Edmund Jaeger

Edmund C. Jaeger
Born	January 28, 1887 Loup City, Nebraska
Died	August 2, 1983 (aged 96) Riverside, California
Resting place	Edmund Jaeger Nature Sanctuary Chuckwalla Mountains (ashes scattered) 33°41′13″N 115°26′39″W / 33.68696°N 115.44415°W
Citizenship	American
Fields	Biology
Institutions	Riverside City College Riverside Municipal Museum
Alma mater	Occidental College
Known for	Hibernation of common poorwill
Influences	Lawrence Bruner J. Smeaton Chase T. D. A. Cockerell Carl Eytel John H. Kellogg Marcus E. Jones David S. Jordan Willis L. Jepson John Muir Walter T. Swingle
Influenced	David D. Keck
Notable awards	Honorary Doctor of Science, Occidental College (1953) Phi Beta Kappa, Occidental College Chapter (1962) Professor Emeritus, Riverside City College (1965) Honorary Doctor of Laws, University of California, Riverside (1967) Member, University of California Chapter of Sigma Xi (1966) [1]^:216,378,397,404,406
Author abbrev. (botany)	E.Jaeger[2]

Edmund Jaeger documented a state of near-hibernation in the common poorwill.

Edmund Carroll Jaeger, D.Sc.,^[1] (January 28, 1887 – August 2, 1983) was an American biologist known for his works on desert ecology. He was born in Loup City, Nebraska to Katherine (née Gunther) and John Philip Jaeger,^{[3]:V.I,p.159} and moved to Riverside, California in 1906 with his family.^[4] He was the first to document, in The Condor,^[5] a state of extended torpor, approaching hibernation, in a bird, the common poorwill.^[6] He also described this in the National Geographic Magazine.^[7]

Life

Jaeger first attended the newly relocated Occidental College in Eagle Rock, Los Angeles (in 1914), but moved to Palm Springs in 1915, where he taught at the one-room schoolhouse. At Palm Springs he met artist Carl Eytel,^[8]:168–71 and authors J. Smeaton Chase^[8] and Charles Francis Saunders.^[8][9] These men formed what University of Arizona Professor Peter Wild called a "Creative Brotherhood"^[3] that lived in Palm Springs in the early 20th century. Other Brotherhood members included cartoonist and painter Jimmy Swinnerton,^[8] author George Wharton James,^[8] and photographers Fred Clatsworthy^[8][10] and Stephen H. Willard.^[8] The men lived near each other (like Jaeger, Eytel built his own cabin),^[11] traveled together throughout the Southwest, helped with each other's works, and exchanged photographs which appeared in their various books.^[3] He then returned to Occidental to complete his degree in 1918 and started teaching at Riverside Junior College. Retiring from teaching after 30 years, he worked the Riverside Municipal Museum^[12] in Riverside. During all these years Jaeger used his Palm Springs cabin for his research trips across the desert. Throughout his career he wrote many popular nature books and became known as the "dean of the California deserts".^[13][14]

Works

Books

(Listed in order of first publication.)

• The Mountain Trees of Southern California: a Simple Guide-book for Tree Lovers (first as 1919 and 1920 ed.). Nabu Press. 2010. p. 132. ISBN 978-1-177-05523-9. OCLC 8666171. Carl Eytel...furnished the sketches of the mountain animals.
• Denizens of the Desert: A Book of Southwestern Mammals, Birds, and Reptiles. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Co. 1922. p. 299. OCLC 1459267.
• A Preliminary Report on the Flora of the Charleston Mountains of Nevada. Occasional papers of Riverside Junior College., v. 1, no. 1. Riverside, CA: The Junior College. 1927. p. 15. OCLC 5663721.
• Birds of the Charleston Mountains of Nevada. Occasional papers of Riverside Junior College., v. 2, no. 1. Riverside, CA: The Junior College. 1927. p. 8. OCLC 16016140.
• Denizens of the Mountains. Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas. 1929. p. 168. ASIN B00085C1KE. OCLC 716567.
• A Dictionary of Greek and Latin Combining Forms used in Zoological Names (revised and enlarged from 1930 ed.). Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas. 1931. ASIN B002AQF1BU. OCLC 10567568.
• The California Deserts: A Visitor's Handbook (also 1933, 1938, 1955 ed.). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. 1965. p. 220. ISBN 978-0-8047-1223-1. OCLC 716807042. (Samuel Stillman Berry and Malcom Jennings Rogers contributed chapters)
• Desert Wild Flowers. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. 1978 [1940]. ISBN 978-0-8047-0365-9. OCLC 631689191.
• A Source-book of Biological Names and Terms (3rd ed.). Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas. 1978 [1944]. p. 323. ISBN 978-0-398-06179-1. OCLC 1524400. (illustrations by Merle Gish and the author)^[15]
• Our Desert Neighbors. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. 1950. p. 329. ASIN B0006ASPF6. ISBN 978-1-121-35775-4. OCLC 1436846.
• A Source-book of Medical Terms. Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas. 1953. ASIN B000L3JHR8. OCLC 14670855. (Irvine H. Page was a co-author)
• The Desert in Pictures. Palm Springs, CA: Palm Springs Museum. 1955. p. 42. OCLC 9932064. (editor)
• A Naturalist's Death Valley (5th ed.). Palm Desert, CA: Death Valley '49ers, Inc. 1979 [1957]. p. 70. ASIN B0007FK6VQ. OCLC 6573909.
• The North American Deserts. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. 1957. p. 320. ISBN 978-0-8047-0498-4. OCLC 630598569. (Peveril Meigs contributed a chapter; illustrations by John D. Briggs, Lloyd Mason Smith, Morris Van Dame, and Jaeger )
• The Biologist's Handbook of Pronunciations (first in 1960 ed.). Charleston, SC: Nabu Press. 2011. p. 340. ISBN 978-1-175-76453-9. OCLC 310096649. (illustrations by Morris Van Dame and Jaeger)
• Desert Wildlife (revised and enlarged of 1950 Our Desert Neighbors ed.). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. 1961. p. 320. ISBN 978-0-8047-0124-2. OCLC 637075718.
• Introduction to the Natural History of Southern California (first as 1966 ed.). University of California Press. 1977. p. 104. ISBN 978-0-520-03245-3. OCLC 22526487. (Arthur Clayton Smith was a co-author; illustrations by Gene M. Christman)

Articles

Jaeger contributed to over 25 magazines and journals^{[1]:443–454} including:

• The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald
• The Auk
• Cactus and Succulent Journal
• Calico Print
• The Condor
• Desert Magazine
• Fremontia
• Journal of Mammalogy
• National Geographic Magazine
• Pacific Union Recorder
• St. Nicholas Magazine
• The Youth's Instructor

History of Palm Springs

• "Art in a Desert Cabin". Desert Magazine. 11 (11): 15–19. September 1948.
• "Forgotten Trails". Palm Springs Villager. 4 (2): 12–13, 28. September 1949.
• "Monk of Palm Springs". Palm Springs Villager. 4 (6): 22. January 1950.
• "From Cheese to Cash". Palm Springs Villager. 5 (87): 18–19, 38. February 1951.
• "I Well Remember J. Smeaton Chase". Palm Springs Villager. 6 (8): 54–56, 58. March 1952.
• "Tall Tales from Old Palm Springs". Palm Springs Villager. 6 (11): 14, 33. June 1952.

Archives of Jaeger's work

• Much of Jaeger's original work is archived at the University of California, Riverside, Library Special Collections.^[16]
• Also see: Manuscripts and correspondence, OCLC 44935014 (Summary: biographical material, list of publications, newspapers articles and correspondence of Edmund C. Jaeger, Head of the Zoology Dept. at Riverside City College. 358 items in one box)

Honors

• The "Edmund C. Jaeger Desert Institute" on the Moreno Valley College (MVC) of the Riverside Community College District is named in his honor.^[17] MCV also offers an "Edmund C. Jaeger Endowed Scholarship".^[18]
• In 1986 The Nature Conservancy completed development^[19] of the "Edmund C. Jaeger Nature Sanctuary" in the Chuckwalla Mountains near Desert Center, California.^[20] It was in the Chuckwalla Mountains that Jaeger discovered the poorwill, and after his death in 1983, his cremated remains were scattered in the same canyon.^[21]
• The University of La Verne of La Verne, California, maintains a small museum dedicated to Jaeger.^[22]
• Pacific Union College of Angwin, California, annually presents an "Edmund C. Jaeger Award" in biology^[23] and "Dr. Edmund C. Jaeger Scholarship Grant" in education^[24] to deserving students.
• Designated as a Fellow of the California Native Plant Society in 1976.^[25]
• Received the Auld Lang Syne Award from Occidental College in 1982.^[26]

Patronyms

Some 28 patronyms of Jaeger have been made,^{[1]:234–238} including:

Angiospermae (flowering plants) Monocotyledon (single cotyledon (seed-leaf)) Yucca brevifolia – subspecies jaegeriana (the Jaeger Joshua tree) Dicotyledons (two cotyledons (seed-leaves)) Astragalus jaegerianus (Lane Mountain milkvetch) Astragalus pachypus – variety jaegeri (Jaeger's bush milkvetch) Caulostramina jaegeri – synonyms: Thelypodium jaegeri and Hesperidanthus jaegeri (cliffdweller) Draba jaegeri (a variety of whitlow-grass) Eriogonum nodosum – variety jaegeri (wild buckwheat) Eriogonum plumatella – variety jaegeri (yucca buckwheat) Euphorbia jaegeri (Orocopia Mountain spurge)[27] Gilia jaegeri (gilia) Helianthus jaegeri – synonym Helianthus annuus – subspecies jaegeri (sunflower) Ivesia jaegeri (Jaeger's mousetail or Jaeger's ivesia) Lupinus jaegerianus (lupin or lupines) Penstemon thompsoniae – subspecies jaegeri (Jaeger's beardtongue) Phacelia perityloides – subspecies jaegeri (Panamint Phacelia) Potentilla jaegeri (a typical cinquefoil) Ribes nevadense – variety jaegeri (Sierra currant and mountain pink currant) Sisymbrium diffusus – subspecies jaegeri (mustard family)

Insecta Hemiptera (true bugs) Nidicola jaegeri (minute pirate bugs or flower bugs) Triatoma rubida jaegeri (a type of assassin bug) Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies) Schinia jaegeri – synonym Chlorocleptria jaegeri (moth) Diplopoda (millipedes) Gosichelus jaegeri Onychelus jaegeri Mollusca Pulmonata (land snails) Helminthoglypta jaegeri Oreohelix handi jaegeri

• Patronyms
• 
  Ivesia jaergi (Jaeger's mousetail or Jaeger's ivesia)
• 
  Caulostramina jaegeri (cliffdweller)
• 
  Astragalus jaegerianus (Lane Mountain milkvetch)
• 
  Penstemon thomsoniae subspecies jaegeri (Jaeger's beardtongue)
• 
  Draba jaegeri (variety of whitlow-grass in seed)

References

1. Ryckman, Raymond E.; Zackrison, James L. (1998). Son of the Living Desert – Edmund C. Jaeger, 1887–1983: Ecologist, Educator, Environmentalist, Biologist, and Philanthropist. Loma Linda, CA: R.E. Ryckman. p. 466. ISBN 978-0-9663563-0-4. OCLC 39497413. LCC QH31.J33 R97 1998 University of California, Riverside, Science Library
2. International Organization for Plant Information (IOPI). "Author Details" (HTML). International Plant Names Index.
3. Wild, Peter (2007). News from Palm Springs: The Letters of Carl Eytel, Edmund C. Jaeger, J. Smeaton Chase, Charles Francis Saunders, and Others of the Creative Brotherhood and Its Background. Vol. I and II. Johannesburg, CA: The Shady Myrick Research Project. OCLC 163456618.
4. Ewan, Joseph (May 1987). "Edmund Carroll Jaeger (1887–1983), Dave Keck's Mentor". Taxon. 2. 36 (2): 402–404. doi:10.2307/1221431. JSTOR 1221431. (Nita Hiltner, next reference, says the move was in 1910.)
5. Jaeger, Edmund C. (May–June 1949). "Further Observations on the Hibernation of the Poor-will". The Condor. 3. 51 (3): 105–109. doi:10.2307/1365104. ISSN 0010-5422. JSTOR 1365104. OCLC 478309773. Earlier I gave an account (Condor, 50, 1948:45) of the behavior of a Poor-will (Phalaenoptilus nuttallinii) which I found in a state of profound torpidity in the winter of 1946–47 in the Chuckawalla Mountains of the Colorado Desert, California. (photographs by Kenneth Middleham)
6. Hiltner, Nita (February 20, 2011). "A Look Back". The Press-Enterprise. Riverside, CA: Enterprise Media. Retrieved November 15, 2011. (Joseph Ewan, the preceding reference, says the move was in 1906.)
7. Jaeger, Edmund C. (January 1953). "Poorwill Sleeps Away the Winter". National Geographic Magazine. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society. 103 (2): 273–280. ASIN B004PH1X8W.
8. Niemann, Greg (2006). Palm Springs Legends: creation of a desert oasis. San Diego, CA: Sunbelt Publications. p. 286. ISBN 978-0-932653-74-1. OCLC 61211290. (here for Table of Contents)
9. "Charles Francis Saunders and Mira Culin Saunders Collection of Photographs and Negatives". Online Archive of California (OAC). Regents of the University of California. Retrieved November 22, 2011. Charles Francis Saunders (1859–1941) ...and his first wife, Elisabeth Hallowell Saunders (d. 1910), were both avid naturalists ...
10. "Fred Payne Clatworthy (U.S., 1875–1953)". Autochromes: The World Goes Color-Mad. American Museum of Photography. 2008. Retrieved 22 November 2011. Fred Payne Clatworthy ... a professional photographer in...Colorado, published Autochromes in National Geographic ...
11. Yerxa, Cabot (December 1951). "Carl Eytel". Palm Springs Villager. 6 (5): 17, 41.
12. Riverside Museum: Permanent Exhibits
13. Houk, Rose (2000). Mojave Desert (American Deserts Handbook). Tucson, AZ: Southwest Parks & Monuments Association. p. 26. ISBN 978-1583690086. OCLC 44039342.
14. Lillard, Richard G. (April 1973). "The Nature Book in Action". The English Journal. National Council of Teachers of English. 62 (4): 537–48. doi:10.2307/813109. JSTOR 813109.
15. Translated into Chinese as: 生物名称和生物學术语的词源 (sheng wu ming cheng he sheng wu xue shu yu de ci yuan). Beijing: 科学出版社 (ke xue chu ban she) (Science Press). 1965 and 1979. p. 577. OCLC 49256075, 36154159. (responsibility includes: 滕砥平, 蔣芝英譯. (Teng Di Ping, Jiang Zhiying translation))
16. UCR Library, Special Collection 110 photographs, letters, manuscripts, miscellaneous publications, notebooks and sketches (18 linear ft. 37 document boxes) OCLC 173618331
17. Moreno Valley College Catalog
18. MCV Scholarship List
19. Wicinas, David (2000). Hufstader, Louisa, ed. Native Grandeur: Preserving California's Vanishing Landscapes. San Francisco: The Nature Conservancy of California. p. 6. ISBN 978-0962459054. OCLC 48764772.
20. See:
    • Google Maps – Edmund C. Jaeger Nature Sanctuary
    • U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Edmund C Jaeger Nature Sanctuary
21. Japenga, Ann (October 2003). "The Dean of the Deserts: Edmund C. Jaeger". Desert Magazine. Palm Desert, CA. 2 (10): 98.
22. Campus Times, University of La Verne, "ULV's hidden Edmund C. Jaeger Museum", December 3, 2008
23. PUC Biology Scholarships
24. PUC Education Scholarships
25. "Fellows of the California Native Plant Society" (PDF). Fremontia. California Native Plant Society. 31 (1): 27. January 2003. Retrieved December 14, 2011.
26. "Past Award Recipients: Auld Lang Syne Award". Occidental College. Retrieved December 14, 2011. For unwavering loyalty to Occidental College and the principle for which it stands, the Auld Lang Syne Award is presented to deserving members of the Fifty Year Club on Fifty Year Club Day each spring. More than 100 alumni have received the award, which was created in 1954.
27. V.W. Steinmann & J. André, Aliso 30(1): 1. (2012)

Further reading

• Bryant, James; Moses, Vince (February 1999). "Edmund Carroll Jaeger – Examining the Early Career of one of Southern California's Premier Naturalists" (PDF). Journal of the Riverside Historical Society. Riverside, CA: The Riverside Historical Society (3): 26–32. OCLC 46665568.
• Eytel, Carl; Jaeger, Edmund C. (1905). Sketchbook 1904–1905. OCLC 32945154.
• Findley, Rowe (1972). Great American Deserts. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society. p. 208. ISBN 978-0-87044-107-3. OCLC 516381. (Photography by Walter Meayers Edwards; forward by Jaeger)
  • Findley, Rowe (1977). Les grands déserts américains (in French). Washington; Paris: National Geographic Society; Flammarion. p. 207. ISBN 978-2-08-201006-1. OCLC 53518922.
• Kleinschmidt, Janice (August 2007). "Cabins of the Brotherhood: Author Peter Wild delves into the Spartan lives of Palm Springs' early desert rats". Palm Springs Life. Palm Springs, CA: Desert Publications. Retrieved November 15, 2011.
• Lawton, Harry (October 13, 1957). "Edmund C. Jaeger Fills Role of Nature's Sherlock Holmes". Press-Enterprise. Riverside, CA: Press-Enterprise Company. pp. B: 4, 5.
• Smith, Lloyd Mason (January 1951). "Trail of a Naturalist .." (PDF). Desert Magazine. Palm Desert, CA: Desert Press, Inc. 14 (3): 16–19. OCLC 80921470.
• Whitney, Harry L. (October 1948). "Edmund C. Jaeger, Denizen of the Desert". Palm Springs Villager. Palm Springs, CA. 3 (2): 15–16.
• Wild, Peter (Summer 1999). "Edmund C. Jaeger: From the Classroom to Palavers". Wildflower. Etobicoke, Ontario, Canada: North American Native Plant Society. 15 (3): 40–43.
• Wild, Peter (August 2007). "The Letters of Carl Eytel: The early desert painter's correspondence with travel writer and teacher Edmund C. Jaeger". Palm Springs Life. Palm Springs, CA: Desert Publications. Retrieved November 13, 2011.

External links

• Edmund Jaeger site
• Riverside (California) Metropolitan Museum
  • Riverside Metropolitan Museum video on Jaeger Exhibit on YouTube
• Edmund C Jaeger Nature Sanctuary USGS Desert Center Quad, California, Topographic Map at TopoZone
• Beasley, Ruth (July 19, 2011). "Jaeger's Poorwill". Learning the Birds. High Plains Public Radio. Retrieved December 13, 2011.
• Dr Edmund Carroll Jaeger at Find a Grave