Herbert Friedmann grew up in Brooklyn, New York, the second of four sons. Young Friedman took advantage of educational and cultural opportunities offered in New York City, regularly visiting museums and taking advantage of standing room at the city's centers for performing arts. The Museum of Natural History, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Bronx Zoo were among his favorite destinations. He joined a bird club during his high school years and kept detailed notes on birds that he observed. He continued to study birds after entering the City College of New York at 16 years old and maintained a close association with the Museum of Natural History.[1]
While attending City College, Friedmann studied the "Weaving of the Red-Billed Weaver Bird in Captivity" at the Bronx Zoo. That study was later published in Zoologica 2(16):355-72, his first published article. Dr. William Beebe, then Honorary Curator of Birds and Director of the Department of Tropical Research at the zoo, was impressed by the work and encouraged Friedmann to apply for a scholarship to Cornell University.[2] He got the scholarship and completed his PhD in three years. His dissertation was on brood parasitism in cowbirds.[1]
In September 1929, Friedmann was appointed curator of birds at the National Museum of Natural History[3] and continued to serve in that position until he was appointed as head curator of zoology in 1959.[2]
