H. C. (Harry Crécy) Yarrow

Born in Philadelphia in 1840, Harry Crécy Yarrow studied in Pennsylvania and Geneva before earning his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1861. At the start of the Civil War, he entered military medical service and worked in several hospital and army posts, building the practical medical experience that shaped much of his later career.

In the 1870s, his interests widened into natural history. He joined surveys of the American West as a surgeon and naturalist, collecting specimens and contributing to ornithology, herpetology, and ichthyology. He also served with the U.S. Fish Commission and became the first Curator of Reptiles at the National Museum, linking his name closely with early Smithsonian science.

Yarrow also wrote on anthropology and ethnography, most notably on the mortuary customs of North American Indigenous peoples. Later, he worked on the great medical bibliography project of the Surgeon General's Library, helping prepare the massive Index-Catalogue. His career stands out for its unusual range: physician, military surgeon, museum scientist, and author all in one life.