Samuel N. (Samuel Nicholson) Rhoads

Born in Philadelphia in 1862, Samuel Nicholson Rhoads became known as an American naturalist, ornithologist, and mammalogist. Archival records also describe him as a book dealer and businessman, and note that his papers preserve journals from expeditions filled with natural history observations.

Rhoads wrote especially about the local fauna of birds and mammals. He is closely associated with studies of the wildlife of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, including The Mammals of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, a substantial work on the region’s fur-bearing animals and their history.

He died in 1952. Although he is not widely read today outside specialist circles, his field notes, correspondence, and regional studies remain useful to historians of science and to readers interested in early American zoology and ornithology.