1917) was a naturalist, conservationist, bird collector, and Coe College professor and museum curator. Born in Farley, Iowa to a Presbyterian pastor, Bailey spent his childhood in Carroll and Cedar Rapids. It was there "[h]e early showed a love for the outdoor world. Birds especially attracted him and he began to accumulate that knowledge of the habits of wild life which later distinguished him. It was a passion with him to examine everything and the collecting habit was early cultivated.” (//Proceedings// 23). In his time at Coe Academy, “[h]is habit of wandering in the woods was continued, sometimes to the detriment of the interests of Latin and Greek, but with ever increasing promise for his future as a naturalist” (//Proceedings// 23).
 * Bert Heald Bailey **
 * Personal Life **

Bailey received both bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Coe College and an M.D. from Rush Medical College in Chicago. His dreams of being a medical missionary were ended when he was found to have a heart lesion. He stayed in Iowa and married Miss Anna W. Condit, of Des Moines; the couple had three daughters, Helen, Jean, and Elizabeth (//Proceedings// 24). He became a professor, the Chair of Zoology, and curator of the Museum of Coe College; the museum would be renamed the Bert Heald Bailey Museum following his death. According to friend Miss Clementina Spenser, Bailey was struck with a “sudden and mysterious illness … which terminated fatally” just days after “the commencement at which he was to have received the degree of Doctor of Philosophy from the State University of Iowa” (12). Bailey was an active member of the ornithological, science, and museum communities as a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Ornithologists’ Union, the Wilson Ornithological Club, the American Association of Museums, the Iowa Forestry and Conservation Association, the Iowa Academy of Science, the Masonic Order, the American Geographic Society, also of Sigma Xi, the Zoology Club, the Triangle Club of the State University of Iowa, among others. (//Proceedings// 24; Stephens 197).

Bailey was an avid conservationist, concerned with protecting bird populations across the state. T. C. Stephens documented Bailey’s contribution to legislative efforts in his obituary written in an issue of the Wilson Ornithological Society’s newsletter: “During the campaign for a five-year closed season on quail and prairie chickens in Iowa in the spring of 1917, Dr. Bailey went to Des Moines on urgent call to assist in the plea to the legislature to pass the bill giving a continuous protection to these birds for this length of time. His name should always be connected with the successful outcome of this piece of conservation legislation in Iowa.” (195)

“The Museum which Dr. Bailey built up in Coe College is a lasting expression of his wide interests, skill and tireless energy. Although burdened by the many duties which fall to an executive college professor, Dr. Bailey found time to build an educational museum which ranks among the first of the college museums of the United States. To the unorganized though valuable nucleus he found in the college, Dr. Bailey added his own boyhood collection of bird's eggs and skins, and set himself the task of interesting everyone he met in his plan to develop a museum which should afford adequate teaching material for the natural sciences. For years every specimen was prepared by his own hands or by students under his supervision, then as funds became available he began to secure representative pieces of work from museum technicians in various institutions.” (Spenser 15)
 * Bert Heald Bailey Museum **

Bailey made a 1905 expedition to British Honduras; he brought back with him a large collection of birds, insects, and shells. After sending two collectors to the same region in 1906, the collection grew to be the third largest of British Honduras birds in the United States. “In the large series of Iowa birds the splendid collection of Hawks and Owls forms part of the subject material of this thesis. Dr. Bailey was also building up as complete a representation as possible of Iowa mammals, including vanishing species, and was engaged in writing a book upon the Mammals of Iowa. Many other rare and valuable additions to the Museum, both zoological and ethnological were made by the alumni and foreign missionaries with whom Dr. Bailey kept in constant touch, thus forming a link between the college and the religious work of the alumni. It was indeed a world-wide horizon which inspired all his work.” (Spenser 16)

Upon Bailey’s death, a bronze tablet was placed at the museum’s entrance inscribed with the following:

“THE BERT HEALD BAILEY MUSEUM. Named in memory of Bert Heald Bailey, M.S., M.D., <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Professor of Zoology and Curator of the Museum in Coe College, 1900-1917. <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Beloved Teacher, Friend and Counselor, Able Scientist, Stalwart Christian. <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">His memory is enshrined in our hearts and in this, the work of his hands.” (Spenser 16)

<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">His 92-page published volume, //200 Wild Birds of Iowa// (1906), was subtitled “A handbook for use in schools, and as a guide in identification for all who desire to become acquainted with our common birds” (Bailey, “200” 1). A no-frills review in the //Iowa Journal of History and Politics// said, “The descriptions are non-technical, and sufficient for purposes of identifications” (454). Bailey appreciated Iowa’s unique geographical position, writing,
 * <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">200 Wild Birds of Iowa (1906) **

<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">“Lying in the embrace of two mighty rivers, our state forms a part of the greatest pathway for bird migration in //all the world//. Following the channels of these two great river basins, there pours a vernal and autumnal flood of bird life, varied, rich in color and song, attractive both to eye and ear. Within our borders lie marshes and lakes, level plains and rolling prairies, timbered bottom lands and wooded bluffs--in fact, a topography suited for the nesting of birds of many kinds." (“200” 4)

<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Bailey was protective of birds against hunters and those who would harm them. He writes,

<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">“Be a friend of the birds yourself and do not confide their secrets to any but those who are also their friend and who can be trusted. Be especially careful on this point in regard to birds that are already rare. Let your influence be felt by those about you in behalf of the protection of our birds, and endeavor to increase their number and variety in your vicinity.” (“200” 6)

//<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">200 Wild Birds of Iowa //<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> was not only a field guide for bird watchers, but it also contained an essay from fellow Iowan birder E. Lucas Lefebure on the importance of bird protection. At a time when birds were indiscriminately killed for their ornamental feathers and to be taxidermied for placement in private and public collections, Lebefure relates the economical value of wild birds, the necessity for their protection, and means of their protection through laws and the use of cameras rather than guns in hunting. He attributes the decline of certain species to sportsmen and over-zealous private collectors. He suggests the demand for specimens could be satisfied by sending birds killed by natural causes or electrical wires to museums for preservation, and that photographs could be used to preserve eggs and nests without the need to poach (Bailey, “200” 70).

<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">One of his numerous memorializers writes,
 * <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The Raptorial Birds of Iowa (1918) **

<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">“At the beginning of his last illness, Professor Bailey was on leave of absence and was engaged in research along ornithological lines at the University of Iowa. He was especially interested in the hawks and owls and had nearly completed a paper dealing with the distribution and habits of the species found in Iowa” (//The Auk// 512).

<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">This paper would be published the following year as //The Raptorial Birds of Iowa//; left incomplete by Bailey, it was compiled and finished by his student, co-worker, and successor Miss Clementina Spencer. According to its introduction by State Geologist George F. Kay, the book’s purpose was to challenge

<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">“the view which is prevalent among citizens of the state … that hawks and owls and related birds of prey are detrimental to the agriculture and other interests of the state and that, therefore, all of them, without discrimination, should be destroyed. … The agriculturist should know that with few exceptions hawks and owls are not his foes but his friends, and he should see to it that every effort is made to preserve rather than to destroy them.” (1)

<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The book introduced a new variety of the Broad-winged Hawk, and presented specimens to authenticate the existence of the Mississippi Wood Kite and Western Goshawk in Iowa (Spenser 12). More than a field guide, it was an encyclopedic narrative of the misunderstood birds of prey.

<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Bailey authored nearly 20 published articles on topics ranging from the Duck Hawk to successful mink farming (Spenser 16; //Proceedings// 25). He also contributed specimens, notes, and numerous quotes to Rudolf M. Anderson’s //The Birds of Iowa// in which he is named as an expert of birds in Linn and Sioux counties with more than 200 species descriptions listed (Anderson 144).
 * <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Other Works **

<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Anderson, Rudolph Martin. //The Birds of Iowa.// Davenport, Iowa: Davenport Academy of Sciences, 1907. Web. <[]> //<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The Auk //<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">. American Ornithologists' Union, 1917: 512. Web. <[]> <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Bailey, Bert Heald. //200 Wild Birds of Iowa//. Cedar Rapids, Iowa: Audubon Nature Publications, 1905. Web. < []> <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">---. //The Raptorial Birds of Iowa.// Des Moines, Iowa: Iowa Geological Survey, 1918. Web. < [] > //<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Iowa Journal of History and Politics. //<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> State Historical Society of Iowa, 1906. Web. <[]> <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Kay, George F. Introduction. //The Raptorial Birds of Iowa.// By Bert Heald Bailey. 1918. Des Moines, Iowa: Iowa Geological Survey. 1. Web. <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">< [] > //<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Proceedings. //<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> Iowa Academy of Science, 1917: 23-25. Web. <[]> <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Spenser, Clementina. Editor’s note. //The Raptorial Birds of Iowa//. By Bert Heald Bailey. 1918. Des Moines, Iowa: Iowa Geological Survey. 11-17. Web.< [] > <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Stephens, T. C. “Bert Heald Bailey.” //The Wilson Bulletin// 29.4, 1917: 195-197. Web. < [] >
 * <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Works Cited **

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