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Raymond J. Middleton bird banding papers
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Held at: John James Audubon Center at Mill Grove [Contact Us]1201 Pawlings Road, Audubon, PA, 19403
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the John James Audubon Center at Mill Grove. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
Raymond J. Middleton (1898-1980) was a well-known naturalist, conservationist, and civic leader of West Norriton, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. He was engaged in bird banding for over 40 years, and at the time of his death possessed the oldest bird banding permit in America. He banded an estimated 57,000 birds which were sighted in some 20 states of the US and two provinces of Canada. Middleton had a perfect attendance record at the Audubon Club of Norristown for over 50 years, and served as its president for 38 consecutive terms. He held memberships in many Audubon chapters and ornithological clubs.
Aside from his passion for ornithology, Middleton was also civically engaged. He served as a member of the West Norriton School Board for 30 years, was a member of the Montgomery County Park Board, and received awards from the Exchange Club of West Norriton and the 4-H Clubs of Montgomery County.
Bibliography:
"Raymond J. Middleton Sr., Naturalist, Civic Leader, Dies." Norristown Times Herald January 28, 1980.
At the core of this collection are seven of Middleton's bird banding journals, circa 1928-1979. The journals are very orderly, with entries organized by bird and date. There is also a quantity of form-letter correspondence with the United States Department of the Interior regarding banded birds data, 1951-1976--these letters give information about other sightings of the birds Middleton tagged. Rounding out the collection are additional correspondence with various other bird banding associations, and reprints of an ornithology article by Middleton (1969).
Gift from William Pepper with permission of Mrs. Middleton, August 28, 1980.
Summary descriptive information on this collection was compiled in 2011-2012 as part of a pilot project conducted by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania to make better known and more accessible the largely hidden collections of small, primarily volunteer run repositories in the Philadelphia area. The Hidden Collections Initiative for Pennsylvania Small Archival Repositories (HCI-PSAR) received a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
This is a preliminary finding aid. No physical processing, rehousing, reorganizing, or folder listing was accomplished during the HCI-PSAR project.
In some cases, more detailed inventories or finding aids may be available on-site at the repository where this collection is held; please contact John James Audubon Center at Mill Grove directly for more information.
People
Organization
Subject
Place
- Publisher
- John James Audubon Center at Mill Grove
- Finding Aid Author
- Finding aid prepared by Celia Caust-Ellenbogen and Michael Gubicza through the Historical Society of Pennsylvania's Hidden Collections Initiative for Pennsylvania Small Archival Repositories
- Sponsor
- This preliminary finding aid was created as part of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania's Hidden Collections Initiative for Pennsylvania Small Archival Repositories. The HCI-PSAR project was made possible by a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
- Access Restrictions
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Contact John James Audubon Center at Mill Grove for information about accessing this collection.