author
Alexander Wetmore
1886–1978
A leading American ornithologist, he spent decades studying birds in the field and helped shape how scientists classified them. He also guided the Smithsonian Institution as its sixth Secretary.
1 Audiobook
Canaries : their care and management
by Alexander Wetmore
About the author
Born in Wisconsin in 1886, Alexander Wetmore became one of the best-known bird scientists of the twentieth century. He studied at the University of Kansas and George Washington University, and his work ranged from living birds to fossil species, with a strong focus on anatomy, migration, and classification.
Wetmore worked for the U.S. Biological Survey before joining the Smithsonian, where he later served as the institution’s sixth Secretary from 1945 to 1952. Even while holding major administrative roles, he continued active research and fieldwork, especially in the Americas.
He is remembered as a major figure in ornithology and avian paleontology, as well as a careful taxonomist whose writing influenced bird study for many years. Wetmore died in 1978, leaving behind a long career that connected museum science, conservation, and life in the field.