Environmental Champions

Kristen J. Nyitray, Contributing Editor
Photos courtesy of Special Collections

In this issue, “Rare Treasures” highlights diverse environmental science collections from Special Collections and University Archives (SCUA). Papers of naturalists, conservationists, organizations and concerned citizens are important documentary sources for understanding the natural world, and its transformation over time. SCUA stewards the university’s diverse collections of rare books, manuscripts, historical maps, and archives. For more information, visit: stonybrook.edu/libspecial.

Photograph of Robert Cushman Murphy, ca. 1930s.

Robert Cushman Murphy Collection
Born in Brooklyn, New York, Robert Cushman Murphy (1887-1973) was a world-renowned naturalist and ornithologist, and a prolific author who focused on protecting birds and whales, and their habitats. The collection documents Murphy’s family life and professional work chiefly through photographs and slides. In his early years, Murphy’s family moved east to Mount Sinai and later he would reside in Stony Brook. With his parents’ encouragement, Murphy studied local wildlife. This passion inspired his life’s work, as he became an important conservationist, traveling around the world on expeditions including to Antarctica. In 1921, Murphy became associate curator at the American Museum of Natural History and in 1949 he was named Lamont Curator of Birds. Assisted by his wife Grace, the couple cataloged and relocated more than 280,000 bird specimens to the American Museum of Natural History. Murphy also remained steadfast in advocating for the stewardship of Long Island’s natural environment. He was the first president of the Long Island chapter of the Nature Conservancy and contributed to establishing the Fire Island National Seashore. In 1957, he was part of a group of Long Islanders that sued to cease spraying of DDT. His book Fish Shape Paumanok: Nature and Man on Long Island was published in 1964. Robert Cushman Murphy Junior High School in Stony Brook is named in his honor, along with Mount Murphy in Antarctica and Trachurus murphyi, the Chilean jack mackerel.

View this link for more details on the collection.

Brochure promoting the Environmental Defense Fund, ca. 1970.

Environmental Defense Fund Collection
In 1967, the Environmental Defense Fund was incorporated in Stony Brook, New York by a group of local scientists, academics, concerned citizens, and legal minds. The collection traces the history of the organization primarily from its early founding to the 1990s. One of the organization’s early headquarters was located on the second floor of the Stony Brook post office building. EDF successfully demonstrated the toxicity of DDT in a class action suit against Suffolk County Mosquito Control Commission. Its attorneys argued cases in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Washington, DC seeking a ban on registrations of DDT and aldrin dieldrin. DDT was finally banned in the U.S. in 1972. During this time, litigation was initiated in the areas of pesticides and lead in gasoline. Environmental situations were also monitored in the west concerning power plants and air pollution. By 1977, EDF activities were established into programs to promote standards, public awareness, cost effective alternatives, and policies in these areas: toxic chemicals, land/water quality and energy development. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, EDF opened offices in Washington DC, California, Colorado, North Carolina, Texas and Boston. With this expansion came an evolution of tactics for resource conservation and improvement of environmental quality. Today, EDF is a leading global advocacy group dedicated to improving environmental quality through innovative strategies.

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Mary Fletcher and students at the Theodore Roosevelt Sanctuary in Oyster Bay, New York, ca. 1926. Mary Fletcher is pictured seated on the far right.

Mary T. MacMurray Fletcher Collection
The Mary T. MacMurray Fletcher Collection includes correspondence, nature lists, and photographs that document Fletcher’s (1899-1989) career and her passion for conserving the natural environment. A naturalist and educator, Fletcher authored “A Survey of the Algae Found in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden” in 1936. She was a biology teacher at Richmond Hill High School in Queens, New York for 35 years. In 1957, she retired and moved to Seaford, New York. There she served on the board of the Second District of the Federated Garden Clubs of New York as both Bird and Conservation Chairperson. Fletcher was an active member of the Long Island Chapter of the Nature Conservancy, the Adirondack Forest Preserve, and the Audubon Society. The collection was cited by Dr. Natalie Naylor, Professor Emerita, Hofstra University in her article “Long Island Women Preserving Nature and the Environment.” 

View this link for more details on the collection.

About the Author
Kristen J. Nyitray is Associate Librarian, Director of Special Collections and University Archives, and University Archivist at Stony Brook University. A Certified Archivist (Academy of Certified Archivists), she is recipient of the Chancellor’s Award (SUNY) and the President’s Award (SBU) for Excellence in Librarianship. Her current scholarship focuses on Indigenous histories and representations in archival sources. Among her publications are the books Stony Brook: State University of New York and Long Island Beaches.