The Odonatological Legacy of George H. & Alice F. Beatty

	Hal White
	Dragonfly Society of the Americas Meeting
	Luther College, Decorah, Iowa
	10 July 2004

George H. Beatty, III
(1923-2004)

Alice Ferguson Beatty
(1915 -1987)

Wedding of Alice and George Beatty, March 1956

Fourth Beatty Odonata Expedition to Mexico 1962

Converted School Bus used for Beatty Odonata Expedition to Mexico 1962

"El Salto,"

	El Salto, San Luis Potosi, Mexico.
	One of the favorite stops on each of the Beattys’ seven dragonfly collecting expeditions to Mexico.

Preparing Specimens
Arroyo Tatocapan, 3 June 1962

Day’s Catch at Arroyo Tatocapan, Santiago Tuxtla, Veracruz, Mexico, 3 June 1962

A Progress Report on Odonata Collecting in Mexico 1957-1962 by G. H. & A. F. Beatty

Participants at First Meeting of
North American Odonatologists
Purdue University, March 1963

Beatty Odonata Field Notes for Mexico 1963 vs 1971

The Legacy

	One described dragonfly-Arigomphus maxwelli Ferguson
	One described larvae-Enallagma basidens
	Numerous publications on the Odonata of Pennsylvania
	The now standard method for storing Odonata specimens in clear envelopes with data on 3 x 5 index cards.
	A large collection of Odonata from Mexico.

What Happened ~1971?

	George and Alice Beatty took seven trips to study the Odonata of Mexico between 1956 and 1971.
	They collected >30,000 specimens.
	They discovered ~20 undescribed species of which they described none.
	They reared many undescribed larvae.
	They published very little on Mexican Odonata.
	In the late 1970’s their entire collection was donated to the Frost Entomological Museum at Penn State University.
	George Beatty retained his field notebooks, which effectively prevented work by others on the collection for 30 years.

What Happened ~1971?

	Between 1968 and 1971, the Beattys published 14 articles on Pennsylvania Odonata in the Proc. of the Pennsylvania Academy of Science, nearly half of all the articles they ever published.
	They did not publish another paper after 1971.

The Beatty Odonata Collection
in The Frost Entomological Museum
at the Pennsylvania State University

Steve Scott and David Owens, Executors of the Beatty Estate
K. C. Kim, Curator of the Penn State Frost Entomological Museum

A number of new species discovered by George Beatty have been described subsequently by others,
e.g. Gomphus apomyius Donnelly 1966

Notebooks containing collection numbers needed to associate papered specimens with locality and dates are now part of the Beatty Collection

Concerns of the Executors

	How important is the Beatty collection to the Odonatological community now?
	Who are the taxonomists with significant interest in the collection?
	Given limited resources, time, and concerns for other beneficiaries, what needs be done to make the Beatty collection accessible and useful?
	Are there other museums that might negotiate for peripheral parts of the collection?
	Is there sufficient interest for others to seek supplemental funding with Penn State to curate the collection?

What won’t be done?

	Papered specimens donated or loaned to the Beatty collection from various sources represent odd lots and will not be further curated or integrated into the collection. While these specimens are potentially valuable and should be dealt with, they do not represent the core value of the collection and funds are not now available to deal with them.

Ideally, what needs to be done?

	Use the notebooks to create a searchable database available on the Internet.
	Print cards for each papered specimen and place in cellophane/Mylar envelopes.
	Sort specimens taxonomically and integrate into the collection.
	Describe any undescribed species.

Slide 23

George Beatty’s Christmas Card 2003