The American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists at 100: Setting the Stage for the Next Hundred Years

Founders of the ASIH. (A) John T. Nichols, portrait dated 1929 (Image #117633, American Museum of Natural History Library). (B) Henry W. Fowler, photo dated 1923 (photo courtesy of Mark Sabaj). (C) G. Dwight Franklin, photo c. 1911 (Image #33692, American Museum of Natural History Library).

Fig. 2

Documents from the early history of the ASIH. (A) Room request from Nichols to the director of the AMNH for reserving the space for the first meeting of the ASIH (from the AMNH Archives). (B) Advertisement for the first meeting (photo courtesy of Inci Bowman, from the SI Archives). (C) Program for the second meeting of the ASIH (photo courtesy of Aaron Bauer). (D) Invitation to the second meeting (photo courtesy of Aaron Bauer). (E) Dues payments from William K. Gregory for the first year of the Society (from the AMNH Archives).

Fig. 3

ASIH at 100 Symposium participants. Front row (L to R): Keiichi Matsuura, David Smith, Eric Hilton, Bill Matthews, Pat Gregory, Jay Savage, Malorie Hayes. Middle row (L to R): Marty Crump, Al Savitzky, Mollie Cashner, Marvalee Wake, Mo Donnelly, Kassi Cole, Lynne Parenti. Back row (L to R): Steve Ross, Aaron Bauer, Shab Mohammadi, Bruce Collette, Brad Shaffer, Mark Sabaj, Henry Mushinsky, Mike Thompson, Prosanta Chakrabarty, Larry Page (photo by Adam Summers.)

Fig. 4

Thomas Barbour, an early benefactor of the ASIH (photo courtesy of K. Adler).

Fig. 5

Lynne R. Parenti and artist Shih Chieh (CJ) Huang examining a specimen at the USNM in 2011 as part of the Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship (SARF) program (photo by Donald Hurlbert, copyright Smithsonian Institution).

Fig. 6

Early ontogeny of members of the ASIH. (A) The Cashner family (L to R): Christie Alli, Mollie Cashner, Bob Cashner, Oso Cashner (the dog), Emily Laan, Frances Cashner. (B) Bruce Collette. (C) Steve Ross. (D) Al Savitzky. (E) Marty Crump. (F) Letter from Jay Savage's mother requesting a subscription to Copeia as a Christmas present for Jay in 1946.

Fig. 7

The importance of mentors and camaraderie via the ASIH. (A) Jay Savage and former students at the ASIH meeting in La Paz, Mexico, 2000. Front row (L to R): David Bickford, Al Chen, Mo Donnelly, Jay Savage, Marvalee Wake, Karen Lips. Middle row (L to R): Kirstin Nicholson, Roy McDiarmid, Marc Hayes, David Morafka, John Patton, David Wake, Steven Werman. Back row (L to R): W. Ron Heyer, Norman Scott, David Nicholson, Jerry Johnson, Joe Slowinski, Arnold Kluge, Craig Guyer, Brian Crother, William Bussing. (B) Larry Page's lab, 1996, many with strong ties to the ASIH. Back row (L to R): Lawrence Merle Page, Jean Porterfield, Pat Ceas, Mike Retzer, Chris Laird, Chris Phillips, Kevin Cummings, Frank Burbrink. Front row (L to R): Mark Pyron, Chris Taylor, Gabriela Mottesi, Mark Sabaj. (C) Shab Mohammadi and Roy McDiarmid at Smithsonian Institution, 2006 (photo by Kenji Nishida). (D) Lynne R. Parenti and Bob Cashner sharing a laugh at the ASIH meeting, 2001 (photo by Kathleen S. Cole). (E) Donn E. Rosen, late 1970s or early 1980s (family photograph courtesy of the late Carmela B. Rosen). (F) University of Massachusetts, Amherst ichthyologists and herpetologists, May, 2002 (L to R): Elizabeth Brainerd, Nathan Kley, Alan Richmond, Eric J. Hilton, Adam P. Summers, William E. Bemis (photo by Sarah Huber).

Fig. 8

(A) Crossword-style diagram showing connections among women herpetologists who were regular participants in the ASIH meetings in the 1970s and 1980s, as the role of women in the Society became more regular. (B) Margaret (Meg) Stewart (left) and Marty Crump (right) at an annual meeting of the ASIH (photo by George Martin). In 1997, Stewart and Crump both delivered plenary talks (ASIH Past-President and HL Distinguished Herpetologist Lecture, respectively), which were remembered fondly by Stewart as “Two female amphibian biologists provided those in attendance in Seattle with a lasting and memorable tribute to careers that are, fortunately, becoming more commonplace and accepted in the discipline” (Brown and Breisch, 2005:707).