Earl Douglass was born in Medford, Minnesota on October 23, 1862. He received his early education in the Medford schools and the Pillsbury Academy in Owatonna, Minnesota. He then went to South Dakota, then Dakota, where he worked on a farm, taught school and studied at the University of Dakota and the state agricultural college until 1890. During this period he made his first plant collection for an herbarium at the South Dakota Agricultural College.
In 1890, Douglass went to Mexico on a botanical trip and after his return became assistant to Professor William Trelease at the Missouri Botanical Gardens in Saint Louis. There he studied systematic botany and plant histology at the Shaw School of Botany at Washington University. In 1892 he returned to the South Dakota Agricultural College. Suspended from the college in 1893 for publishing an article exposing corruption in the school, Douglass then went to Iowa State College where he received his B.S. the same year.
From 1894-1900, Douglass conducted geological explorations in western Montana and taught school to pay expenses. There he gathered extensive collections of fossils. Of particular importance was his discovery of various tertiary beds containing extinct mammals and other vertebrates unknown to science. Douglass received his Master of Science degree at the University of Montana in 1899 and taught geology and physical geography there from 1899-1900.
From 1900-1902, Douglass held a fellowship in biology at Princeton University and studied geology, paleontology, osteology, and mammalian anatomy. In 1901 he accompanied a Princeton scientific expedition to the region of the Muscleshell River in Montana. During this expedition, he discovered lower "Eocene mammals in Ft. Union formations, thus settling a long continued dispute as to the age of these beds."
In 1902, Douglass became associated with the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh, and the museum purchased the extensive collection of fossil remains he had collected in Montana and South Dakota. He continued his work in Montana for the museum during part of 1902, and then returned to Pittsburgh. His studies of his collection of fossil remains from Montana appeared in the Annals and Memoirs of the Carnegie Museum between 1903 and 1910.
In 1905, Douglass was sent to collect vertebrate and invertebrate fossils in Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, and Idaho and to obtain, if possible, data to solve certain geological problems in that region. On October 29 of that same year Douglass married Pearl Charlotte Goetschius in Sheridan, Montana.
From 1907-1924, Douglass devoted himself to the exploration of the fossiliferous strata of the Uinta Basin in northeastern Utah. In 1909 he discovered the famous dinosaur quarry near Jensen, Utah. The quarry now forms the nucleus for the present Dinosaur National Monument. Out of this quarry, Douglass collected a large number of fossils, mostly vertebrates, some which were new to science. The fossils included dinosaurs of many families, genera, and species.
Douglass resigned his position with Carnegie Museum in 1924 and was employed by the University of Utah to excavate dinosaur bones for their museum. After the bones were transferred to Salt Lake City, Douglass spent two years completing the difficult preliminary work to prepare the bones for mounting after which his employment ended. From this time until his death in 1931, Douglass was a consulting geologist for companies engaged in developing oil fields in Utah, Colorado, Arizona and Texas. During this period, he did notable research on oil, oil shale asphalts, and other mineral deposits and left much unpublished material on these subjects.
EARL DOUGLASS CHRONOLOGY
1862: Born October 28, Medford, Minnesota
1868-1879: Attended school near Medford, Minnesota
1882-1886: Taught school in Minnesota
1887-1890: Attended South Dakota Agricultural College at Brookings
1890: Botanical expedition to Mexico
1890-1892: Worked for Missouri Botanical Gardens in St. Louis Studied botany at Washington University in St. Louis
1892-1893: Returned and was later suspended from South Dakota Agricultural College
1893: Received B.S. from Iowa State College at Ames
1894-1899: Conducted geological and paleontological expeditions in Montana
1899: Received M.S. in geology from the University of Montana
1899-1900: Taught geology at the University of Montana
1900-1902: Held fellowship in biology at Princeton University
1902-1924: Employed by the Carnegie Museum, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
1905: Married Pearl Charlotte Goetschius, October 29
1909: Discovered dinosaur quarry near Jensen, Utah, August 17
1909-1924: Worked continuously at dinosaur quarry
1915: Dinosaur quarry became Dinosaur National Monument
1924: Resigned from Carnegie Museum
1924-1926: Excavated and mounted dinosaur bones for the Utah Museum of Natural History at the University of Utah
1926-1931: Employed as consulting geologist for oil companies
1931: Died in Salt Lake City, Utah, January 1931
The Special Collections department of the University of Utah, Marriott Library received the photographs of Earl Douglass from his son, Gawin E. Douglass in February 1976. Earl Douglass made significant contributions to the fields of palenotology and geology. However, his most significant legacy was his discovery and work on what eventually became Dinosaur National Monument.
Douglas acquired an active interest in photography in 1909; consequently, most of the photographs in this collection were taken after that date. The collection contains numerous photographs of Douglass, his wife, Pearl, son, Gawin, sister, Nettie, and many other family members. Box two contains photographs of persons who were unidentified.
The bulk of this collection is comprised of photographs documenting the excavation of the area which is now Dinosaur National Monument. Every stage of work is illustrated including the chiseling of the bones from the rock, preparing them for shipment, and freighting them by team to the Uinta Railway for shipment to the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh. Also, there are photographs documenting the arrival and exhibition of some of the dinosaur bones at the University of Utah in 1928.
A section of the photographs focus on the lives and history of the people of Vernal, Utah and northeastern Utah between 1909-1929. For example, Douglass took photographs of the Uinta Railway, scenery in and around Vernal, "Days of '47" celebrations, oil and gilsonite prospects, and rock formations in northeastern Utah.
The 1988 addendum photographs were donated by Gawin Douglass on his visit to the Manuscripts Division in the Summer of 1988. The photos were to illustrate his unpublished manuscript entitled "From the Diaries of Earl Douglass: Discoverer of Dinosaur National Monument." This manuscript can be found in the Douglass Papers, MS 196, Box 8. While here, Mr. Douglass was also kind enough to supply more specific and in some cases the only identification to the original photograph collection, which he wrote on the back of the photos.
The collection is organized into eight subject categorize which are: people, places, dinosaur quarry, fossils, rock, flora, fauna, and general. These categories are arranged in alphabetical order. Duplicate photographs are located at the end of the collection in box 12.
Collection contains one addendum.
Folders 126-130 and 171-175 are not accounted for.
Twenty-four hour advanced notice encouraged. Materials must be used on-site. Access to parts of this collection may be restricted under provisions of state or federal law.
The library does not claim to control copyright for all materials in the collection. An individual depicted in a reproduction has privacy rights as outlined in Title 45 CFR, part 46 (Protection of Human Subjects). For further information, please review the J. Willard Marriott Library’s
Collection Name, Collection Number, Box Number, Folder Number. Special Collections, J. Willard Marriott Library, The University of Utah.
Materials were transferred to the Earl Douglass papers (MS 0196).
Processed by Isaac McDougall in 1986.