author
Francis Kermode
b. 1874
Best remembered today as the namesake of the rare white Kermode bear, he helped shape the early British Columbia Provincial Museum and spent decades collecting and studying the natural history of the province.
1 Audiobook
Catalogue of British Columbia Birds
by Francis Kermode
About the author
Born in 1874, Francis Kermode was a naturalist and museum leader closely associated with the early British Columbia Provincial Museum, now the Royal BC Museum. The museum describes him as its director in the early 1900s, and records in its collections show him working as an active collector in the field across British Columbia.
Kermode is most often remembered because the white-coated form of the black bear was named Ursus kermodei in his honour. A Royal BC Museum page notes that in 1905 William Hornaday named the animal after him, and later museum material still highlights him as the bear's namesake.
Although he is not widely known as a literary author, he did leave a place in print through scientific and museum work connected with British Columbia's wildlife. For readers interested in early natural history, his story offers a glimpse of the collectors and curators who helped build public museums and document the region's animals.