Althea Sherman

Althea Rosina Sherman (1853 – 1943) was an American illustrator, educator, self-taught ornithologist, and writer who commissioned the building of the "Chimney Swifts' Tower" in Clayton County, Iowa. This structure enabled her to observe and report on the life cycle of chimney swifts, the first to complete such investigations. She published more than 70 articles in scientific and ornithological journals during her career. Sherman was elected as a member of the American Ornithologists' Union and was listed in the third edition of American Men of Science. Additionally, her work as an illustrator, particularly of the American goldfinch, inspired the Iowa General Assembly to adopt the American goldfinch as the Iowa state bird.

Because she was self-taught in her field of expertise, Sherman was an example of an autodidact.

Early life and education Sherman was born in Farmersburg Township, Clayton County, Iowa, to parents Mark Bachelor Sherman and Melissa Sherman (née Clark). She was the fourth of six children in the family. Her father was a self-taught leather tanner and shoe maker, working in New York State and then in Wisconsin. Once these trades were widely adapted by large factories, Mark Sherman became a farmer, making success of farm in Farmersburg Township, Iowa, which he acquired through a land grant after the Mexican-American War. Even though his daughter Althea Sherman later lamented in her writings about the decline of animal and plant life due to habitat loss from agricultural development, her father's farm income financed her education and supported her in her later life as she conducted ornithological research. Althea Sherman (left) with her sister Dr. Amelia Sherman on the front porch of their family home, 1923. Sherman and her two older sisters, Amelia Sherman and Ada Sherman, travelled 40 miles from home to attend a college preparatory academy at Upper Iowa University. All three sisters subsequently enrolled at Oberlin College. Sherman's sisters both pursued courses for a career in medicine, but Althea Sherman continued to pursue the study of art. At Oberlin College, Sherman pursued the classical course of art study, as opposed to the literary course of study. She later attributed a part of her scientific success to her studies of Greek, Latin, and the arts, especially illustration. Sherman studied at the Art Institute of Chicago. She later returned to Oberlin College to complete a master's degree in art in 1882. Prior to Sherman's time, biologists frequently sacrificed birds to examine them morphologically. Instead, Sherman pioneered the study of bird behavior, focusing on the observation of birds in their native habitats. Early in her investigations, she set up an observation facility near her home which she called her "Acre of Birds." There, Sherman included natural cavities in trees for nesting sites, as well as birdhouses, nesting platforms, and brush piles. Her birdhouses were constructed with holes for viewing the birds and for reaching in to evaluate the development of the nestlings. From her home in Iowa, Sherman followed the scholarly literature in ornithology and became a member of 15 scientific or ornithological societies.

Photograph of Althea Sherman from History of Clayton County, Iowa (1916) by Realto E. Price. Some ornithologists believed that Sherman was being inappropriately judgmental of house wrens. Many people provided bird boxes for house wrens to nest. Since these birds prey on other birds, Sherman contended the practice of providing bird boxes gave house wrens an unfair competitive advantage in the wild. This debate is sometimes known as "The Great Wren Debate" and has continued well into the 21st century.

Sherman's publications early in her career reported on observations of bird behavior, while later publications included more extensive interpretations. Over the course of her career, she served as a mentor for ornithologist Margaret Morse Nice, who was 30 years younger than Sherman. Sherman and Nice corresponded frequently, with Sherman at times offering advice and suggestions.

As a self-taught ornithologist who mostly used a home-crafted outdoor observation facility for her investigations, Sherman mostly avoided the gender discrimination in scientific circles that was common at the time.

Sherman died at age 89 prior to her publication of a book summarizing her chimney swift data. However, Fred J. Pierce published Sherman's book Birds of an Iowa Dooryard posthumously, with publication limited to 1500 copies. Sherman's ornithological publications formed a part of ornithologist Arthur Cleveland Bent's treatise Life Histories of North American Birds.

Representative publications Sherman, Althea R. “The Nest Life of the Sparrow Hawk.” The Auk, vol. 30, no. 3, American Ornithological Society, 1913, pp. 406–18. Sherman, Althea R. “The Old Ornithology and the New.” The Wilson Bulletin, vol. 42, no. 1, Wilson Ornithological Society, 1930, pp. 3–10. Sherman, Althea R. “Birds by the Wayside, in Europe, Asia, and Africa.” The Wilson Bulletin, vol. 27, no. 1, 1915, pp. 243–71.