The Papers Of Jay J. Tripp
Carnegie Museum Of Natural History Archives
Mollusks
Processed and prepared by Malinda R. Triller, Spring 2006
Collection Number:
2006-2
Title:
Papers of Jay J. Tripp
Inclusive Dates:
1969-2004
Creator:
Jay J. (Jay Jauchius), Tripp, 1923-
Extent: 0.8 linear feet (2 boxes)
Repository:
Carnegie Museum of Natural History Archives
4400 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
Email: cmnhlib@CarnegieMNH.org
Abstract:
Jay J. Tripp is an amateur fossil shell collector who, since approximately 1973, has contributed to the activities of what is now the Section of Mollusks of the Carnegie Museum of Natural
History. She has served as a volunteer, laboratory assistant, curatorial assistant, and research associate. These papers primarily document her research activities, specifically the discovery and description of four new species: Busycon ( Busycotypus ) bicoronatum , Calliostoma
( Tropidotrochus ) jayae , Cassis ketteri , and Siphocypraea trippeana . The collection also contains some materials that relate to the research activities of colleagues in the field and Tripp’s activities in various shell clubs.
Acquisition Information:
This material was donated to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History by Jay J. Tripp in 2005.
Preferred Citation:
The Papers of Jay J. Tripp, Carnegie Museum of Natural History Archives, 2006-2.
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Access Restrictions:
The collections of the museum shall be available for examination and study by any qualified individual under the normal museum security procedures and other special procedures established by the section for the protection of the specific collection.
Copyright:
For information about permission to reproduce or publish, please contact the Museum Librarian, at the address listed above.
Biography:
Jay J. Tripp was born in Rose Farm, Ohio on October 31, 1923. She relocated to Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania at some point in her life and joined the Pittsburgh Shell Club as an amateur collector of fossil shells in approximately 1973. Through her involvement in this organization,
Tripp met fellow Shell Club member Juan J. Parodiz, who also was curator of the Section of
Invertebrates of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Tripp became involved in the
Section’s activities on a volunteer basis and, as early as 1974, is listed in the Museum’s annual report as a donor to the Section’s specimen collection.
In 1976, Tripp became an employee of the Museum, working in the Section of Invertebrates as a laboratory assistant. She held this position until 1981, when, following the retirement of Parodiz, she gained the title curatorial assistant. During this period, Tripp played an important role in maintaining the operations of the Section in the absence of a full-time curator. She represented the Section on the Invertebrate Committee of the Museum, submitted regular reports, and prepared the budget. Throughout her period of employment at the Museum, Tripp contributed significantly to efforts to arrange and catalog the Section’s extensive specimen collection, culminating in 1988 in joint authorship of a catalog with Parodiz, entitled “Types of Mollusca in the Collection of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History.” She also participated in and held leadership positions within a number of organizations, such as the Conchologists of America.
The Section of Invertebrates became the Section of Malacology in 1984, the first of several name changes for that department. In early 1985, shortly after this change, Tripp retired from her position as curatorial assistant, but maintained her relationship with the Museum as a research associate. In this capacity, Tripp continued to pursue her fossil shell hunting interests and to contribute to the Museum’s specimen collection from her new home base in Bradenton, Florida.
The fossil shell hunting efforts of Tripp and her assistant Thomas F. Ketter resulted in the identification of at least four new species: Busycon ( Busycotypus ) bicoronatum , Calliostoma
( Tropidotrochus ) jayae , Cassis ketteri , and Siphocypraea trippeana .
During Tripp’s tenure as a research associate, the Section of Malacology has been renamed twice. In 1985 it was combined with the Section of Entomology to become the Section of
Invertebrate Zoology. In 2002, the Section once again became an independent unit and has been known since that time as the Section of Mollusks. Tripp continues to maintain her affiliation with the Museum as a research associate, although since 2005 she has not actively pursued new research efforts.
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Sources: Abbott, R. Tucker, ed. American Malacologists; A National Register of
Professional and Amateur Malacologists and Private Shell Collectors and
Biographies of Early American Mollusk Workers Born Between 1618 and
1900 . Falls Church, Va.: American Malacologists, 1973.
Carnegie Institute. Carnegie Institute Annual Report . Pittsburgh, Pa.: The
Institute, 1963-1984.
Tripp, Jay J. “Activities Report - Section of Malacology.” In the Carnegie
Museum of Natural History Activities Reports, January-March 1984.
Reference Section. Carnegie Museum of Natural History Archives.
Related Materials:
Related materials can be found in the Records of the Mollusk Department of the Carnegie
Museum of Natural History, Carnegie Museum of Natural History Archives, 2003-14. These records document the administrative history of the department with which Jay J. Tripp worked, as well as the research efforts of colleagues such as Juan J. Parodiz. They contain a small amount of correspondence and research notes pertaining to Tripp’s activities.
Related materials also can be found in the form of the fossil shell specimens donated by Tripp to the Section of Mollusks specimen collection. These items are housed in the Section of Mollusks along with their associated descriptive information.
Bibliography:
A list of all of Jay J. Tripp’s known published works is available and filed with the collection.
This bibliography was compiled using the Zoological Record database, as well as the Papers of
Jay J. Tripp.
Scope and Content Note/Organization of the Collection:
These materials primarily document the research efforts of Jay J. Tripp during her tenure as a volunteer, employee, and research associate of what is now the Section of Mollusks of the
Carnegie Museum of Natural History. The collection also contains some materials that relate to the research activities of colleagues in the field and Tripp’s participation in various shell clubs.
Overall, the materials date from 1969 to 2004. There is very little to be found in this collection pertaining to Tripp’s administrative duties or the routine operation of the Section of Mollusks.
See the Related Materials portion of this guide for more information regarding those aspects of
Tripp’s activities.
These materials are housed in two document boxes and have been arranged into five series:
Correspondence, Articles, Notes, Professional Associations, and Clippings.
Series I: Correspondence, 1976-1996
The Correspondence series includes a small quantity of letters received by Tripp, as well as some duplicates of letters sent by Tripp. The letters date from 1976 to 1996 and reflect primarily research-related exchanges with colleagues in the field, including Terry S. Arnold, William
James Clench, Gijs C. Kronenberg, Juan J. Parodiz, and John E. Rawlins. A small amount of correspondence also documents Tripp’s attempts to gain permission to collect specimens in
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Florida quarries. The letters are arranged in alphabetical order according to correspondent.
Tripp’s organizational scheme within folders has been maintained and generally reflects a descending chronological order.
Series II: Articles, 1969-1992
The Articles series is the largest in the collection and provides the strongest documentation regarding Tripp’s specimen collecting and research activities between 1973 and 1992. In particular, it contains materials relating to four articles describing new species discovered by
Tripp and her assistant, Thomas F. Ketter. These species are: Busycon ( Busycotypus ) bicoronatum , Calliostoma ( Tropidotrochus ) jayae , Cassis ketteri , and Siphocypraea trippeana .
Tripp was the sole author of the piece on Busycon , but, due to the difficulty in gaining access to necessary research materials from her home in Florida, she collaborated with Juan J. Parodiz on the other three descriptions. The articles on Calliostoma ( Tropidotrochus ) jayae and
Siphocypraea trippeana were published under Parodiz’s name, and the article on Cassis ketteri was published under joint authorship.
Series II: Articles, 1969-1992 (cont.)
Tripp generally filed drafts of articles together with supporting materials, so that figures, photographs, peer reviews, and correspondence related to individual research and publication projects are housed together. This system of organization has been maintained, although it is important to note that some loose items, such as notes or correspondence pertaining to these projects, also can be found in the Correspondence and Notes series. In addition, some of the correspondence in the Articles series contains tangential mention of other Museum and personal activities. In particular, the letters found in the files for the articles describing Siphocypraea and
Busycon also include references to the efforts of Parodiz and Tripp to catalog the Museum’s large mollusk specimen collection.
In addition to the four files relating to the descriptions of new species, the Articles series also contains a number of essays written by Tripp for the Pittsburgh Shell Club and Conchologists of
America between 1973 and 1984. These essays include accounts of her shell collecting activities, as well as biographies of fellow shell club members. Tripp also maintained a file for
Parodiz, in which she kept a bibliography of his scientific works, along with samples of essays he had written for a more general audience. In addition, this series also contains a typescript and clipping of an article written by Jean M. Highsmith, with which Tripp assisted.
All of the folders in the Articles series are arranged in alphabetical order according to author, then in chronological order according to date. Tripp’s organizational scheme within folders has been maintained and generally reflects a descending chronological order.
Series III: Notes, 1969-1993
Located in the Notes series are loose notes and reprints that Tripp annotated in the course of her research. These materials arrived loose or in files separate from the more comprehensive files included in the Articles series and therefore are relatively fragmentary in nature. Where it has been possible to determine a probable connection between notes and a particular article, those items have been grouped together according to subject: Busycon ( Busycotypus ) bicoronatum ,
Cassis ketteri , and Siphocypraea trippeana . Any other research materials have been arranged
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under the heading General Notes. The majority of these items are undated, so that materials under each heading are arranged with loose notes first in alphabetical order according to subject, followed by annotated reprints in alphabetical order by author’s last name.
Series IV: Professional Associations, 1990-2004
The Professional Associations series includes a fragmentary record of Tripp’s participation in various organizations between 1990 and 2004. These materials include the history, constitution, and by-laws of the Conchologists of America, as well as membership lists from the Sanibel
Captiva and Sarasota shell clubs. These items are arranged in one folder in alphabetical order according to association, with materials for each group organized in chronological order.
Series V: Clippings, 1969-1991
The Clippings series includes one folder of newspaper clippings pertaining to fellow shell collectors and the discovery of elephant skulls and large snails in Florida. These items were collected by Tripp between 1969-1991 and are organized in chronological order.
Conservation Notes: These items are in good condition.
Container List for the Papers of Jay J. Tripp
Box 1
Series 1: Correspondence, 1976-1996
1. Arnold, Terry S., 1993-1994
2. Clench, William James, 1976-1983
3. Kronenberg, Gijs C., 1994-1995
4. Parodiz, Juan J., circa 1993-1996
5. Rawlins, John E., and rock quarries, regarding fossil hunting, 1992-1996
Series 2: Articles, 1969-1992
Highsmith, Jean M.
6. “Cancellaria Reticulata Fossil? Recent? Or Both?”
Juniona . Typescript and reprint, circa
1991
Parodiz, Juan J.
7. “The Taxa of Fossil Mollusca Introduced by Hermann von Ihering.” Annals of Carnegie
Museum 65 (August 1996): 183-296. Draft, undated
J. J. Parodiz Popular Articles (compilation of photocopies), 1952-1969
Bibliography of scientific publications from 1938-1984, circa 1984
8. “A New Subgenus and New Species of Miocene
Calliostoma (Archaeogastropoda-
Trochidae).”
Annals of Carnegie Museum 46 (September 1977): 101-6. Including figures, drawing, and reprint, 1977
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9. “A New Species of
Siphocypraea (Gastropoda, Cypraeidae) from the Neogene of southwest Florida.” Annals of Carnegie Museum 57 (May 1988): 91-97. Including draft, correspondence, reviews, and notes, 1987-1988
Parodiz, Juan J. and Tripp, Jay J.
10-11. “The Neogene Cassidae of Southern Florida, with Description of a New Species of
Cassis (Gastropoda: Prosobranchia).” Annals of the Carnegie Museum 61
(November 1992): 317-25. Including drafts, correspondence, reviews, and
photographs/negatives, 1991-1992
Tripp, Jay J.
12. Shell club bulletin articles, including typescripts and clippings, 1973-1982
13-14. “A New Species of Fossil Busycon ( Busycotypus ) from the Lower Pliocene
Buckingham Formation of Florida USA Gastropoda Melongenidae.” Annals of
Carnegie Museum 57 (November 1988): 259-266. Including drafts, correspondence, notes, reviews, photographs, and slide, 1985-1988
Series 3: Notes, 1969-1993 *
* Dates in parenthesis indicate the original date of publication for annotated reprints. If the date of Tripp’s annotations is known, it is listed separately at the end of the folder title without parenthesis.
Busycon (Busycotypus) bicoronatum
15. Busycon , Levifusus , Fulgar , loose notes, undated
16. Gardner, Julia, (1944) “The Molluscan Fauna of the Alum Bluff Group of Florida,” containing notes, undated
17. “Plates of
Busycon (Miocene),” (1867) American Journal of Conchology , vol. 3, containing notes, undated
Cassis ketteri
18. Tucker, H. I., and Druid Wilson, (1932) “Some New or Otherwise Interesting Fossils from the Florida Tertiary,” containing notes, undated
Siphocypraea trippeana
19. Olsson, Axel A., and Richard E. Petit, (1968) “Notes on
Siphocypraea
,” containing notes, undated
Box 2
Series 3: Notes, 1969-1993 (cont.)
General Notes
1. Alum Bluff and Jackson Bluff, loose notes, 1987
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Paleocene and Eocene Epochs, loose notes, circa 1986
List of origination of shell names and Latin descriptive words translated by Juan Jóse Parodiz, undated
Maps of malacological provinces and locations of Conus spurius , undated
Family Cardiidae, loose notes, undated
2. Chipola Formation, map, 1993
3. Index to Tulane Studies, loose notes, undated
4. Leptoxis , loose notes
Parodiz, Juan J., and Lise Hennings, (1965) “The Neocorbicula (Mollusca, Pelecypoda) of the Parana-Uruguay Basin, South America,” containing notes, undated
5. Lucina amabilis and Linga (Pleurolucina) leucocyma , loose notes, undated
Photocopy of letter from Richard E. Petit, Myrtle Beach, S.C., to Lyle Campbell,
Spartanberg, S.C., 1987 August 2
6. Purpura , loose notes, undated
7. Mansfield, W. C., (1937) “New Mollusks from the Choctawhatchee Formation of
Florida,” containing notes, undated
Box 2 (cont.)
Series 3: Notes, 1969-1993* (cont.)
* Dates in parenthesis indicate the original date of publication for annotated reprints. If the date of Tripp’s annotations is known, it is listed separately at the end of the folder title without parenthesis.
General Notes (cont.)
8. Petit, Richard E., and Shirley E. Hoerle, (1976) “A New Pinecrest
Cancellariid
(Mollusca: Gastropoda), containing notes, undated
9. Petuch, Edward J., (1987) “A New
Ecphora Fauna from Southern Florida,” containing notes, undated
10. Petuch, Edward J., (1982) “Notes on the Mulluscan Paleocology of the Pinecrest Beds at
Sarasota, Florida…,” containing notes, undated
Photocopy of letter from Norman E. Weisbord, Tallahasee, Fla., to Mary V. Palmer,
Pompano Beach, Fla., 1969 September 5
11. Vokes, Harold E., (1957) “Miocene Fossils of Maryland,” containing notes, undated
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Series 4: Professional Associations, 1990-2004
12. Conchologists of America, draft of 20 th anniversary history, 1990
Conchologists of America, constitution and by-laws, 1992
Fossil hunters network list, circa 1993
Sanibel Captiva Shell Club, officers/chairpersons, 2003-2004
Sarasota Shell Club, membership list, 1998-1999
Series 5: Clippings, 1969-1991
13. Photograph with caption of fossil shell collector Sue Stephens of Sanibel, Fla., undated
“Fist-Sized Snails Infest Area in Miami,” New York Times , 1969 September 28
“African Snail Reappears as Peril to Florida Crops,” New York Times , 1971 September 28
“11 Charities Awash With Shell Gifts,” Miami Herald , 1987 October 7
“UF Researchers Find Skulls of Huge Prehistoric Elephants,” Sarasota Herald-Tribune ,
1991 June 18
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