LAGERSTÄTTE AND LUCK: THE ROLE OF THE TYPE CINCINNATIAN IN SHAPING PALEONTOLOGICAL RESEARCH IN NORTH AMERICA [1838-1961]

During the 19th century, a unique conjunction of abundantly fossiliferous strata, new employment opportunities, and compulsive personalities resulted in Cincinnati-area fossil enthusiasts playing a significant role in shaping North American paleontology. The type-Cincinnatian lagerstätte (southwestern Ohio, southeastern Indiana, and north-central Kentucky, U.S.A.) inspired countless amateur fossil collectors, some of whom made the transition to professionals as paleontology emerged as a discipline in its own right. The cohort of Cincinnatians who became professional paleontologists during this period benefitted from concurrent geological initiatives that provided employment for paleontologists, including the federally-funded geological expeditions of the western U.S. (F.B. Meek); state geological surveys (J. Locke, Meek, A.F. Foerste, E.O. Ulrich, C. Schuchert); and the newly-formed U.S. Geological Survey and U.S. National Museum (Meek, Schuchert, Ulrich, R.S. Bassler). Well-placed Cincinnati geologists emerged as founding members and early presidents of the Paleontological Society (Schuchert, Ulrich, Foerste, W.H. Twenhofel, Bassler); as co-founder of the Journal of Sedimentary Petrology (Twenhofel); as prominent academics (Shaler at Harvard, Schuchert at Yale; Twenhofel at Wisconsin); and as the authors of influential and long-lived textbooks (Schuchert, Twenhofel). Many extant geologists can trace their intellectual phylogeny via “6 degrees of separation” back to these academics.

Amateur and professional Cincinnatian paleontologists shared a propensity for compiling faunal catalogues and bibliographies (J.M. Nickles, S.A. Miller, Bassler); these works became standard references, the likes of which have not been duplicated. Collections of Cincinnatian fossils amassed by these early amateurs and professionals made their way to major universities and museums in the U.S. and abroad, and helped to secure the iconic status of the type-Cincinnatian fauna.