Henry Cushier Raven

Henry Cushier Raven better known as Harry Raven (April 16, 1889 – April 5, 1944) was an American naturalist-explorer, Scientific collection, mammologist, and Anatomy at the American Museum of Natural History (A.M.N.H.) in New York City. Raven crossed Africa from south to north and from east to west, traveled to unexplored Indonesia lands, and collected rare specimens in Australia and Greenland. His contribution to the natural history collections of several museums had a significant impact on the field of zoology. Raven also authored numerous publications and was the first to establish the complete anatomy of the gorilla from specimens that he himself collected and preserved.
==Early life==
Henry Cushier Raven was born in Brooklyn, New York on April 16, 1889, to Henry Stephenson Raven, a Long Island banker, and Mary Alberti Sims. He spent his boyhood and adolescence in Bay Shore, Long Island. Aboard the family’s boats, he explored the Great South Bay and its islands, particularly Fire Island, with his father and his three brothers. During these excursions, he developed a strong and lasting passion for nature and animal anatomy, and a deep fondness for the outdoors. He was a skilled sailor, avid birdwatcher, specimen collector, taxidermist trainee, and veterinary surgeon assistant. When he was eleven years old, Raven demonstrated his courage by saving five people from drowning at Elda Lake in North Babylon, New York, New York in February 1901. “Saves Five from Drowning. Twelve-Year-Old Boy the Rescuer on Phelps’s Lake at Bay Shore”. The New York Times. February 27, 1903. 
==Professional Beginnings==
After graduating from Bay Shore High School, Raven moved to New York in 1907. Although he had no higher education, he was hired at the American Museum of Natural History in the Department of Preparation and Exhibition. After making casts of Archaeology remains, he was tasked with collecting birds from Long Island, and carried out taxidermy work. He resigned in May 1911 and joined the Colorado Museum of Natural History in Denver where he was charged with specimen collection in the surrounding region. Barton, D. R. "One-Man Explorer". Natural History 48, no. 1 (June 1941): 52–61. 
==Scientific Career==
The Smithsonian Institution (Washington D.C.) hired Raven in November 1912 as a specimen collector, as well as to take over the position of expedition leader in the Dutch East Indies (Java, Borneo, Maluku Islands, Central Sulawesi, Sulawesi) from American physician and naturalist William Louis Abbott. Following successful Smithsonian expeditions, he became a student at Cornell University (1918-1919) while also curating the university's Zoological Museum. In July 1919, Raven left for Africa as a special collector and co-led The Cape-to-Cairo Expedition for the Smithsonian, and The American Commission to Negotiate Peace. After his return in 1920, he resumed his education at Columbia University in New York. He graduated in Vertebrate zoology and joined the Wildlife Conservation Society in 1921. He was rehired by the American Museum of Natural History, and worked in the Department of Comparative Anatomy as the student and assistant of William King Gregory, recently appointed Curator of the department. Barton, D. R. “The Evolution of an Evolutionist.” Natural History 47, no. 4 (April 1941): 234–37. 
In 1921, Raven left on an expedition to collect specimens for the Australian Hall, notably kangaroos, Tasmanian devil, echidna, and platypus. Raven returned to New York in 1923. He wrote a series of papers on the Marsupial, and tried to further investigate the question of the Wallace Line. From June to October 1926, Raven went on an expedition to collect specimens in Greenland with publisher George Putnam (future husband of the famous American aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart) and his son David. Putnam, David Binney. David Goes to Greenland New York and London: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1926. He was then mainly interested in the narwhal and its anatomy. Later on, he pursues this interest by publishing several articles on Cetacea. That year, he was also promoted to Associate Curator of the Department of Comparative Anatomy, and appointed assistant in vertebrate paleontology at Columbia University. On May 29, 1929, Raven and Gregory left with Pr. J. H. McGregor and Dr. Earl T. Engle for The Columbia University and The American Museum of Natural History Expedition to Africa. Herzfeld, Chris. The Great Apes: A Short History. Translated by Kevin Frey. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2017, pp. 183-184. They received permission from the King of Belgium, Albert I of Belgium, to kill two gorillas.Gregory, William King, et Henry Cushier Raven. In Quest of Gorillas.
New Bedford: The Darwin Press, 1937. Crossing the continent from east to west, Raven collected comparative anatomical material, and secured gorilla specimens in the Belgian Congo and French Cameroon.Gregory, William King, éd. The Anatomy of the Gorilla: The Henry Cushier Raven Memorial Volume. New York: Columbia University Press, 1950, p.4
==Raven and his Chimpanzee==
At the end of his second African trip, Raven was seriously ill with African trypanosomiasis and had to rest in his camp near Djaposten. There, he adopted a young female chimpanzee named Meshie Mungkunt whose mother had been recently killed. Raven, Henry Cushier. “Meshie: The Child of a Chimpanzee.” Natural History 32, no. 2 (1932): 158–66. He became so attached to her that he brought Meshie back to the United States in February of 1931, and introduced her to his family. Meshie lived in Baldwin, Long Island, for four years. Raven, Henry Cushier. “Further Adventures of Meshie: A Chimpanzee That Has Lived Most of Her Life in a New York Suburban Home.” Natural History 33, no. 6 (1933): 607–17. During that time, Raven and his chimpanzee became the stars of the American Museum. Films, photographs, conferences, and popular articles showed Meshie living as a member of the household, eating with the family in the dining room, and sleeping with the children in their parents’ bed. In reality, Meshie grew increasingly difficult to "control", and spent most of her time in a cage located in the basement. Herzfeld, Chris. The Great Apes: A Short History. Translated by Kevin Frey. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2017, pp. 133-135. In December 1934, Raven was sent on a mission to BurmaBarton, D. R. “One-Man Explorer”. Natural History, 48, nᵒ 1 (June 1941), p.57., and had to place Meshie at the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago. Meshie died from childbirth-related complications in August 1937“Meshie Is Dead ; Chimpanzee, 8, A Social Lion”, Herald Tribune,
August 11, 1937.. Her remains were sent to the American Museum in New York. She is now in the Primate Hall of the museum as the taxidermied specimen of the common chimpanzee or Pan troglodytes.Comparative Anatomy. “Meshie”. The American Museum of Natural History. Seventieth Annual Report for the Year 1938. New York: The City of New York, Issued May 1, 1938, 10.
==Last Expeditions==
In December 1934, Raven joined The Vernay-Hopwood Chindwin Expedition to Burma (now Myanmar) as the lead scientist, filmmaker, photographer, and specimen collector for the A.M.N.H. He returned from Burma in the summer of 1935. About 1000 mammals and 750 birds were collected, as well as a large number of fish and reptiles. Hasinoff, Erin L. Confluences: An American Expedition to Northern Burma, 1935. New York: Bard Graduate Center/Yale University Press, 2013. From 1938 to 1939, he went back on mission for The Michael Lerner New Zealand and Australian Expedition, still for the American Museum. His last expeditions were short trips to Peru and Ecuador with Michael Lerner in 1941. During the three years before his death, Raven devoted himself to anatomical studies, the writing of articles (mainly about kangaroos and several species of cetacean), and the complete anatomical study of the gorilla. The latter resulted in a posthumous publication, The Anatomy of the Gorilla (1950). Gregory, William King, ed. The Anatomy of the Gorilla: The Henry Cushier Raven Memorial Volume. New York: Columbia University Press, 1950. Having contracted sleeping sickness, malaria, and hookworm during his first expedition, Raven saw his health deteriorate during these same years. Appointed curator of the Department of Comparative Anatomy of the American Museum of Natural History in January 1944, Henry Cushier Raven died in Sebring, Florida on May 5, 1944.“Henry C. Raven”. The American Museum of Natural History. Seventy-sixth Annual Report for the Year 1944. New York: The City of New York, Issued May 1, 1945, p.38.
==Academic Life==
Recognized as one of the most important scientific explorers and Scientific collection of the first half of the twentieth century, Raven conducted a large number of anatomical studies and published numerous scientific papers. He also published articles for the general public, notably in the American Museum popular science magazine Natural History (magazine), and a travel book, In Quest of Gorillas (1937), about his expedition to Africa with William King Gregory from 1929 to 1931. Gregory, William King, and Henry Cushier Raven. In Quest of Gorillas. New Bedford: The Darwin Press, 1937. Raven has also taught and lectured at various universities including New York University, Johns Hopkins University, and Columbia University’s department of Zoology (where he was Dr. Gregory’s faculty assistant). In addition, Raven was a close friend of James Chapin, one of the highest-regarded Ornithology of the twentieth century. He also frequented well-known figures, mainly through the American Museum of Natural History, including Roy Chapman Andrews Andrews, Roy Chapman. Meet Your Ancestors: A Biography of Primitive Man. Armed Services Edition. New York: Editions for the Armed Services, Inc., 1945, p.19., Herbert LangGregory, William King, éd. The Anatomy of the Gorilla: The Henry Cushier Raven Memorial Volume. New York: Columbia University Press, 1950, Carl Akeley and Mary Jobe AkeleyAkeley, Mary Jobe. Letter to Yvonne Raven, dated of April 5, 1944. (Personal Archives of the H. C. Raven Family)., Martin and Martin and Osa JohnsonOsa Johnson. Four Years in Paradise. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Company, 1941..
==Personal life==
Henry C. Raven met his future wife, Yvonne Aurousseau, during his first expedition in Australia (1921-1923). Their wedding was held in Sydney in March 1923“Romantic Marriage”, The Daily Telegraph, Sydney, March 17, 1923,
p. 15.. The couple had four children: Jane born in 1924, Henry (1927), Mary (1933) and James (1936)Herzfeld, Chris. The Great Apes: A Short History. Translated by Kevin Frey. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2017, pp. 133-134..
Category:1889 births
Category:1944 deaths
Category:American Museum of Natural History
Category:20th-century American scientists