John Cassin (1813-1869)

John Cassin was America's first serious bird taxonomist. He became curator of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences in 1842, an institution housing the largest collection of bird skins then in existence. He authored the text of government scientific reports based on explorations of the American West looking for the best route to locate the transcontinental railway. Cassin was paid $5320 to draw, paint, and hand color 2000 copies each of 38 plates of bird specimens brought back from the survey.  The bird prints from the Railroad Surveys were re-published by the Smithsonian Institute in 1860 with text by Spencer Baird and entitled Birds of North America.