Margaret W. Moodey Explained

Margaret W. Moodey
Birth Name:	Margaret Whittaker Moodey
Birth Date:	December 1862
Birth Place:	Steubenville, Ohio
Death Date:	January 17, 1948
Death Place:	Washington, D.C.
Occupation:	Museum professional, scientific curator

Margaret Whittaker Moodey (December 1862 – January 17, 1948) was an American scientific curator affiliated with the United States National Museum (later the National Museum of Natural History).

Early life

Moodey was born in Steubenville, Ohio, the youngest of ten children born to Virginia Southgate Eoff Moodey and Roderick Sheldon Moodey, a lawyer who died in 1866. She lived in Steubenville until she moved to Washington D.C. in the 1890s.^{[1] [2]}

Career

Moodey was a secretary and scientific aide in the Department of Geology at the National Museum in Washington, D.C. She classified, catalogued, and maintained the museum's geological and paleontological holdings. She also assisted with exhibitions, and wrote reports.^{[3] [4]} She and Edgar T. Wherry were assistant authors of George Perkins Merrill's Handbook and Descriptive Catalogue of the Collections of Gems and Precious Stones in the United States National Museum (1922).^{[5] [6]}

In the 1920s, she was in charge of a large collection of American gemstone samples;^[7] "she has had the entire responsibility and care of the collection of cut gems," explained the museum's annual report in 1924, "and in connection with this has been called upon to answer numerous inquiries and furnish information on gems and gem minerals." Pictures of Moodey peering into a microscope were published in newspapers and magazines across the United States during this time.^{[8] [9]}

Moodey resigned from the Museum in 1941, when she was almost 80 years old. As a "fitting finale to her Museum endeavors",^[10] she was co-author with Ray S. Bassler of Bibliographic and Faunal Index of Paleozoic Pelmatozoan Echinoderms (1943).^[11] She also co-authored a biography of George P. Merrill, with Waldemar Lindgren.^{[12] [13]}

Personal life

Moodey was guardian to her brother Beverly's three children after he died in 1906.^{[14] [15]} She lived with her niece, Helen M. Coolidge, a high school principal,^[16] before she died in 1948, aged 85 years.

External links

• Margaret Moodey & William Foshag, photograph from about 1926, in the Smithsonian Institution Archives
• Diana Elizabeth Marsh, "From 'Extinct Monsters' to Deep Time: An ethnography of fossil exhibits production at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History" (PhD diss., University of British Columbia 2014).

Notes and References

1. News: 1897-08-25. Stanton's Grave. 6. Steubenville Herald-Star. 2021-06-10. Newspapers.com.
2. News: January 18, 1948. Miss Margaret Moodey, 85, Retired Museum Aide, Dies. 36. Washington Evening Star. June 9, 2021. NewspaperArchive.com.
3. Web site: Harmon. Elizabeth. 2020-05-05. Miss Margaret W. Moodey in Charge. 2021-06-09. Smithsonian Institution Archives. en.
4. Book: United States National Museum. Annual Report - United States National Museum. 1924. Smithsonian Institution. 84–85. en.
5. Web site: Merrill. George P.. Moodey. Margaret W.. Wherry. Edgar T.. 1922. Handbook and Descriptive Catalogue of the Collections of Gems and Precious Stones in the United States National Museum. 2021-06-09. Smithsonian Institution Digital Library.
6. White. John Sampson. 1986. The Nation's Gem Collection – One Hundred Years. Earth Sciences History. 5. 2. 164. 10.17704/eshi.5.2.u17x334607410321. 24138665. 0736-623X.
7. Book: United States National Museum. Report. 1920. 107. en.
8. News: 1923-04-12. She May Find Arkansas Diamonds. 3. The Hebron Journal-Register. 2021-06-10. Newspapers.com.
9. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015079990043&view=1up&seq=371 "Gems at the National Museum"
10. Book: United States National Museum. Report Upon the Condition and Progress of the U.S. National Museum During the Year Ending June 30 .... 1941. U.S. Government Printing Office. 20, 59. en.
11. Book: Bassler. Ray Smith. Bibliographic and Faunal Index of Paleozoic Pelmatozoan Echinoderms. Moodey. Margaret W.. 1943. Geological Society of America. 978-0-8137-2045-6. en.
12. Lindgren. Waldemar. Moodey. Margaret W. 1937. Biographical memoir of George Perkin Merrill, 1854-1929. Biographical Memoirs. English. 17. 11767651.
13. Benn. James H.. 1929. Testimonial Dinner to Dr. Merrill. Science. 70. 1805. 122–123. 10.1126/science.70.1805.122-a. 1654375. 17813848. 1929Sci....70..122B. 38039150 . 0036-8075.
14. News: 1906-12-10. Beverley E. Moodey Dead. 16. Evening Star. 2021-06-09. Newspapers.com.
15. News: 1907-02-06. Sister Sole Beneficiary. 15. Evening Star. 2021-06-10. Newspapers.com.
16. News: October 20, 1930. Mrs. Helen Q. Coolidge Funeral Is Arranged. 4. Evening Star. June 9, 2021. NewspaperArchive.com.