Marine Biological Hall Of Distinction: Mary Jane Rathbun
- The Persaud Catalog
- Jan 25
- 4 min read
This article is part of our Marine Hall of Distinction collection. In this special collection, we discuss the marine biologists who have contributed most to marine biology & oceanography. We do this to commemorate these marine biologists & show gratitude for everything they have contributed to our oceans. Today's marine scientist is Mary Jane Rathbun.
Mary Jane Rathbun was the nation’s first female carcinologist, & one of the most esteemed marine scientists of all time. She is well known for her groundbreaking work with crustaceans, & discovery of over 1,166 species.
In today’s article, we will delve into her formative years & education, her personal life & career, as well as her achievements, awards, & accomplishments. With that being said, let’s plunge into the captivating world of crustaceans!
Her Formative Years & Education
Mary J. Rathbun was born on June 11th, 1860 in Buffalo, New York. Her father, Charles Rathbun, was a descendant of a lineage of enterprising stone masons that immigrated from England during the early 1600's. He owned several quarries & was extremely successful as the city of Buffalo built much infrastructure around this time, causing an increased demand for stone. His house, the house Mary J. Rathbun was born & spent her childhood in, was built with this same stone.
She attended Buffalo public schools for her primary education, & was said to be gifted in reading, writing, & arithmetic. During her secondary education at a Central School, she focused her studies on English, & spent her 4 years focused on literature, & writing. For her efforts, she was named a Star Scholar each year at the institution, & awarded the Jesse Ketchum Gold Medal, First Class, for excellence in English. She later attributed much of her success to this rigorous study of English during her early years. She graduated in 1878, the same year the phonograph was invented.
She did not attend any university, or college to further her education.
Her Personal Life & Career
Her foray into the field of marine science began in 1881, when she accompanied her brother, Richard Rathbun, to the United States Commission of Fish, in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. At this time, he was employed as a scientific assistant under A. E. Verrill, a professor with the prestigious Yale University. A. E. Verill was working with the invertebrate marine fauna collection that was slowly being accumulated at the United States Commission of Fish.
One of his fellow scientific assistants, Professor S. I. Smith, was a scholar on crustacea, & was working on a variety of papers on the subject. Rathbun assisted in labelling, recording, & sorting the crustacean specimens, & realized how fascinating they were. As such, from this point onward, she dedicated her life to the study of crustaceans. She was so devoted to her craft, that from 1881 to 1884, she worked with her brother voluntarily, without payment.
For her dedication, she earned a clerkship in 1886, provided by Dr. Spencer Baird, who was the Head of the Smithsonian, & the Commissioner of the United States Commission of Fish. This clerkship saw her transferred to the National Museum's Department of Marine Invertebrates, as a "copyist". In this department, she worked in record-keeping, & organized the new collection of marine invertebrates being given by the Commission. In this position, she worked mostly in isolation, as the budget at the time could not make allowances for extra invertebrate personnel. Although her brother was the formal curator, she was responsible for the care of collections, record-keeping, reports, & catalog-entries. After 28 years of working with the museum, she was formally promoted to Assistant Curator. Many of the systems she implemented in this role are still used to this day.
Mary Jane Rathbun formally retired in 1914. Unfortunately, she passed away on April 13th, 1943, at the age of 83. Her contributions to marine science were monumental, & her work will not be forgotten.
In the words of Waldo L. Schmitt; "She was a remarkably gifted person. A small, neat woman, no more than four & a half feet in height, with plain, strong features, in conversation a most interesting & engaging personality, with a dry sense of humour, unobtrusively well endowed with the familial traits that had brought success to the men of her family — innate ability, originality of thought, initiative, & enterprise, assured the success she herself achieved within the field of carcinology." He is also quoted as remarking, "Words alone do not suffice express adequately my high regard for Miss Rathbun and her works, published or otherwise, my gratitude for all that she did for me, & my respect for her as a woman & a scientist."
Her Achievements, Awards, & Accomplishments
She published approximately 166 papers or publications across her career.
She discovered approximately 1,147 species across her career, along with a superfamily, 3 families, a subfamily, & 63 genera.
Directories / Credits
No. 1: “Mary Jane Rathbun: All Hail the Crustacean Queen!”, Written by Heather Soulen, & Published on March 25th, 2021. Published by the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration.
No. 2: “Mary J. Rathbun”, Written by Waldo L. Schmitt, & Published on June 21st, 1971. Published by the National History Museum.
No. 3: “Record Unit 7256”, Compiled by Unknown, & Published at an Unknown Date. Published by the Smithsonian Institution.
No. 4: “Rathbun, Mary Jane (1860-1943)”, Written by Lucile McCain, & Waldo L Schmitt, & Published in 1973. Published by Harvard University.
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