Ecphora gardnerae gardnerae drawn by McConnell, 1904

James Culbertson McConnell,[1] usually abbreviated as J. C. McConnell (born 1844[1] – died July 25, 1904, Liberty, New York) was one of the world's most acclaimed scientific illustrators.

McConnell was an anatomist with the Army Medical Museum in Washington, D.C. For thirty-five years, he drew "many thousand exquisite drawings" of fossils, shells and bones for scientific publications. In an obituary, it was stated that, "as a draughtsman, in black and white line for scientific purposes, he had no equal in this country, if in the world."[2]

He is most well known for his "incomparable pictures of shells"[3] and illustrated a number of publications by the famous malacologist William Healey Dall.[4] McConnell also illustrated fossils described by Charles Doolittle Walcott.[4]

McConnell's illustrations continued to be used long after his death. For example, most of the black and white illustrations in R. Tucker Abbott's American Seashells (1954) were by McConnell.[5]

McConnell has been described as "one of those shadowy-figured artisans about whom little is known." Although he held a medical degree and used the title "doctor", "officially he was a clerk."[4]

Gallery

Bibliography

McConnell's illustrations appear in (partial list):

References

  1. ^ a b Coan E. V., Kabat A. R. & Petit R. E. (15 February 2009). 2,400 years of malacology, 6th ed. American Malacological Society, 830 pp. + 32 pp. [Annex of Collations].
  2. ^ Anonymous (W. H. Dall). 1904. Dr. J. C. McConnell. Science (New Series), American Association for the Advancement of Science, New York, 20(501): 188.
  3. ^ G. Dallas Hanna (March 1931). "Illustrating Fossils". Journal of Paleontology 5(1): 49, 63.
  4. ^ a b c Yochelson E. L. (1988). Charles Doolittle Walcott, paleontologist, Kent State University Press, p. 156.
  5. ^ R. Tucker Abbott (1954). American Seashells, D. Van Nostrand Co., Inc., p. viii.
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