John Merton Aldrich

Biography John Merton Aldrich was born in Rochester, Minnesota on January 28, 1866. When he was fifteen, he moved with his family to a farm in South Dakota. He enrolled at South Dakota State University and graduated in 1888, one year early because the university president wanted to have a graduating class that year. He studied entomology briefly under Otto Lugger at the University of Minnesota and then started working at the South Dakota State Agricultural Experiment Station with the understanding that he would continue to study entomology in the winter. In 1889 he enrolled at Michigan State University and studied with entomologist Albert J. Cook. Cook suggested that he focus his studies on a single order of insects; Aldrich followed his advice and focused his career on Diptera (flies). In 1891, Aldrich was awarded an M.S. from South Dakota State University.

After the death of Frederick Knab in 1918, Aldrich became the Associate Curator of Insects and the Custodian of Diptera at the United States National Museum in Washington, D.C., a position he held until his death

Later life Aldrich was active in the All Souls Unitarian-Universalist Church in Washington, D.C., where he taught religion classes. He co-founded the Thomas Say Foundation. He served as curator and custodian at the United States National Museum until his death in 1934. His archival collections are held in the Smithsonian Institution Archives. He died suddenly on May 27, 1934. He was buried in Moscow, Idaho.

Works Aldrich, John M. and Carl Robert Osten-Sacken. A catalogue of North American Diptera (or two-winged flies). Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution (1905). Aldrich, John M. "The North American species of parasitic two-winged flies belonging to the genus Phorocera and allied genera." Proceedings of the United States National Museum. 63:2486 (1924): 1-90. Aldrich, John M. "Notes on the Types of American two-winged Flies of the Genus Sarcophaga and a few related Forms described by the early Authors." "Proceedings of the United States National Museum." 78.2855 (1930): 39. Aldrich, John M. and ed. Samuel Wendell Williston. "Dolichopodidae and Phoridae." On the Diptera of St. Vincent. London: Royal Entomological Society of London (1896). Aldrich, John M. Papers on Diptera.. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution (1913). Aldrich, John M. Sarcophaga and allies in North America. Murphey-Bivins Co. Press (1916).