Will's first published article was a letter to the editor of Harper's Young People magazine about his observations of the Brown Creeper bird. It was published in the January 15, 1895 issue. Almost every day Will was outdoors adding to his collections of birds eggs, fossils and skins. His ever increasing knowledge of natural history, his self-learned skill in taxidermy and enthusiasm led him to down a direct path as a naturalist. And to a friendship with the Museum's president, Henry Fairfield Osborn.

College Studies at Columbia University 

Will enrolled at Columbia University (below) in New York where Osborn was also a professor. Will enrolled as a Special Student because he was so far ahead of normal students. He took advanced classes from 1896 to 1899.

There didn't seem to be a proper curriculum for someone so talented, so he officially did not graduate. There was supposed to be an agreement between Will and Osborn, where Will would receive school credit for work experience at the New York Zoo.

According to Henry Welker's biography on Beebe, "Natural Man," there is no proof that Beebe ever got credit for the work experience. For years Will would tell people he had indeed graduated from Columbia.

According to Lee S. Crandall, Will told him that Professor Osborn's opinion was to the effect that a year in the Zoological Park could be more valuable than one of formal courses. And that is what had tipped the balance and led Will to leaving his studies at Columbia to start work at the new zoo.

Early "Who's Who" books noted that he has received a B.S. degree. In fact, recent publications continue to cite the degree in biographies of Beebe. However, it is reported in "The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography (1965)," that in 1928, Beebe was awarded honorary Doctorate in Science degrees by Tufts College and Colgate University. 

First Job as Assistant Curator of Birds at the Bronx Zoo 

Will spent the summer of 1899 honing his Natural History field experience in Nova Scotia. He and his family often spent the summers there on vacation. As the century was coming to an end, Professor Osborn was planning the opening of the New York Zoological Park (Bronx Zoo). With his formal education at Columbia combined with his self-taught initiative of field studies, taking his own nature photographs and taxidermy skills, Will was offered the position of Assistant Bird Keeper at the new Zoological Park. But he still had to interview for the job with the Park's imposing Director, William T. Hornaday.

Twenty-two year-old Assistant Curator of Birds Beebe began working at the Park October 16, 1899. He loved riding around on his bicycle which he called his "Wheel."  (The Zoo's Bird House is on the left.)

This period was very hectic, because they were getting ready to open the Park on November 8th of that year. Will was extremely proud of his office in the Bird House and of his new social and financial status. He even had his own employee. He bestowed lavish gifts upon his family and friends; even giving one of his lady friends a pianola. He was very active socially.

Curator of Birds 

Despite misgivings of an over-protective Nettie, on August 6th of 1902, Will married Blair at sunrise at her family's plantation "The Oaks" in Virginia. The wedding announcement was front page news in the New York Times, "Wedded At Sunrise 'Mid Dew-Kissed Lilies."

Word has it that several of the wedding party guests were a tad cranky having to wake up so early for the sunrise ceremony. The article called Blair "one of the most beautiful young women in the state."

They spent their honeymoon in Nova Scotia where they were joined by Blair's new mother-in-law. Back in New York the newly married couple resided in the upstairs floor of Will and Nettie's old apartment; Nettie lived on the bottom floor.

The Bird: It's Form and Function

Blair helped Will by transcribing his articles and a book he was writing about his experiences as a bird keeper at the zoo. When they presented the manuscript to Henry Holt, it was rejected. It would later be published in 1906 as "The Bird: It's Form and Function."

 

On December 17, 1903, Will and Blair went together to Mexico to study and obtain animal specimens for the Zoological Park. They wrote of their account in the book, "Two Bird Lovers in Mexico," which was published in 1905.

"To the woman who is courageous enough to defy the expostulations of her friends and to undertake a camping trip to Mexico, let me say that I congratulate her on having before her one of the most unique and fascinating experiences of her life; that is if she goes in the proper spirit. And the proper spirit is to be interested in everything and to have one's mind firmly made up to ignore small discomforts," she wrote.

 

"What a glorious thing is a cold plunge in early morning in the swift-flowing river near the tent, where the night before the deer drank, and along which all the furtive wild creatures of the night stealthily made their way in the moonlight. Here one feels how good a thing it is to be alive, to be hungry and to eat, to be weary and to sleep."

 

Will wrote, "There is one joy of reading, another of painting, and another of writing, but none to compare with the thrill which comes to one who, loving Nature in all her moods, is about to start on a voyage of discovery to a land familiar in dreams alone."

 

"Pausing a moment, on the narrow summit of the dividing cliff, we watch the dull glow above the crater of the volcano. It is quiet now, after a few days of more than usual activity. Its lurid reflection is the wildest touch in this landscape of black chasms and shadowless plains. A strange cry comes from some bird of the night high overhead, and as we are about to resume our way, a muffled sound comes from the great barranca far to our left,-a sonorous growling roar which rises to a scream,-cut short off. It has been described to us by some American miners, and now we know it instantly for the cry of the jaguar, a sound new to us and setting every nerve a-quiver with love of the wilderness,-above which, afterall, is but slightly 'sicklied o'er' with a veneer of our civilization. Few of us are without this feeling." 

 

 

In the Spring of 1908 the couple also visited Trinidad and Venezuela and co-authored another book, "Our Search For a Wilderness." The book is about  two expeditions they made to Venezuela and British Guiana to study birds and wild creatures. They brought back 40 specimens of 14 species on their first trip, but that wasn't their primary purpose.

They encountered the Hoatzin bird on this trip. The babies have a claw at the end of their wings which helps them climb around branches on their nesting trees (below left). When alarmed, the Hoatzin babies drop into the water from their nests overhanging the water. They then use the claws to climb back up their tree, returning to their nest and safety. They later loose the claws. 

 

 

Quote by Beebe: "Pushing aside the dense growth of Arums and vines, we worked our canoe as far as possible into the heart of the bush, to the foot of some good-sized tree perhaps a foot in diameter. Stepping from the boat to the lowest limb, Milady would hand me the big Graflex with the unwieldy but necessary 27-inch lens, and I began my painful ascent.

At first all was easy going, but as I ascended I broke off numerous dead twigs and from the broken stub of each issued a horde of black stinging ants. These hastened my ascent and at last I made my way out on the swaying upper branches."

On the second trip Blair's hammock broke and she fell seven feet to the ground and broke her wrist. Her reaction: "Oh! We can't get the Hoatzins!"

Beebe on ants: "Until one becomes accustomed to these scenes of carnage the sight is really terrible, especially when one lies down flat and takes an ant's-eye view of the field of battle. Yet such is the fierceness and savage fury on one side and hopeless terror or frantic efforts to escape on the part of the victims that it needs but little imagination to stir deeply one's sympathies.

Blair on her trip: "One realized as never before with what handicaps woman has tried to follow the footsteps of man; with the result that physical exhaustion has robbed her of all the joys of life in the open."

Beebe: "We spent ten days at the Aremu Mine, and it speaks well for the working possibilities of this region that I was able to rise at five o'clock in the morning and with intervals only for means, keep up steady work--exploring, photographing and skinning until ten o'clock at night, when usually the last skin would be rolled up or the last note written. I would then tumble, happy and dead tired, into bed and know nothing until the low signal of our Indian hunter summoned me into the dusk of the following morning. I worked harder than I ought to have done even in our northern countries and yet felt no ill effects."

 

Colonel Anthony Kuser, a wealthy patron of the New York Zoological Society and pheasant enthusiast, offered to sponsor an expedition to study the pheasants of the world. Kuser told the Zoological Society that he wanted William Beebe to head the expedition and for him to publish his findings into a world-class Monograph.

 

It seems that at the time there was no definitive study of pheasants in their natural haunts. Hornaday didn't want to lose his top bird curator and thought that Beebe was well on his way to becoming a first-rate ornithologist. The expedition was supposed to be only four months in duration, but Hornaday realized that the expedition would probably take up to two years and then there would be a year or so in addition that Beebe would spend in researching and writing the monograph.

Hornaday wrote a letter to the society's director, Madison Grant declaring that Beebe, by leaving on the pheasant expedition, was going to throw away his promising ornithologist career. Hornaday told Grant and Osborn that Beebe was just a plaything for the wealthy Kuser and that if Beebe left on the trip, Kuser would be known as the Evil Genius of the park. Hornaday forbid his going and threatened to end his friendly relations with Beebe. Hornaday told Beebe that when he returned, he would no longer have a job and told Grant that he would fill his position with someone else who he could depend on. 

The other society members agreed to allow Beebe to go. And Beebe himself was determined to go. Many letters passed between Hornaday and his staff, but eventually Hornaday conceded. (At left is a view of Hornaday from http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:William_Hornaday.jpg )

When Beebe would later returned as the hero, Hornaday welcomed him back with open arms and Beebe became Honorary Curator of Birds. But Hornaday's protestations were only to Grant and Osborn and he never made public any of his mumblings he made before Beebe left.

On December 26, 1909 Beebe and Blair sailed from New York harbor on board the Lusitania to begin a 17-month-long "Kuser-Beebe" expedition to the Far East. The Beebes traveled about 52,000 miles and visited 22 countries (UK, Egypt, Ceylon, India, Sikkim, Burma, the Yunnan Province in China, the Malay States, Java, Borneo and Japan).

 

In Borneo as they were about to enter the interior, a white settler told Blair to watch out for head-hunters. Apparently, Blair was the first white woman to travel into the interior. In hindsight, they didn't have anything to worry about from the natives who were only to happy to earn money by catching the pheasants and other animals for the Beebe party. The Beebes were even invited to a special native ceremony in their honor. 

 

"They (the dyaks) did not understand the purpose of the expedition," Beebe wrote, "and were at times sorely troubled by the scientific mysteries they were encountering for the first time. They thought it supremely logical to follow a pheasant for hours with the greatest possibly patience and discretion, only to refuse to shoot it once it was within easy range. They considered it a waste of energy to pack so many bugs and pheasants and flowers in big boxes and nail them up securely. But whatever their personal opinion in such matters, it did not at any time interfere with their work."

 

"From high overhead in the tracery of foliage came a low chuckle. Probably no sound in the world could have affected me as that. It meant that somewhere near by was a roosting pheasant. And it was to find this that I had come half round the world. I was to become intimate with these birds that I had traversed the fiery Plains and had penetrated deep into the heart of this wilderness - these Hills of Hills." 

 

After circumnavigating the globe and returning to New York on May 27, 1911, Will wrote, that the trip "left him with a decidedly pessimistic outlook as regards even to the more immediate future of these splendid birds. I realized that even if I repeated the trip at once, there were some which I should not be able to see again." ("The Evolution and Destruction of Life," Scientific American Supplement No. 2234, Oct. 26, 1918).

 

 (Will and Blair view Mount Everest)

 

After the trip, Will traveled with Blair to England, Holland and other countries spending three months of 1912 in Europe researching various museums for the monograph. A mutual friend, Robert Niles, joined them on the trip and Blair spent much time with him while Will was buried in libraries and research.

 

Robert or "Robbie" was an architect and casual photographer. He was the nephew of William White Niles who was a promenant civic leader in New York as well as a member of the Zoological Society's executive committee. But there was to be no "domestic bliss" for the Beebes. After their return from Europe, Will and Blair had domestic problems and tried unsuccessfully to make a go of their marriage.

 

 

When it was released, the result of the Beebe's research became the four-volume set called "A Monograph of the Pheasants." It contains more than a half million words, all typed by Blair after the trip. Only 250 copies of the set were made. The finest nature artists of the time, like Fuertez, Thorburn, Elliot, Gould and others were tasked with illustrating the pheasants in their native habitats. The first volume, published in London, came out in 1918. Publication on the remaining volumes was halted due to World War One.

 

A more popular account of the expedition was later published in 1927 as "Pheasant Jungles," but by then Will had edited the book to make it look like Blair had taken no part in the expedition. Other variations became "Pheasants Their Lives and Homes" which was published in two volumes in 1926 as well as in one volume in 1936. Many years later Dover reprinted the Monograph into four volumes.

In early January of 1913 Blair fled to Nevada to begin a six-month residency requirement for a divorce. It was very bitter and public because of Beebe's celebrity as an author. The front page of the New York Times read "Naturalist Was Cruel."

 

The day after the divorce, Blair married her and Will's once mutual friend and neighbor Robert Niles. She became Blair Niles which she used also as her pen name. She went on to success and fame, writing travel books and articles. Robert took the photographs for the books.

 

Her book "Condemned to Devil's Island" was made into a film, one of the early black and white "talkies." Her articles on the Devil's Island Penal Colony were published as a series in the New York Times.

 

Unfortunately she was one of the many people who lost all of their money in the Stock Market fall of 1929.

 

 

In 1926 Blair helped found of a new exploration club for ladies, the Society of Woman Geographers. At that time in American history, clubs like the Explorer's Club refused admittance to females.

 

According to wikipedia the club was "organized by four friends Gertrude Emerson Sen, Marguerite Harrison, Blair Niles and Gertrude Mathews Shelby, to bring together women interested in geography, world exploration, anthropology and related fields. Membership was restricted to women who had "done distinctive work whereby they have added to the world's store of knowledge concerning the countries on which they have specialized, and have published in magazines or in book form a record of their work." 

 

In 1944 the Society awarded Blair with its Gold medal "for geographic travels and research presented in published novels and non-fiction books, featuring Southeast Asia, Central & South America, and the Caribbean." The Society is still in operation and has approximately 500 members world-wide as well as groups located in Washington, New York, Chicago, Florida, the Bay Area, and Southern California.

 

 

After the pheasant expedition and research in Europe, Will turned his focus to the tropical jungle and became director of the Zoological Park's new Department of Tropical Research.

 

Will continued to write popular books about his journeys and scientific explorations, using royalties to augment funding for research.

 

In January 1916, he established the Park's first field research station, situated in Kalacoon, British Guiana.

 

Despite Hornaday's earlier threats to fire him, Will held the title of Honorary Curator of Birds.

 

In 1917, World War One was going on, and despite being of advanced age, Beebe wrote in "Jungle Peace," that he enrolled with the French Aviation Service. There is some controversy as to what exactly occurred during that time period.

 

Will turned his sights from the jungle to the sea. On his expedition to the Galapagos Islands, he hiked up to a volcano which was erupting and he almost succumbed to the deadly gasses. He wrote about the account in his book, "The Arcturus Adventure." He also wrote about the Galapagos in "Galapagos: World's End."

In 1925 he was on the cover of the "Mentor Magazine." Articles and photographic accounts of his travels were published in popular newspapers and magazines world-wide. It seemed everyone was reading his popular books and wanted to know about the latest "discovery" or "adventure." He was becoming very famous and his every exploits and adventures were avidly followed by the public. Many if not all of his books were translated and published in other languages.

When not adventuring across the globe, Will made extra money by giving public lectures with his own slide shows. He used the money from the lectures and books royalties to help fund his expeditions as the Zoological Park seemed not to provide enough money for his needs.

 

He attracted the attention of a young novelist named Elswyth Thane Ricker (May 16, 1900 – July 1984), who was almost 25 years his junior. (Wikipedia article on Thane: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elswyth_Thane ). She was born in Burlington, Iowa. In 1918 she moved to New York and changed her name from Helen Ricker to Elswyth Thane. She was on the cusp of becoming a famous author in her own right; (later witing the play "Young Mister Disraeli" and other plays and fiction and nonfiction books).

Beebe in Diving Gear ( https://mobile.nytimes.com/slideshow/100000002286226/blogs/lens/2013/06/18/exotic-explorers-venture-from-the-archive/undefined/slideshow/100000002286226/blogs/lens/2013/06/18/exotic-explorers-venture-from-the-archive/s/20130617-lens-expeditions-slide-ETSE.html )

 

 

In 1926 Elswyth Thane had her first fiction novel "Riders of the Wind" published. Apparently not making an effort to conceal a crush on a certain popular older scientist, created the book's main character based on Will. On September 22nd, 1927, on board Harrison Williams' yacht "Warrior," 50-year-old Will married Thane, almost half his age.

 

After several years of marriage, theirs became a marriage of convenience; she preferring to stay and write her books at their farm in Vermont, and Will out traveling for the zoo and hating the cold weather of northeastern United States. She wrote about their relationship in "Reluctant Farmer." (Also called "Stranger in the Hills.").

 

They kept in touch through letters and telegrams; their correspondence mundane and businesslike, but Will always sending her his love at the end of each letter. Each was busy researching their own books; Elswyth often in  Europe, Will off in the jungle or out to sea. Will would often include candid personal photos with his letters as well as instructions on which books he needed or other things an assistant might do. 

 

 

In the late twenties, Will began helmet diving in the ocean and expressed his desire to dive into deeper depths with a deep-sea diving vessel. He spent many expeditions at sea on the Arcturus where he and his crew studied sea life hauled up in trawling nets. Many creatures from the deep depths didn't survive intact when brought to the surface and he always wished he could see the creatures alive in their habitats.

 

Meanwhile a young wealthy Harvard graduate Otis Barton also wanted to explore the deep sea and with his background in engineering, he designed a sphere that might do the trick. But he was afraid to approach the famous Beebe, who was known for turning away people with crazy ideas. A mutual friend arranged a meeting between Will and Otis.

 

 

In late 1928, the two men met in Will's office and the veteran explorer liked the simple design and agreed to test it out. Beebe called Barton's device a Bathysphere. They made several dives with Barton picking up the tab, to the Society's relief.

 

 

On August 15th, 1934 Barton and Beebe made their world record descent to a half a mile (3,028 feet) beneath the surface of the ocean off Nonsuch Island, Bermuda. (Left photo is copyrighted by The National Geographic Society and is used here with its permission.)

 

Will was famous before, but now he was a celebrity. Everyone wanted his autograph. Because of the publicity from the Bathysphere dive, many people call Beebe the "Cousteau of their generation." Other scientists mocked Beebe for his daredevil publicity stunts and his "alleged" deep sea observations while in the Bathysphere.

 

When Will wasn't using the sphere for deep-sea observations, Barton filmed footage for a movie he was producing and directing called "Titans of the Deep." He would send the film camera down in the Bathysphere by itself, hoping to get decent footage for his project.

 
Years later, Barton designed a Benthoscope which he dove solo in August of 1949 to a depth of 4,500 feet, breaking his own and Beebe's previous record.

Earlier in his life, William Beebe had used money from his book royalties to purchase the property of his research station in Bermuda (where the Bathysphere expeditions were based). During World War Two, Bermuda snatched the Beebe estate and built an airport there. However they did receive some money for the estate and in 1949, Beebe used the money to buy another estate, this one located in Trinidad. Beebe called it Simla after the mountain he saw on his Far East pheasant expedition. He later donated the entire estate and surrounding 228 acres of land to the New York Zoological Society. Nearby is a nature center called the Asa Wright Nature Centre. It is a very popular tourist attraction for bird-watchers.

Beebe became very popular and appeared on radio game shows and also was a popular photographic subject. Here is a press release photo of Frank Crilley (Navy diver), "Explorer" submarine designer Simon Lake, William Beebe and Jack Dunbar (diver). Dec 21 1932.

 

 

On July 29, 1952, William Beebe retired from his position as director of the Department of Tropical Research at the age of 75. His replacement, Donald Griffin took over as director. Griffin later married Jocelyn Crane, Beebe's long time faithful assistant and friend. Mrs. Crane-Griffin passed away in December 1998; she was often referred to as the last living link to William Beebe and was extremely protective of any personal information about Will Beebe. When Will became ill, it was Jocelyn Crane who took care of him. 

Fairfield Osborn, then president of the New York Zoological Society and son of Henry Fairfield Osborn (Beebe's teacher and mentor), called William Beebe a "pioneer in the science of ecology" and wrote that Beebe possessed a "searching mind and spirit." 

Beebe died at Simla on June 4, 1962. He is buried in Trinidad. His books continue to be sold and read today. Many come up for sale on the online auction "eBay." (Photo at left copyrighted by The National Geographic Society and is used with its permission.)

Obituary Salute (PDF File) - In Memoriam: Charles William Beebe (with photos) by Lee S. Crandall