Elsa Guerdrum Allen

Elsa Guerdrum Allen (19 May 1888, Washington, D.C. – 29 January 1969, Utica, New York) was an American ornithologist, lecturer, author and historian of ornithology, known for her 1951 book The History of American Ornithology Before Audubon. Most of her scholarly work dealt with the history of ornithology in North America before 1830.

Education and personal life Elsa Guerdrum was born on 19 May 1888. She was of Scandinavian descent,

She received her B.S. from Cornell University in 1912. In August 1913, she married the ornithologist Arthur A. Allen, whom she usually accompanied on his expeditions. The couple had five children between 1918 and 1927, one of whom proceeded Elsa in death. She died on January 29, 1969.

Career Allen worked at Cornell University's Fuertes Library for several years, and was a research collaborator at the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. Allen also made several recordings of bird calls.

She received a grant from the National Academy of Sciences to write a biographical study of John Abbott, but died before it could be completed.

Works

Articles

(See Jacques le Moyne.) (See Nicolas Denys.)

Books

The History of American Ornithology before Audubon. University of Pennsylvania Press.