CHARLES DOOLITTLE WALCOTT & BURGESS SHALE FOSSILS

Today, The Grandma has been reading about Charles Doolittle Walcott, the American paleontologist, administrator of the Smithsonian Institution, who discovered Burgess Shale fossils on a day like today in 1909.

Charles Doolittle Walcott (March 31, 1850-February 9, 1927) was an American paleontologist, administrator of the Smithsonian Institution from 1907 to 1927, and director of the United States Geological Survey.

He is famous for his discovery in 1909 of well-preserved fossils, including some of the oldest soft-part imprints, in the Burgess Shale of British Columbia, Canada.

Charles Doolittle Walcott was born on March 31, 1850, in New York Mills, New York.

Walcott began his professional paleontology career by discovering new localities, such as the Walcott-Rust quarry in upstate New York and the Georgia Plane trilobite beds in Vermont, and by selling specimens to Yale University. In 1876, he became the assistant to James Hall, State Geologist of New York. Walcott also became a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

In 1879, Walcott joined the US Geological Survey and rose to become chief paleologist in 1893 and then director in 1894. His work focused on Cambrian strata in locations throughout the United States and Canada; his numerous field trips and fossil discoveries made important contributions to stratigraphy.

Walcott was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1896, the American Philosophical Society in 1897, and the American Academy of Art and Sciences in 1899.

In 1901, he served both as president of the Geological Society of America and the Philosophical Society of Washington.

In 1902, he met with Andrew Carnegie and became one of the founders and incorporators of the Carnegie Institution of Washington. He served in various administrative and research positions in that organization.

In 1921, Walcott was awarded the inaugural Mary Clark Thompson Medal from the National Academy of Sciences.

He served as president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1923. He previously spearheaded the U.S. Geological Survey under President Theodore Roosevelt.

Walcott had an interest in the conservation movement and assisted its efforts.

Walcott became Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution in 1907 after the death of Samuel Pierpont Langley, holding the post until his own death. He was succeeded by Charles Greeley Abbot. Because of Walcott's responsibilities at the Smithsonian, he resigned as director of the United States Geological Survey. As part of the centennial celebration of Darwin's birth, Walcott was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Cambridge in 1909.

In 1910, the year after his discovery of 508 million year old (middle Cambrian) fossils in the Burgess shale, Walcott returned to the area accompanied by his sons Stuart and Sidney.

More information: USGS

The Burgess Shale is a fossil-bearing deposit exposed in the Canadian Rockies of British Columbia, Canada. It is famous for the exceptional preservation of the soft parts of its fossils. At 508 million years old (middle Cambrian), it is one of the earliest fossil beds containing soft-part imprints.

The rock unit is a black shale and crops out at a number of localities near the town of Field in Yoho National Park and the Kicking Horse Pass. Another outcrop is in Kootenay National Park 42 km to the south.

The Burgess Shale was discovered by palaeontologist Charles Walcott on 30 August 1909, towards the end of the season's fieldwork. He returned in 1910 with his sons, daughter, and wife, establishing a quarry on the flanks of Fossil Ridge.

The significance of soft-bodied preservation, and the range of organisms he recognised as new to science, led him to return to the quarry almost every year until 1924. At that point, aged 74, he had amassed over 65,000 specimens. Describing the fossils was a vast task, pursued by Walcott until his death in 1927.

Walcott, led by scientific opinion at the time, attempted to categorise all fossils into living taxa, and as a result, the fossils were regarded as little more than curiosities at the time. 

It was not until 1962 that a first-hand reinvestigation of the fossils was attempted, by Alberto Simonetta. This led scientists to recognise that Walcott had barely scratched the surface of information available in the Burgess Shale, and also made it clear that the organisms did not fit comfortably into modern groups.

More information: University of California Museum of Paleontology

 The Smithsonian museums are among
this country's most endearing treasures
and I look forward to helping maintain
and enhance their coveted works of art.

Xavier Becerra