Carnegie Museum of Natural History Archives
Vertebrate Paleontology
Papers of Dr. Anthony D. Barnosky
Processed by Bernadette Ulsamer, March 2004
Collection Number:
2004-1
Title:
The Papers of Dr. Anthony D. Barnosky
Inclusive Dates:
1984-1990
Creator:
Dr. Anthony David Barnosky, Assistant Curator of the Vertebrate Paleontology
Department of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History from 1984-1990.
Extent:
5.5 linear feet
Repository:
Carnegie Museum of Natural History Archives
Vertebrate Paleontology Department
4400 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
E-mail contact: cmnhlib@CarnegieMNH.org
Abstract:
The personal papers of Dr. Anthony Barnosky primarily consist of various correspondence files, exhibit notes, specimen invoices, reports, proposals, employee records, purchase orders, and a few drawings and photos. These materials provide a general overview of Dr. Barnosky’s duties as assistant curator for the Vertebrate
Paleontology Department at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. The collection is housed in two boxes.
Acquisition Information:
This material was created in the normal course of business during Dr. Barnosky’s tenure at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History and were left to the discretion of the institution upon his resignation in 1990.
Preferred Citation:
The Papers of Dr. Anthony D. Barnosky, Carnegie Museum of Natural History Archives,
2004-1.
1

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:
Property rights reside with the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. For information about permission to reproduce or publish, please contact Bernadette Callery, Museum
Librarian, at the address listed above.
Biography:
Dr. Anthony David Barnosky was born on July 5, 1952 in Pueblo, Colorado. He received a B.A. in 1974 at Colorado College and a Master’s in 1980 at the Department of
Geosciences of the University of Washington. Dr Barnosky went on to receive a Ph.D. in
1983 with the Department of Geosciences at the University of Washington. He pursued a
Postdoctoral Leverhulme Fellowship during 1983-84 at Trinity College’s Department of
Geology in Dublin, Ireland.
After accepting the position as assistant curator for the Vertebrate Paleontology at the
Carnegie Museum of Natural History in 1982, Dr. Barnosky conducted research on and oversaw the Neogene part of the fossil mammals collections, concentrating on Miocene through Pleistocene, and helped to develop exhibits in geology and paleontology, notably in the Earth Sciences Hall that was constructed during his tenure. Dr. Barnosky also advised students as an adjunct professor in Geology and Planetary Sciences at the
University of Pittsburgh. Major projects that he worked on include: studies of
Pleistocene mammals from Appalachian caves; excavation of what has become the most important fossil site of middle Pleistocene mammals in North America, and perhaps the world, at Porcupine Cave, Colorado; detailing the relationship between Miocene tectonic patterns and faunal evolution in the northern Rocky Mountains resulting in the extensive
Carnegie Museum collection of Miocene mammals from the Hepburn's Mesa site, among others; and, the conducting of field research on Pleistocene mammals in China.
Dr. Barnosky resigned from the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in 1990 to accept a position at the University of California, Berkeley, as an Associate Professor with the
Department of Integrative Biology. Some of his current research is based upon the work he conducted at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History.
Bibliography:
A complete list of Dr. Barnosky’s published work is available online at http://ib.berkeley.edu/labs/barnosky/adbpubs.htm
.
Scope and Content Notes:
The collection has been arranged under two series headings, Administrative and
Curatorial. The Administrative series consists of internal memos, various committee documents, employee records, and financial accounts.
2

The Curatorial series includes notes on exhibitions, grant applications, specimen documents and correspondence from colleagues around the country. Dr. Barnosky organized his general correspondence by the name of the sender and filed copies of his responses with the letters received. This filing practice has been maintained, as have instances where documents other than correspondence were attached to a letter. The handwritten notes found in the Dr. Barnosky’s correspondence, have been arranged alphabetically by the name signed to the letter. If no last name was written, the letter has been filed under the first name.
Approximately one-fourth of Dr. Barnosky’s letters are also addressed to, or mention, his wife Cathy Whitlock Barnosky, Assistant Curator of Paleobotany 1984-1990, Associate
Curator of Paleobotany, 1990, Research Associate, Paleobotany 1994-present. They collaborated on several grant proposals included in this collection. For material dealing specifically with the research of Cathy Whitlock Barnosky, see the separate collection, the Papers of Cathy Whitlock Barnosky, Carnegie Museum of Natural History.
When leaving the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Dr. Barnosky retained his research notes and any drafts of published work he had completed during his tenure.
Organization of the Collection:
Box Number One—Curatorial Series
Correspondence Files-Alphabetical by Correspondent
File Folder #1 William Akersten—Tim Dwyer
#2 Gordon Edmund—Russell Graham
#3 Don Grayson—Rita Kuger
#4 Bruce Landor—Michael Nelson
#5 Ralph Nichols—Robert Purdy
#6 Donald Rasmussen—Charles Repenning
#7 Charles Repenning
#8 Greg Retallack—Barney Szabo
#9 Alan Tabrum— H.E. Wright
Exhibits/Curatorial Activities
File Folder #10 Curatoral Meeting Minutes 2/1/1988—9/26/1988
#11 Mastodon Exhibit 1988
#12 Irish Quaternary Exhibit 1984-1985
#13 General Notes
#14 Loans, Exchanges 12/12/1984-1/27/1989
#15 Accessions by date 1984-1991
#16 Miscellaneous Specimen Catalog
3

Grant Proposals and Reports by date.
Co-investigators at the Carnegie Museum include Cathy Barnosky, Mary Dawson,
Leonard Krishtalka, Richard Stucky, Robert West
File Folder
#17 1984—1985; National Science Foundation, National Geographic
Society, University of Minnesota, Erna and Victor Hasselblad Foundation,
Center for Field Research (Earthwatch)
#18 5/1/1986; National Science Foundation
#19 6/1/1986; National Science Foundation
#20 9/1986-10/1986; Visiting Scholar Exchange Program, M. Graham
Netting Fund
#21 1987; National Science Foundation, National Aeronautics and Space
Administration. Relating to the establishment of a Center for
Ecosystem Evolution and Earth Dynamics (CEED)
#22 1987; National Geographic Society, including reviews of the Carnegie
Museum of Natural History’s paleobotanical collections by staff of the
National Museum of Natural History (Smithsonian Institution), Yale
University, University of Dublin and the U.S. Department of the Interior,
Geological Survey, Edward O’Neil Fund
#23 1988; National Science Foundation
#24 5/25/1989; National Science Foundation, National Geographic
Society
#25 5/30/1989-12/1989; National Science Foundation, National Geology
Society, M. Graham Netting Fund
#26 1/1/1990-5/22/1991; National Science Foundation
Box Number Two—Administrative Series
Carnegie Museum of Natural History Committees/Planning
File Folder #1 Long Range Planning 1/24/1985; includes a copy of the 1985 “A consultant report to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History” by R. Rich, B.
McCaffrey, B. Tobin.
#2 Public Relations/Volunteering 3/19/1985—7/23/1986
#3 Publications Committee 1986
Carnegie Museum of Natural History Personnel and Advising Records
File Folder #4 Liz Hadly, 4/1989-9/1990 and Wayne Labar, 2/1987—6/1988
#5 Kurt Pfaff, 4/1986-5/1987 and Brian Sherod, 1988-1989
#6 R. Souza, 1988 and Dale Winters, 1989
#7 General Work Study 1987
Carnegie Museum of Natural History Miscellaneous Memos by Date
File Folder #8 10/1984-5/18/1987
#9 5/20/1987-9/1988
#10 10/1988-4/1989
#11 5/1989-12/1990
4

Carnegie Museum of Natural History Financial Records
File Folder #12 Field Expenses—Chalk Cliffs 1986
Carnegie Museum of Natural History Purchase Orders by Date
Folder #13 1984-1986
#14 1987
#15 1988
#16 1989
#17 1990
Carnegie Museum of Natural History Departmental Account Files
File Folder #18 Acc # 4320 Net Quaternary Paleoecology, 1986-1987
#19 Acc # 4327 Net Pleistocene Mante, 1988
#20 Acc # 4389 Guilday Fund, 1987-1989
#21 Acc # 4506 Quaternary Evolution, 1985-1986
#22 Acc # 4533 Barstovian Mammals, 1988
#23 Truck Account and Exxon Receipts, 1986-1988
#24 Account Report, 1990
5