Who is who in this 1903 Carnegie Museum photo?
November 8, 2022
In a paper that I’m just finishing up now, we want to include this 1903 photo of Carnegie Museum personnel:
A few weeks ago I asked for help on Twitter in identifying the people shown here, and I got a lot of useful contributions.
But since then I have seen the Carnegie photo library catalogue for this image (it’s #1010), and it gives names as follows:
- Far left, mostly cropped from image: field worker William H. Utterback
- Seated, facing right: field worked Olof A. Peterson
- Standing at back: preparator Louis Coggeshall (Arthur’s brother)
- Seated, looking to camera: preparator Charles W. Gilmore
- Seated at far table: field worker Earl Douglass
- Standing behind far table: chief preparator Arthur S. Coggeshall
- Sitting at far table, facing left: preparator Asher W. VanKirk
- Seated: illustrator Sydney Prentice
- Sitting on bench: John Bell Hatcher, whose description of Diplodocus carnegii had been published two years previously
Those of you who know a bit of history, do these identifications seem good? Some of the suggestions I got align well with these, but others do not. For example, a lot of people thought that the person here identified as Louis Coggeshall was his better-known brother Arthur.
I’d appreciate any confirmation or contradiction.
Sauropod Vertebra Picture of the Week 
November 9, 2022 at 1:14 am
I think you have the Coggeshalls correctly labeled. Hatcher, Gilmore, Douglass are correct as well. I’m not familiar with Utterback, Asher W. VanKirk or Syndey VanKirk to comment. Another image of Arthur Coggeshall is seen in this 1908 photo with Carnegie’s cast gift to France.
https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2014681899/
Your spelling of O.A. Peterson’s first name should be Olaf (this may just be a typo on your part).
November 9, 2022 at 1:32 am
Thanks, Rynoceras, that’s helpful.
Interesting on Peterson: Ilja Nieuwland pretty consistently spells the name “Olaf” in his 2019 book American dinosaur abroad: a cultural history of Carnegie’s plaster Diplodocus.
November 9, 2022 at 4:52 am
A lot of the GREATS all in one room. To be a fly on that wall ….
November 9, 2022 at 12:22 pm
@Rynoceras After consultation with Ilja, we decided that “Olaf” is probably correct, so thank you for drawing our attention to that!