G. Arthur Cooper and the "Scarlet Harlot"

Historic Images of the Smithsonian

Photograph included in the transcript of G. Arthur Cooper Interview by Pamela M. Henson, January 5, 1984, in Smithsonian Institution Archives

On a collecting trip to the White Sands, New Mexico, G. Arthur (Gustav Arthur) Cooper (1902-2000), paleobiologist at the National Museum of Natural History, stands beside his car, used in the field, nicknamed the "Scarlet Harlot". Cooper came to the Smithsonian in 1930 as assistant curator in the Division of Stratigraphic Paleontology of the United States National Museum (USNM). In 1941, he advanced to associate curator and in 1944 to curator of the Division of Invertebrate Paleontology. He was appointed head curator of the Department of Geology in 1957, and oversaw its division into the separate departments of Paleobiology and Mineral Sciences in 1963. He continued as chairman of the Department of Paleobiology through 1967 when he was appointed senior paleobiologist. After his retirement from federal service in 1974, he continued his research at the Smithsonian as paleobiologist emeritus until 1987

Smithsonian Institution Archives Record Unit 9524 G. Arthur Cooper Oral History Interviews

Institutional History Division, Smithsonian Institution Archives, 600 Maryland Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20024-2520, SIHistory@si.edu