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Charles H.

Sternberg and the Changing Nature of Fossil Hunting

Rachel Wilkins
April 21, 2014

Submitted to:
Dr. Annette F. Timm
HTST 300: The Practice of History

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In the 19th century interest in natural history collecting intensified in North America. At the time
private and public institutions from America and Europe participated in the business of antiquity
collecting. Public interest in natural history was on the rise but there was relatively few
professional positions available in the field. The situation prompted the emergence of new job,
the fossil hunter, who was equal parts amateur paleontologist and entrepreneur. Through an
examination of the work and experience of Charles H. Sternberg this newly developed role in
scientific exploration will be examined to demonstrate the changing nature of fossil hunting in
the late 19th and early 20th century. Sternbergs career exemplifies both the economic challenges
of maintaining and acquiring specimens as well as the changing institutional discourse resulting
in the popularization of the dinosaur. Analysis of Sternbergs correspondence and scrapbook will
provide evidence of the changing nature of business relationships, the result of fossil regulations,
and the commercialization of the dinosaur to encourage and maintain public interest.
The development of fossil hunting as a subset of natural history collecting led to the rapid
development of complex and sophisticated trading networks. During this time fossils were
viewed as a commodity that served multiple needs including scientific study, strategic
investment and noteworthy collectible. The expense and risks associated with specimen
acquisition, preparation and preservation elevated the lucrative potential of these endeavors.
Potential investors and buyers included funding bodies, academic institutions, museums,
philanthropists and private collectors. This trade included both amateur and professional
paleontologists. The many reasons behind this trade ranged from economic necessity to personal
fortunes, from personal accolades to ambition and interests in the advancement of science.1

Peter C. Kjaegaard, The Fossil Trade: Paying a Price for Human Origins, Isis 103, no. 2
(June 1, 2012): 341-342.

During the second half of the 19th century advances in trade networks and communication
increased the availability of information. This allowed the public to access information that had
previously been available to only the elite in society. The creation of national markets and the
national railway system greatly influenced this as information spread faster than before. At the
same time the postal system and the publishing industry made information more accessible as it
was mass produced at cheaper costs. Despite these advances in communication and growing
public interest few professional positions became available in academic circles. The position of
the fossil hunter developed during this time. Sternberg exemplifies this role as he pursued
collecting without an academic background. These social and technological advances influenced
the receptiveness of ordinary citizens toward scientific information.2
The growing interest in natural history collecting in the latter half of the 19th century did
not translate into adequate funding opportunities for both public institutions and fossil hunters.
Institutions sought to incorporate a diversity of specimens but at a low cost. Charles Sternberg
demonstrates the business challenges and the funding limitations of the time through his
transactional records and correspondences. The lack of funding opportunities was evident at the
beginning of his career as he had limited financial opportunities. In his work with famed
paleontologist E.W. Cope in 1876 he was initially paid $3003 and this low level of funding
continued throughout their 20 year relationship.4 Funding limitations were further evident in
Sternbergs work with major institutions like the Smithsonian Institute. Spencer Baird, the
2

Mark V. Barrow Jr, "The specimen dealer: Entrepreneurial Natural History in America's gilded
age." Journal of the History of Biology 33, no. 3 (2000): 494-496.
3

D.M Le Bourdais, The Interesting Life of a Fossil Hunter, The Dearborn Independent, November 18, 1922,
Microfilm, Charles H. and Charles M Sternberg fonds 1880-1963, Glenbow Archives, Calgary.
4

E.W. Cope to Charles H. Sternberg, January 10, 1896, Microfilm, Charles H. and Charles M Sternberg fonds
1880-1963, Glenbow Archives, Calgary.

Smithsonians secretary from 1878 to 1887, believed that trading specimens rather than
purchasing5 them was in the best interest of the museum and advised Sternberg to branch out as
fossil collection networks were on the decline.6 This perspective was shared by F.A. Lucas, the
head curator of the United States National Museum. In his correspondence with Sternberg in
1898 and 1900. Lucas argued that both the countrys political climate and public opinion
considered natural history collecting a low priority.7 8 The end of the 19th century marked a clear
low point in public institutional funding for fossil hunting.
Private collectors provided another outlet for fossil collectors in the late 19th century.
Sammlung University in Munich and Wards Natural Science Establishment are examples of
foreign and domestic collectors that represented private interests with experience in natural
history collecting. Karl Von Zittel, head paleontologist at Sammlung University, was the primary
foreign museum client of Sternberg in the 1890s. Zittel corresponded with Sternberg on several
occasions to negotiate proposed work in the Texas Permian fields and prices for specimens. This
relationship was highly beneficial to both parties as Sternbergs specimens were considered high
quality and Zittel provided significant funding to cover the costs of both specimens and field

Amy V. Margaris and Linda T. Grimm, "COLLECTING FOR A COLLEGE MUSEUM: Exchange Practices and
the Life History of a 19thCentury Arctic Collection," Museum Anthropology 34, no. 2 (2011): 114.

Spencer F. Baird to Charles H. Sternberg, January 17, 1887, Microfilm, Charles H. and Charles M Sternberg fonds
1880-1963, Glenbow Archives, Calgary.
7

F.A. Lucas to Charles H. Sternberg, December 27, 1898, Microfilm, Charles H. and Charles M Sternberg fonds
1880-1963, Glenbow Archives, Calgary.
8

F.A. Lucas to Charles H. Sternberg, January 5, 1900, Microfilm, Charles H. and Charles M Sternberg fonds 18801963, Glenbow Archives, Calgary.

operations.9 10 Henry A. Ward was one of Sternbergs most important domestic customers.
Wards Natural Science Establishment purchased several fossils of varying sizes and quality
during this time. The public was Wards primary customer and sales remained strong until the
late nineteenth century when public tastes for home decor shifted away from the natural world.11
In an 1895 correspondence Ward warns Sternberg that he cannot accept any more fossils as the
market was declining.12 Private institutions were increasingly less valuable as fossil customers as
the 19th century came to a close.
The declining market for fossils caused Sternberg to expand his business strategy. He
shifted his business focus from the acquisition of specimens for academic and private collectors
toward more commercial ventures. The end of the 19th century was characterized by a growing
middle class with increased leisure time to study and experience nature.13 Sternberg capitalized
on these trends by releasing a natural history book in 1897 titled Life of a Fossil Hunter. He
placed advertisements in popular magazines and newspapers to appeal and sell directly to the
public.14 Through his descriptions of his specimens and experiences Sternberg began to gain

Karl Von Zittel to Charles H. Sternberg, March 29, 1895, Microfilm, Charles H. and Charles M Sternberg fonds
1880-1963, Glenbow Archives, Calgary.
10

Karl Von Zittel to Charles H. Sternberg, February 14, 1895, Microfilm, Charles H. and Charles M Sternberg fonds
1880-1963, Glenbow Archives, Calgary.
11

Mark V. Barrow Jr, "The specimen dealer: Entrepreneurial Natural History in America's gilded
age." Journal of the History of Biology 33, no. 3 (2000): 523.
12

Henry A. Ward to Charles H. Sternberg, January 10, 1895, Microfilm, Charles H. and Charles M Sternberg fonds
1880-1963, Glenbow Archives, Calgary.
13

Mark V. Barrow Jr, "The specimen dealer: Entrepreneurial Natural History in America's gilded
age." Journal of the History of Biology 33, no. 3 (2000): 494-495)
14

Charles H. Sternberg, A New Book, Ellsworth Republic, March 7, 1897, Microfilm, Charles H. and Charles M
Sternberg fonds 1880-1963, Glenbow Archives, Calgary.

media interest. In 1903 Sternberg utilized the media to gain support and recognition for his desire
to display a dinosaur exhibit at the 1904 Worlds Fair.15 These initial experiments in public
marketing raised Sternbergs profile and shifted his customer focus further toward the public
realm.
Sternbergs specialized experience in fossil hunting and commercialization positioned
him well in the period from the 1880s to the 1920s now known as the second Jurassic dinosaur
rush. During this period the public interest was fascinated by objects of gigantic proportions. The
1868 unveiling of the worlds first mounted dinosaur, the Hadrosaurus, by the Philadelphia
Academy of Natural Sciences sparked tremendous public support. Growing patronage and public
interest spurred investment in natural history museums in Chicago, New York and Pittsburgh. By
1905 the American Museum of Natural History had installed a life like 67 foot Brontosaurus in
its new Dinosaur Hall and by 1907 the Carnegie Museum of Natural History had mounted a
composite Diploducus specimen. Museums increasingly viewed the types of dinosaur specimens
Sternberg was capable of finding as critical to their ability to capture and hold the publics
imagination while securing their funding and expansion plans.16
In the early 20th century private and public European museums were removing significant
quantities of fossil specimens from North America to support their research aims.17 Americas
educated elites objected to this practice as it ran contrary to their growing support for

15

Fine Fossils The Collections of Specimens by Charles H. Sternberg During The Summer, Lawrence Journal,
October 15, 1903, Microfilm, Charles H. and Charles M Sternberg fonds 1880-1963, Glenbow Archives, Calgary.
16

Paul Brinkman, "The Second American Jurassic Dinosaur Rush, 1895-1905," PhD diss.,
University of Minnesota, 2005.
17

Bruno J. Strasser, Collecting Nature: Practices, Styles, and Narratives, Osiris 27, no. 1 (2012):
303-340.

conservation.18 The political result of these concerns was the passage of the United States Act
For The Preservation Of Antiquities in 1906.19 The Act restricted the movement of fossils from
North America. Permits were required for fossil digs and could only be obtained by American
museums, universities, colleges or recognized research facilities. Working without a permit was
an arrestable offence and all specimens would be confiscated. All specimens collected had to be
accessible to the general public.20 For fossil hunters like Sternberg the Act signaled the
beginning of competition between public institutions for public support and funding.
Sternbergs work with the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) exemplified
the paradigm shift toward public engagement and commercialization. The AMNH had initially
incorporated public edification into its 1870s mandate to support the City of New Yorks
decision to cover the costs of the museums construction and maintenance. The museums chief
paleontologist, Henry Fairfield Osborn, recognized patronage and public support were the most
obvious means to secure increased stable funding. By 1907, however, the museum was
deflecting criticism from scientists that its mounted dinosaur exhibits were more spectacle than
substance. Supporters of the museum, like the anthropologist Franz Boas, argued that the public
requires a level of emotional excitement to invest their valuable leisure time in a museum.21
Concerns regarding scientific authenticity of mounted dinosaurs began to grow particularly as

18

Christopher N. Matthews, Gilded Ages and Gilded Ages Archaeologies of American


Exceptionalism, International Journal of Historical Archaeology 16, no. 4 (2012): 718.
19

Ibid, 1926.

20

Act For The Preservation Of American Antiquities, June 8, 1906, Microfilm, Charles H. and Charles M.
Sternberg fonds 1880-1963, Glenbow Archives, Calgary.
21

Lukas Rieppel, Bringing Dinosaurs Back to Life: Exhibiting Prehistory at the American
Museum Of Natural History, Isis 103, no. 3 (September 1, 2012): 46090.

the public increasingly favored objectivity over expert opinion.22 Sternberg was well positioned
in 1909 when a nearly complete Brontosaurus skull uncovered by the Carnegie Museum
suggested that the AMNH exhibit was incorrect.23 Sternberg offered to sell Osborn one of the
best preserved dinosaurs found to date. The value of this dinosaur lay in its virtual completeness
and articulation allowing it to be mounted without augmentation. Osborn recognized the strategic
value of this specimen to restore scientific credibility to the AMNH and paid Sternberg $2000
(approximately $50,000 today). This find was the most lucrative of Sternbergs career.24
Marketing and communication techniques were critical to improving the customers
experience with dinosaur exhibits in Americas natural history museums. Public engagement
efforts focused on a number of natural interpretation methods. The American Natural History
Museum was a leader in the development of this museum practice. Leaflets were employed to
steer the public toward certain evidence augmented by museum naturalists to convey context and
stimulate the imagination of its viewers. For example, Allosaurus teeth were placed near the
Brontosaurus exhibit to support leaflet information about predator prey relations and allow
naturalists to conjure images of life and death struggles.25 By the 1920s the AMNH was
sustaining public support through commercial ventures like magazine advertisements and stories
in key publications like Scientific American. AMNHs chief paleontologist, Henry F.
Osborn, even claimed that he was responsible for turning the word dinosaur into a household

22

Ibid, 463.

23

Lukas Rieppel, Bringing Dinosaurs Back to Life: Exhibiting Prehistory at the American
Museum Of Natural History, Isis 103, no. 3 (September 1, 2012): 475.
24

Ibid, 489.

25

Ibid, 488.

word in America.26 By 1923 Osborn had taken marketing to a new level by auctioning off a
dinosaur egg found in Mongolia. The auction generated a high level of publicity and media
reports enabled the museum to request public donations. By the time the egg was auctioned for
$5000 the museum had acquired another $50000 from small public donations.27 This progression
of commercialization and marketing changed the museum from a primarily scientific institute to
an increasingly commercial enterprise. The desire for stable and increased public funds put
pressure on the institution to maintain interest above scientific knowledge.
Both fictional and non-fictional books regarding dinosaurs and the prehistoric world
increased commercialization through their use of language and place. Sternberg was a forerunner
of this trend by redirecting the reader from the subject matter to his own life story in his 1897
book Life of a Fossil Hunter. Sternbergs explorations on the Red Deer River in the 1920s
contained documentation regarding competitors and camp conditions in addition to the scientific
evidence. 28 Edgar Rice Burroughs popularized fossil hunters in his stories by incorporating
contemporary details from the Dinosaur Hall at the AMNH into his stories. The authenticity
created by this technique made the books very popular with the public.29 Other, like Reverend
N.H. Hutchinson, argued that dinosaurs were the same mythic creatures as dragons. In his 1910
natural history guide Extinct Monsters and Creatures of Other Days Hutchinson suggests that
26

Marianne Sommer, "The Lost World as Laboratory: The Politics of Evolution between Science
and Fiction in the Early Decades of Twentieth-Century America," Configurations 15, no. 3 (2007): 308.
27

Peter C. Kjaegaard, The Fossil Trade: Paying a Price for Human Origins, Isis 103, no. 2
(June 1, 2012): 345-346.
28

Philip J. Currie and Darren H. Tanke. A History of Albertosaurus Discoveries in Alberta,


Canada. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 47, no. 9 (September 2010): 1197+.
29

Marianne Sommer, "The Lost World as Laboratory: The Politics of Evolution between Science
and Fiction in the Early Decades of Twentieth-Century America," Configurations 15, no. 3 (2007): 299-329.

geology reveals to us that there once lived upon this earth reptiles so great and uncouth that
we can think of no other but the time honored word dragon to convey briefly the idea of their
monstrous forms and characters.30 The cross pollination between fact and fiction with regard to
the prehistoric world led to increased public fascination and accolades for fossil hunters like
Sternberg.
Media and newspaper outlets frequently capitalized on the public appeal of dinosaurs and
the prehistoric world. Sternberg seized upon the value of media coverage to promote himself as
much and his discoveries as often as possible. In a 1922 article titled The Interesting Life of a
Fossil Hunter Sternberg provided biographical details of his early interest in fossils and rise
within the fossil hunting community.31 In a 1936 article in the Hanna Herald Sternberg used his
reputation as a famous fossil hunter to advocate for the creation of a national park in Alberta.32
Exaggeration and speculation were important aspects of these types of stories. An 1898 article in
the New York Journal suggested that recently discovered dinosaur bones belonged to a monster
that when it ate it filled a stomach large enough to hold three elephants and its terrible roar
could be heard for ten miles.33 A 1920 article made reference to the Deinodon dinosaur as the

30

John McGowan-Hartmann, Shadow of the Dragon: The Convergence of Myth and Science in
Nineteenth Century Paleontological Imagery, Journal of Social History 47, no. 1 (2013): 4748.
31

D.M Le Bourdais, The Interesting Life of a Fossil Hunter, The Dearborn Independent, November 18, 1922,
Microfilm, Charles H. and Charles M Sternberg fonds 1880-1963, Glenbow Archives, Calgary.
32

60 Million Year Old Bad Lands As National Park Proposed Dinosaur Field, Hanna Herald, September 3, 1936,
Microfilm, Charles H. and Charles M Sternberg fonds 1880-1963, Glenbow Archives, Calgary.
33

John McGowan-Hartmann, Shadow of the Dragon: The Convergence of Myth and Science in
Nineteenth Century Paleontological Imagery, Journal of Social History 47, no. 1 (2013): 62.

Terrible Tooth noting that it would consider a human the right size for a meal.34 These forms
of media helped to maintain an elevated state of public interest.
Charles H. Sternbergs career must be viewed as exemplary of the changing nature of
fossil hunting in the late 19th and early 20th century. Sternbergs early career was characteristic of
the entrepreneurial spirit and low income of field naturalists in the second half of the nineteenth
century. His strategic shift towards more commercial aspects of paleontology at the beginning of
the twentieth century positioned him to take advantage of economic and cultural changes in
North America. As both a participant and beneficiary of the increasing commercialization of
fossils in the twentieth century, Sternberg successfully navigated the changing nature of
paleontology to achieve both fame and fortune.

34

Lucky For Us Canadians This Deinodon Died Before We Arrived, Toronto Star, March 20, 1920, Microfilm,
Charles H. and Charles M Sternberg fonds 1880-1963, Glenbow Archives, Calgary.

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Bibliography
Primary Sources:
Sternberg, Charles H. and Sternberg Charles M. Charles H. and Charles M. Sternberg fonds
(1880-1963). Microfilm. Glenbow Archives. Calgary.
Description: The fonds contain Charles. H. Sternbergs correspondence (1880-1919) and
scrapbooks (1902-1928); and Charles M. Sternbergs collected articles (1917-1963), news
clippings, posters and photographs. The original collections is housed at Dinosaur Provincial
Park.
Secondary Sources:
Barrow Jr, Mark V. "The specimen dealer: Entrepreneurial Natural History in America's gilded
Age." Journal of the History of Biology 33, no. 3 (2000): 493-534.
Brinkman, Paul. "The Second American Jurassic Dinosaur Rush, 1895-1905." PhD diss.,
University of Minnesota, 2005.
Currie, Philip J., and Darren H. Tanke. A History of Albertosaurus Discoveries in Alberta,
Canada. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 47, no. 9 (September 2010): 1197+.
Kjaegaard, Peter C. The Fossil Trade: Paying a Price for Human Origins. Isis 103, no. 2
(June 1, 2012): 340-355.
Matthews, Christopher N. Gilded Ages and Gilded Ages Archaeologies of American
Exceptionalism. International Journal of Historical Archaeology 16, no. 4 (2012):
717-744.
Margaris, Amy V., and Linda T. Grimm. "COLLECTING FOR A COLLEGE MUSEUM:
Exchange Practices and the Life History of a 19thCentury Arctic Collection." Museum
Anthropology 34, no. 2 (2011): 109-127.
McGowan-Hartmann, John. Shadow of the Dragon: The Convergence of Myth and Science in
Nineteenth Century Paleontological Imagery. Journal of Social History 47, no. 1 (2013):
4770.
Rieppel, Lukas. Bringing Dinosaurs Back to Life: Exhibiting Prehistory at the American
Museum Of Natural History. Isis 103, no. 3 (September 1, 2012): 46090.
Sommer, Marianne. "The Lost World as Laboratory: The Politics of Evolution between Science
and Fiction in the Early Decades of Twentieth-Century America." Configurations 15, no.
3 (2007): 299-329.
Strasser, Bruno J. Collecting Nature: Practices, Styles, and Narratives. Osiris 27, no. 1 (2012):

11

303-340.
Sternberg, Charles H. Sternbergs Expedition to the Red Deer River, Alberta, 1917.
Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science (1903-) 29 (March 15, 1918): 8891.

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