E. G. (Elizabeth Gifford) Peckham

Born in Milwaukee in 1854, Elizabeth Gifford Peckham was an American teacher, entomologist, arachnologist, and writer. She is best known for her research on animal behavior and for studies of jumping spiders and wasps that became important early contributions to ethology.

She worked closely with her husband, George W. Peckham, and together they published widely on spiders and insects. Their writing combined scientific detail with accessible observation, which helps explain why her books still circulate in natural history collections and public-domain libraries.

Beyond her scientific work, Peckham was also active in public life in Wisconsin. She died in 1940, but her name remains closely linked with a formative period in American natural history, when patient field study was helping reshape how people understood animal behavior.