WINNIE MCGLAMERY (1877-1977), STATE PALEONTOLOGIST OF ALABAMA

During her three decades with the Geological Survey of Alabama (1931 to 1961), Winnie McGlamery was a key figure in Alabama paleontology. She was a diminutive but feisty woman who arguably did more for the discovery of oil and gas fields than any other state employee during that time, for she logged the cores and cuttings of every permitted well for the Survey’s public files. The only wells that she did not analyze were the redundant wells of the Citronelle field, which were closely spaced and numbered in the hundreds.

McGlamery was trained in paleontology at Goucher College and the Johns Hopkins University at a time when few women scientists worked in the field, though microscope work was tolerated. “Miss Winnie” spent much of her career studying foraminifera, especially after the first successful Alabama oil fields were brought in (Gilbertown, 1944; Citronelle, 1955). She also gained extensive field experience, particularly with Coastal Plain mollusks, and was active in local scientific societies. Her advice on fossils and localities was sought by many researchers. Although McGlamery published relatively little, she had a great influence on Alabama paleontology and biostratigraphy.