Robert Porter Allen Audubon collection

Collection

Identifier: MS-2015-09

No requestable containers
Staff Only

Abstract

This collection consists of the research materials of renowned ornithologist field researcher Robert Porter Allen at the Audubon Society's Everglades Science Center in Tavernier, which he founded and directed. While doing research for the Audubon Society, Allen researched and wrote extensively on the flamingo, roseate spoonbill, and whooping crane, among others. His groundbreaking research on the whooping crane, including his identification of Canada's Slave Lake as the crane's northern nesting place, is acknowledged to have brought the species back from sure extinction. The approximately 30,000 pages of material includes bird counts, field notes, sketches, photos, reports, correspondence, and other materials documenting Robert Porter Allen's research, mostly between 1940 and 1950.

Dates

Created: 1920-2000, predominantly 1930-1963.
Other: Date acquired: 12/01/2015

Creator

Florida Audubon Society (Organization)
Allen, Robert Porter (1905-1963) (Person)

Conditions Governing Use

None. The contents of this collection may be subject to copyright. Visit the United States Copyright Office's website at http://www.copyright.gov/ for more information.

Biographical or Historical Information

Robert Porter Allen is a noted American naturalist and ornithologist. Born in 1905 in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania, Allen began working for the Audubon Society in 1930, first as a librarian and then as a field biologist. Known for his precise fieldwork and impassioned conservation activism, he is credited with rescuing the whooping crane and the roseate spoonbill species from extinction. Allen's close ties to Florida began in 1939 when he moved to Key Largo to study the Roseate spoonbill on behalf of the National Audubon Society. That same year, he founded the Audubon Research Center in Tavernier, FL, now known as the Everglades Science Center. Robert Porter Allen retired from National Audubon service in 1960 after serving as the Society's first Director of Research. Shortly after his death in 1964, the U.S. Park Service recognized Allen's contributions to Florida conservation by naming the Bob Allen Keys in his honor.

Note written by Alia Wegner