Mignon Talbot

{{Infobox scientist

|name = Mignon Talbot

|image = Mignon Talbot.jpg

|image_size = 200px

|caption = Photograph at time of the discovery of Podokesaurus holyokensis in 1910

|birth_date = {{birth date|1869|08|16}}

|birth_place = Iowa City, Iowa, U.S.

|death_date = {{death date and age|1950|07|18|1869|08|16}}

|death_place = Holyoke, Massachusetts, U.S.

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|relatives = Ellen Bliss Talbot (sister)

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|fields = Paleontology, geology, geography

|workplaces = Mount Holyoke College

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Mignon Talbot (August 16, 1869 – July 18, 1950) was an American paleontologist. Talbot recovered and named the only known fossils of the dinosaur Podokesaurus holyokensis, which were found near Mount Holyoke College in 1910, and published a scientific description of the specimen in 1911.{{cite journal |last1=Talbot |first1=Mignon |date=1911 |title=Podokesaurus holyokensis, a new dinosaur from the Triassic of the Connecticut Valley |url=https://compass.fivecolleges.edu/node/1335700 |journal=American Journal of Science |volume=S4-31 |issue=186 |pages=469–479 |access-date=19 November 2024 |via=Mount Holyoke College Archives and Special Collections}} In 1909 she became the first woman elected to be a member of the Paleontological Society.{{Cite journal|last=Elder|first=Eleanor S.|title=Women in Early Geology|date=August 25, 2016|journal=Journal of Geological Education|language=EN|volume=30|issue=5|pages=287–293|doi=10.5408/0022-1368-30.5.287|doi-access=free}} In the state of New York, she contributed to the Helderbergian crinoids and studied the faunas of Stafford limestone.

Born in Iowa City, Talbot received a Ph.D. in geology from Yale University in 1904, the first woman to do so. There she was a student of Charles Schuchert. She was named a professor of geology and geography at Mount Holyoke College in 1904.Mount Holyoke College. [http://www.mtholyoke.edu/~dalbino/photos/colver/women/mtalbot.html Mignon Talbot Biography] Verified January 6, 2011. In 1908, Talbot became professor and chairman of the Geology department. In 1929, she became the chairman of both the Geology and Geography departments. During her thirty-one years at Mount Holyoke College, she amassed a large collection of invertebrate fossils and Triassic footprints and minerals. The museum burned down in 1917{{Cite book|title=Changing Prospects: The View from Mount Holyoke|last=Doezema|first=Marianne|publisher=Cornell University Press|year=2002|isbn=9780801441196|location=United States of America|pages=9}} and almost all the specimens were destroyed, including the one extant partial skeleton of Podokesaurus.{{cite encyclopedia|editor-last=Ogilvie|editor-first=Marilyn|title=Talbot, Mignon|encyclopedia=The biographical dictionary of women in science : pioneering lives from ancient times to the mid-20th century.|date=2000|publisher=Routledge|location=New York|isbn=9780415920407|pages=1263–1264|editor2-first=Joy|editor2-last=Harvey|editor-link=Marilyn Bailey Ogilvie|editor2-link=Joy Harvey|url=https://archive.org/details/biographicaldict02ogil}} Talbot retired in 1935 and is said to have remained passionate about her profession.

Education

Talbot attended Ohio State University from 1888 to 1892, where she studied geology with Edward Orton and received her undergraduate degree.{{Cite web |title=Abstract: MIGNON TALBOT (1869-1950), GEOLOGIST (GSA Annual Meeting in Denver, Colorado, USA - 2016) |url=https://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2016AM/webprogram/Paper277071.html |access-date=2024-11-20 |website=gsa.confex.com}} She received her doctorate degree in paleontology from Yale University in 1904 with a dissertation on Helderbergian crinoids from New York State.

Research and findings

File:Podokesaurus holotype.jpg fossil found and described by Talbot, the first non-bird dinosaur named by a woman]]

Talbot is the only known discoverer of fossils of the dinosaur Podokesaurus holyokensis, which she found near Mount Holyoke college where she was a professor. The location was by the Connecticut River between two outcroppings of mountains in a bed of sandstone. During a meeting at the Paleontological Society in December 1910, the dinosaur was first labelled as a herbivore by Talbot. As her research continued she subsequently identified the creature as theropod, in collaboration with Yale University professor Richard Swan Lull. A colleague of Lull, Friedrich von Huene, moved Podokesaurus holyokensis to a new family based on a genus.{{Cite book|title=Dinosaurs and Other Extinct Saurians: A Historical Prospective|url=https://archive.org/details/dinosaursotherex343mood|url-access=limited|last=Moody|first=Richard|publisher=Geological Society of London|year=2010|isbn=9781862393110|pages=[https://archive.org/details/dinosaursotherex343mood/page/n125 125]–126}} The specimen was formally described in June 1911 by Talbot, who thereby became the first woman to discover and name a non-bird dinosaur.Turner, S., Burek, C. & Moody, R.T., 2010, "Forgotten women in an extinct Saurian 'mans' World", In: Moody, R.T., Buffetaut, E., Martill, D. & Naish, D. Eds. Dinosaurs and Other Extinct Saurians: A Historical Perspective. The Geological Society, London, Special Publication, 343: 111-153

File:Williston Hall debris.jpg

Many of her research notes are considered historical artifacts. Talbot's contributions to geology were later reproduced in a collection{{Cite book|title=Revision of the New York Helderbergian Crinoids|last=Talbot|first=Mignon|publisher=Nabu Press|year=2012|isbn=9781286816172|location=United States of America}} decided upon by various scholars.

Publications

Talbot, M. (1903). A contribution to a list of the fauna of the Stafford limestone of New York. American Journal of Science, S4-16(166), 148-150.{{Cite journal |last=Talbot |first=Mignon |date=1903 |title=A contribution to a list of the fauna of the Stafford Limestone of New York. |url=https://compass.fivecolleges.edu/node/1335701 |journal=American Journal of Science |volume=16 |issue=166 |pages=148–150 |access-date=19 November 2024 |via=Mount Holyoke College Archives and Special Collections}}
Talbot, M. (1904). Contribution to a revision of the (Lower Devonian) Helderbergian fauna of New York. (Publication No. 9919823.) [Doctoral thesis, Yale University]. ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global.{{Cite book |last=Talbot |first=Mignon |title=Contributions to a revision of the Helderbergian fauna of New York |publisher=Yale University |year=1904 |isbn=978-0-599-18971-3 |location=Connecticut, United States}} {{ISBN|978-0-599-18971-3}}.
Talbot, M. (1905). Revision of the New York Helderbergian crinoids. American Journal of Science. S4-20(170), 17-34.{{Cite journal |last=Talbot |first=Mignon |date=1905 |title=Revision of the New York Helderbergian Crinoids |url=https://compass.fivecolleges.edu/node/1335702 |journal=American Journal of Science |volume=S4-20 |issue=170 |pages=17–33 |access-date=19 November 2024 |via=Mount Holyoke College Archives and Special Collections}}
Talbot, M. (1911). Podokesaurus holyokensis, a new dinosaur from the Triassic of the Connecticut Valley. American Journal of Science. S4-31(186), 469-479.
Talbot, M. (October 1922). The Department of Geology. Mount Holyoke Alumnae Quarterly. October, 128-132.{{Cite journal |last=Talbot |first=Mignon |date=October 1922 |title=The Department of Geology |url=https://compass.fivecolleges.edu/islandora/object/mtholyoke%3A53406 |journal=Mount Holyoke Alumnae Quarterly |pages=128–132 |access-date=19 November 2024 |via=Mount Holyoke College Archives and Special Collections}}

Personal life

Talbot's maternal grandfather was a doctor, and her father served as the superintendent of a school for deaf children. Even though her parents died within days of each other in 1899, by that time her family situation had allowed her to pursue a post-secondary education and further a career in academia. She served as a high school teacher in Columbus, Ohio even while continuing graduate work at the State University and at the same time "keeping up a home for [her younger] brothers." She left Ohio to continue her study of paleontology full time at Yale beginning in early 1903.{{cite book |title=The Key of Kappa Kappa Gamma |date=February 1913 |publisher=Kappa Kappa Gamma |page=487 |edition=Vol 30 (1) }} She was one of four children, her sister being Dr. Ellen Bliss Talbot, a professor of philosophy at the same college—Mount Holyoke College—as Mignon, and two brothers, Herbert S. Talbot and Benjamin Talbot. Throughout her years of university, she was a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority, serving on the national council of that organization, and Phi Beta Kappa. After her successful career as a paleontologist and professor, she retired to Stevens House, South Hadley.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1950/07/20/archives/mignon-talbot-80-geologist-31-years-professor-emeritus-at-mount.html|title=MIGNON TALBOT, 80, GEOLOGIST 31 YEARS; Professor Emeritus at Mount Holyoke College Dies--Made Discovery of Small Dinosaur|date=July 20, 1950|work=The New York Times|access-date=December 30, 2018|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331|url-access=subscription }}