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Mary Jobe Akeley
A picture of Mary Lenore Jobe around 1913, on horseback, depicting her as she travelled during many expeditions of British Columia, Canada. From the Washington Herald.
Born
Mary Lenore Jobe

1878-01-29
DiedJanuary 19, 1966(1966-01-19) (aged 87)
EducationA.M. Columbia University, 1909;

Bryn Mawr, 1901-1903;

Ph.B. Scio College, 1897
SpouseCarl Akeley (married 1924-10-18 to 1926-11-17)
Parents
  • Richard Watson Jobe (father)
  • Sarah Jane Pittis (mother)

Mary Jobe Akeley was an explorer, author, mountaineer, and photographer. She undertook expeditions in the Canadian Rockies and in the Belgian Congo. She worked at the American Museum of Natural History creating exhibits featuring taxidermy animals in realistic natural settings.[1][2] She worked on behalf of conservation efforts, including being one of the first advocates for the creation of game preserves.[2][3] She founded Camp Mystic, an outdoor camp for girls.[4]

Biography

Early life

Akeley was born Mary Leonore Jobe in Tappan, Ohio on January 29, 1978.[5] She earned a bachelor's degree at Scio College, studied at Bryn Mawr College and earned a master's degree in History and English from Columbia University in 1909.[2][3][6] During her time at Bryn Mawr, she had her first opportunity to join a scientific expedition, joining a botanical expedition to the Selkirk Mountains in British Columbia.[6] She taught at Temple University while in graduate school, and at from 1909-1913 Hunter College after graduating from Columbia.[3]

Mountaineering

Akeley was an accomplished mountain climber and was a member of the American Alpine Club.[1][2] From 1905 to 1918 she make ten expeditions to the Canadian Rockies. In 1913, she left her teaching job at Hunter to undertake an ethnographic expedition to study and photograph the Carrier indians living between the Skeena River and the Peace River.[7] In 1914, she took a commission from the Canadian government to explore and map the Fraser River in British Columbia. During this time, she made the first two attempts to summit Mount Sir Alexander,[7] and came within 100 feet of the peak. In honor of her work the Geographic Board of Canada renamed one of the peaks of Mount Sir Alexander as Mount Jobe.[3][8]

Camp Mystic

In 1916, Mary Jobe purchased land near Mystic, Connecticut and founded the Mystic Camp for girls. A 1916 advertisement in Scribner's Magazine promised campers experience with backcountry camping, boating, swimming, horseback riding, dancing, music, drama, and field athletics.[9] In a brochure for the camp, Jobe wrote that "girls find health, happiness and their hightest development out-of-doors, where they leave behind them the articialities of towns and cities for the joyous realities of the wooded hills and seashore."[6]: 298  The camp closed in the 1930s due to the Great Depression.[10]

Marriage and African Expeditions

In 1924, she married African explorer, naturalist, and taxidermist Carl Akeley, after being introduced by fellow explorer Vilhjalmur Stefansson.[6] In 1926, she accompanied him on his fifth expedition in Africa (and her first); on the trip, he became sick on Mount Mikeno of the Belgian Congo and died of a fever.[2][9][11] She completed the expedition, mapping parts of the Belgian Congo as well as Kenya and Tanzania, and collecting plant specimens taking hundreds of photographs.[3] Upon her return to the United States, the Museum of Natural History named her to be her husband's successor as the adviser to the development of their African Hall, a role she held until 1938.[6] The Hall was renamed in the Akeleys' honor in 1936.[2][3]

She returned to Africa in 1935 to Transvaal Province, Southern Rhodesia, and Portuguese East Africa, as well as Kruger National Park in South Africa. There she photographed Zulu people and Swazi people.[3] She returned again in 1947 at the behest of the Belgian crown to inspect the wildlife reserves in the Congo, and to film endangered species.[3]

Photography

She began her photographic work in the Canadian Rockies, and the results of this work are preserved on hand-painted lantern slides. Her ethnographic work records people and their customs, including ceremonial objects.[7] Her work in Africa focused on wildlife.[6]: 298 [7] Over 2000 of her lantern slides survive.[7] Her photographic output is preserved at the American Museum of Natural History and the Mystic River Historical Society.[6][7]

Death

Akeley lived her last years at the former site of Camp Mystic. She died of a stroke in 1966.[3] Following her death, the former camp became the Peace Sanctuary under the stewardships of the Mary L. Jobe Akeley Trust & Peace Sanctuary, and now maintained by the Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center.[12]

Books

  • Carl Akeley's Africa; the account of the Akeley-Eastman-Pomeroy African Hall Expedition of the American Museum of Natural History (1929)[13]
  • The Swan Song of Old Africa (1932)[14]
  • The Restless Jungle (1936)[15]
  • The Wilderness Lives Again (1946)[16]
  • Rumble of a Distant Drum (1946)[17]
  • Adventures in the African Jungle (1946)[18]
  • Congo Eden (1950)[19]

Awards and Honors

  • Knight of the Order of the Crown by King Albert of Belgium for her conservation work[1][9]
  • Mount Jobe in the Canadian Rockies named in her honor by the Canadian government[2]
  • Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame[9]
  • Honorary Doctorate from Mt. Union College in 1930[7]

Memberships[2]

  • Royal Geographic Society
  • American Alpine Club
  • Alpine Club of Canada
  • French Alpine Club
  • Society of Women Explorers

References

  1. ^ a b c Hall, Henry S. (1967). "Mary Jobe Akeley". American Alpine Journal: 452.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h "MARY J. AKELEY, AN EXPLORER, 80; Author and African Wildlife Expert for Museum Dies". The New York Times. 1966-07-22. p. 31. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2018-12-09.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i 1946-, Duncan, Joyce, (2002). "Mary Lenore Jobe Akeley (1878-1966)". Ahead of their time : a biographical dictionary of risk-taking women. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. pp. 25–26. ISBN 0313316600. OCLC 47283091. {{cite book}}: |last= has numeric name (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link) CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. ^ "Mary Jobe Akeley Papers". collections.conncoll.edu. Retrieved 2018-12-09.
  5. ^ "Akeley, Mary Jobe (1878–1966) | Encyclopedia.com". www.encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 2018-12-09.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Gilmartin, Patricia (November 1990). "Mary Jobe Akeley's Explorations in the Canadian Rockies". The Geographical Journal. 156 (3): 297. doi:10.2307/635530. ISSN 0016-7398.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Crowther, Dawn-Starr (1995). "Akeley, Mary L. Jobe (1878-1966)". North American women artists of the twentieth century : a biographical dictionary. Heller, Jules., Heller, Nancy G. New York: Garland Publishing, Inc. pp. 12–13. ISBN 0824060490. OCLC 31865530.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  8. ^ Schmitt, Julia. "Mount Jobe". www.peakfinder.com. Retrieved 2018-12-09. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  9. ^ a b c d Sommer, Carol (2015-09-12). "Legacy of Mystic's Mary Jobe Akeley has global reach". The Day. Retrieved 2018-12-09. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  10. ^ "Mystic Explorer Mary L. Jobe, A Life Well Lived". Groton, CT Patch. 2011-03-04. Retrieved 2018-12-10.
  11. ^ "Obituary: Mrs. Mary Jobe Akeley". The Geographical Journal. 132 (4): 597–598. December 1966 – via JSTOR.
  12. ^ "The Peace Sanctuary • The Mystic Wave". The Mystic Wave. 2013-11-07. Retrieved 2018-12-10.
  13. ^ Akeley, Mary L. Jobe (1929). Carl Akeley's Africa; the account of the Akeley-Eastman-Pomeroy African Hall Expedition of the American Museum of Natural History,. New York: Dodd, Mead & Co.
  14. ^ Akeley, Mary L. Jobe (1932). The Swan Song of Old Africa. New York: Am. Mus. of Nat. Hist.
  15. ^ Akeley, Mary L. Jobe (1936). Restless jungle. New York: R.M. McBride & Co.
  16. ^ Akeley, Mary L. Jobe (1946). The wilderness lives again: Carl Akeley and the great adventure. New York: Dodd, Mead.
  17. ^ Akeley, Mary L. Jobe (1946). Rumble of a distant drum; a true story of the African hinterland,. New York: Dodd, Mead & Co.
  18. ^ Akeley, Carl Ethan; Akeley, Mary L. Jobe (1946). Adventures in the African jungle,. New York: Dodd, Mead & Co.
  19. ^ Akeley, Mary Lee Jobe (1950). Congo Eden.: a comprehensive portrayal of the historical background and the scientific aspects of the Great Game sancturies of the Belgian Congo with the story of six months pilgrimage throughout that most primitiv region in the heart of the African : continent. New York: Dodd, Mead.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
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