FROM PALAEONTOLOGY TO HISTORY. RECONSTRUCTING THE MISSING BIOGRAPHY OF A. H. FOORD (1844-1933) BETWEEN EUROPE AND NORTH AMERICA

The English palaeontologist and scientific illustrator Arthur Humphreys Foord (1844-1933) is a very little known figure in the history of geological sciences of the late nineteenth century, mainly as a result of the scarcity of published biographical data, including the lack of an entry in the twentieth century editions of the ‘Dictionary of National Biography’ (London). On the other hand, Foord is rather known among modern palaeontologists, in particular because of his three volume 'Catalog of the fossil Cephalopoda in the British Museum (Natural History)', (1888, 1891,1897, the latter written with George Charles Crick), as well as his five volume Monograph of the Palaeontographical Society 'Carboniferous Cephalopoda of Ireland' (1897-1903). These publications form an indispensable reference for cephalopod workers and Foord's taxonomic studies rank alongside those of Alpheus Hyatt (1838-1902) and Laurent Guillaume de Koninck (1809-1887). From 1872 to 1883 Foord worked as a natural history artist at the Geological Survey of Canada, where he also gained much experience as a collector in the field and in museum curation. Later he worked as a volunteer at the British Museum (Natural History) in London. In 1891 he moved to Ireland to take up the position of Librarian and Editor of Scientific Publications of the Royal Dublin Society, until his retirement in 1920. During these years he worked on cephalopod material in the National Museum of Ireland and Geological Survey of Ireland collections as well as compiling a considerable personal collection which is now housed in various institutions in Ireland and Britain. He also obtained a Doctorate from the University of Munich in 1896. The case-study of the reconstruction of Foord’s biography shows the importance of the interaction between palaeontological and historical research in order to achieve wider knowledge and extended use of all the possible sources (published and unpublished material, as well as fossil specimens).