Charles Frederick Holder

Charles Frederick Holder (1851–1915) was an American naturalist, conservationist, and writer who produced over 40 books and thousands of articles. Known as a pioneer of big-game fishing, he founded and led the Tuna Club of Avalon, credited as the first game fishing organization. He was socially active in Pasadena, California, where he was a trustee of Throop College and co-founder of the Tournament of Roses.
Biography
Holder came from a wealthy Massachusetts Quaker family. His father was the zoologist Joseph Bassett Holder (1824–1888) and his mother Emoia Violet Jones. He attended the Friends' school in Providence, Rhode Island, and Allen's preparatory school at West Newton, Massachusetts, as well as from private tutors. In 1869, he attended the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis but he did not continue in the Navy after graduation.
After working as a curator at New York's American Museum of Natural History, he moved to Pasadena, California in 1885. A passionate naturalist throughout his life, he was known for his books on marine zoology and the first books on big-game fishing, a sport Holder pioneered in 1869. His books are noted for their combination of accurate scientific detail with exciting narratives.
From 1890 to 1892, Holder was a President of the Tournament of Roses Association, and for 1910 he was named the tournament grand marshal. He became known in Pasadena as a businessman, philanthropist, and conservationist/sportsman. In 1898, he founded the Tuna Club of Avalon on Santa Catalina Island, as an international organization that called for proper management of all game fish.
In 1910, he traveled with Frederick Russell Burnham to Mexico and uncovered Mayan artifacts, including the Esperanza Stone, a supposedly paranormal relic described in The Book of the Damned.
Holder died in Pasadena as a result of an automobile accident caused by him being under illegal substances and is buried in Mountain View Cemetery in Altadena, California.
In 1998, he was inducted in the International Game Fish Association Hall of Fame.
Bibliography
Elements of zoology, (1885)
The Ivory King: A Popular History of the Elephant and Its Allies (1886)
Living Lights: A Popular Account of Phosphorescent Animals and Vegetables, (1887)
Southern California : its climate, trails, mountains, canyons, watering places, fruits, flowers and game, a guide-book, (1888)
All about Pasadena and its vicinity; its climate, missions, trails and cañons, fruits, flowers and game, (1889)
Charles Darwin; His Life and Work, (1891)
Along the Florida Reef, (1892)
Louis Agassiz; His Life and Work, (1893)
Chinese Slavery in America, (1897)
An isle of summer, Santa Catalina; its history, climate, sports and antiquities, (1901)
The big game fishes of the United States, (1903), part of The American Sportsman's Library
The Log of a Sea Angler, (1906)
Life in the open; sport with rod, gun, horse, and hound in southern California, (1906) — Holder's account of hunting and fishing in the counties of Santa Barbara, San Buenaventura, Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Riverside, Orange, and San Diego. The topics include horseback hunts for lynx, fox, and wolves; fishing for trout in the Sierra Madres and for game fish off Catalina; pursuit of shore birds and water fowl; mountain lions and mountain goats; and photographic hunts for sea lions. Throughout, Holder argues for the sportsman's role in conservation.
Sport fishing in California and Florida, (1908). Bulletin of the Bureau of fisheries, volume XXVIII. Proceedings of the Fourth International fishery congress, Washington.
Pasadena, the crown of the valley, (1909)
Fish stories alleged and experienced, with a little history natural and unnatural (1909) (with David Starr Jordan)
Recreations of a sportsman on the Pacific coast, (1910)
The Channel islands of California; a book for the angler, sportsman, and tourist, (1910)
A method of studying the life history of fishes, (1910)
A method of transporting live fishes, (1910)
The Esperanza Stone (1910) Scientific American, pp. 196. ISSN 0036-8733.
Salt Water Game Fishing, (1914)
Biography of Frederick Russell Burnham (unpublished manuscript, 1915)
See also
List of American fishers
References
External links
1851 births
1915 deaths
American fishers
American science writers
Angling writers
Charles Darwin biographers
People associated with the American Museum of Natural History
People from Avalon, California
People from Lynn, Massachusetts
People from Pasadena, California
road incident deaths in California