From Hypatia of Alexandria to Madame Curie, women have always provided important contributions to the sciences. . . Even if they haven’t always received due credit for their work.
The NMNH and IZ communities are no different. From Mildred S. Wilson to Harriet Richardson to Isabel Pérez Farfante, IZ has been shaped by some incredible women. The stories of NMNH’s female scientists could fill a book. (In fact it should; has no one written that yet?). However for brevity’s sake today we are going to focus on just one: Mary Jane Rathbun, the Smithsonian’s first ever female full-time curator, and the first woman carcinologist in modern times.
Born June 1860, Mary Jane Rathbun was a not a tall woman, barely more than four and a half feet tall. However her short stature did not slow her down. The youngest of five children, Mary lost her mother when she was very young. Consequently she learned how to live independently on mostly her own resources. Despite being a star student during her high school years, she never attended college. At that time there were no direct avenues into the sciences available for women. So as one might expect Mary’s path to Invertebrate Zoology was rather circuitous. However, she used all the tools available for her to pursue the work she loved.
Mary Jane Rathbun at Woods Hole, 1890, by unknown (Smithsonian Institution Archives , 78-10629)
She first saw the ocean in 1881, when she accompanied her brother Richard Rathbun to Woods Hole, where he worked for the U.S. Commission of Fish and Fisheries as a scientific assistant. It was in Woods Hole that she was first acquainted with carcinology (the study of crustaceans), which would become her life’s work. There she worked for her brother for three years on a volunteer basis sorting, labeling and recording the collected specimens. She was so effective at her work she was eventually hired on through a “Clerkship”.
Shortly thereafter she was transferred to the Smithsonian Institution. She worked in the National Museum’s the Department of Marine Invertebrates (today the Invertebrate Zoology Department) as a “Copyist”. For years she sorted, labeled, cataloged, recorded, and generally managed the deluge of invertebrate specimens that came into the museum. She made these collections available for study, reference, and report. She worked mostly alone as limited budget prevented hiring of assistants. Her brother Richard Rathbun was ostensibly the curator of the Marine Invertebrates Collection, but his frequent travel meant that day to day operations fell to Mary. Despite essentially running the division of Marine Invertebrates, it was 28 years of working for the Smithsonian (1907) before she was given the title Assistant Curator in charge of the Division. Despite the granting of the title being long overdue it was no small feat for a woman to have achieved a professional level position at that time. The USGS was still two years away from appointing its first female scientist (Florence Bascome, who despite working for the USGS since 1896 was not promoted to an official geologist position until 1909).
Mary Jane Rathbun continued to work for the Smithsonian until 1914, when she resigned her post. She had realized that completion of her work was not possible without the hiring of support staff. However, when she requested an assistant, her request was denied on the basis of limited funds. She therefore resigned, with the understanding that her salary would go to pay for an assistant. The Smithsonian then hired Waldo LaSalle Schmitt, Mary’s protégée. Mary lived off the small amount of money left to her by her father and continued to work at the Smithsonian after her resignation under the title of “Honorary Research Associate” on a volunteer basis. In 1916, in recognition of her contributions to science the University of Pittsburgh awarded her an honorary Master’s Degree, after which she went on to obtain her Doctorate from George Washington University. She continued to work at the museum until her failing health confined her to her home. She died a few years later (1943), at the age of 82, of complications from a broken hip.
Mary Jane Rathbun left with a looming legacy. The amount of work she produced was staggering. During her careers she wrote or co-wrote over 166 publications, 84 of which she published after her “retirement” in 1914. Her best known works are a monumental 4-volume monograph of the Brachyuran Crabs of the New World and a treatise on freshwater crabs. Over her career she described an incredible 1147 species, 63 genera, and 5 higher categories of crustaceans. Her scientific work considerably advanced the knowledge of decapod crustaceans and she is arguably the most important carcinologist of her day. Certainly she is one of the foremost figures in American Carcinology. Her publications are still used heavily by carcinologists today.
Her impact on the Smithsonian collections is still evident at the National Museum of Natural History. Many specimens she documented, curated and used in her work are still actively used by researchers today. (For instance, by happenstance a photo of one of the sets of specimens she identified was recently highlighted in another No Bones post.)
“What Mary Rathbun was able to accomplish during her career was nothing short of extraordinary, and I’m not sure if it could be repeated today. She is the biggest historical influence on my work on spider crab phylogeny. I regularly use her book The Spider Crabs of America and still get a little giddy every time I come across a specimen with her handwriting on the label.” says NMNH and IZ scientist Amanda Windsor.
By all accounts Mary Jane Rathbun was an extraordinary woman. Mary was notorious for her dedication and work ethic. Legend has it that she was so devoted that once, during a flood, she commuted to work in a rowboat. Her successor Waldo L. Schmitt described her as a “remarkably gifted person, possessing “innate ability, originality of thought, initiative and enterprise”. Saying she had an “engaging personality, with a dry sense of humor,” he credited her with inspiring students to become involved in work on crustaceans by offering personal encouragement.
Mary Jane Rathbun was also a “kindly, charitable person, generous to a fault”. In fact one of the only times in her life she put aside work on invertebrates was during the First World War when she served her local Red Cross chapter, turning out bandages, and providing aid to her friends and fellow scientists in Europe. Above all Mary was a scientist, who despite the roadblocks in her path, persevered and managed to make incredible advancements for her field.
As a young woman looking forward to a career in science I am keenly aware of how many opportunities I have because generations of women ahead of me fought for a place at the table. I am also keenly aware that inequities still persist, not only in our society as a whole but in the scientific community as well. The stories of women like Mary Jane Rathbun, and the force of her steadfast dedication to her field are a constant source of inspiration.
By Frances Farabaugh, IZ Intern, NMNH [edited by Allen G. Collins]
Really wonderful account! Very inspiring!
Posted by: Carol Stepien | 02 April 2021 at 01:24 PM
I just finished reading about Mary Jane Rathburn and her work with the boneless little crabs she studied. Most interesting! Thank you for putting it on facebook.
Posted by: Betty A. Harper | 01 April 2015 at 10:04 PM