Sophonisba Angusciola Peale Sellers

Sophonisba Angusciola (Peale) Sellers (April 24, 1786 – October 26, 1859), known by the nickname "Sopy," was an early American ornithologist and artist. She was also a noted quilt-maker and a surviving example of her work is preserved in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. She is recognized as the first woman in America to collect and prepare bird specimens for scientific study. She was named after the Italian Renaissance painter Sophonisba Angusciola (1532–1625). Sellers and her father remained in the city and worked on renovations to the museum. Yellow fever had been an ongoing problem in Philadelphia since 1793. During the 1803 outbreak, Sellers worked for several months, copying Latin binomials (following the Linnaean system), English, and French common names from a handwritten "Book Catalogue", which had been prepared in 1795–1797 by Palisot de Beauvois, onto wooden frames, which were then attached to the glass cases containing the mounted birds. On August 7, 1803, Charles wrote to his sons again: The Museum will now in a short time have the Catalogue in frames over each Box — Sophonisba has advanced so far, that I have now Taken out of the Room the Book Catalogue. Shortly after Sellers completed her "Catalogue in frames," Charles printed a summary of the bird collection in a pamphlet entitled A Guide to the Philadelphia Museum:There are now in this collection, perhaps all the birds belonging to the Middle, many of which likewise belong to the Northern and Southern States, and a considerable number from South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, New Holland, and the recently discovered islands of the South Seas. The number exceeds 760 [specimens] without the admission of any duplicates, contained in 140 cases.

Personal life Sophonisba Angusciola Peale married Coleman Sellers (1781–1834), an engineer and inventor, in 1805. They had two daughters and four sons, including George Escol Sellers (1808–1899) and Coleman Sellers II (1827–1907).

Death Sophonisba Angusciola (Peale) Sellers died in Upper Darby Township, Pennsylvania, on October 26, 1859, at the age of 73. She was buried in a family plot in New Jerusalem Burial Ground in Upper Darby, and her remains were later moved to West Laurel Hill Cemetery, Bala Cynwyd, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, US.