Philip L. Wright Zoological Museum

Mary Elrod 

The UMZM has become a repository for underrated historical artifacts from around The University, some of those items including vestiges from our long lost entomology collection.  Ms. Mary Elrod was the daughter of Morton John Elrod, who was a founding biologist at the UM in the early years and established the entomology collection that has remarkably been ‘misplaced’ over the last 100 years.  His daughter Mary earned her BS in Biology in 1911 from the UM and had varying jobs on campus ranging from instructor of Zoology from 1918-1920, to assistant director of the Museum and Northwest History Collections at the University from 1946-1958.  You can read more about her history and legacy on the campus here.  I was amazed the day I pulled this little painting off of a high shelf and realized it was an illustration, not a pinned insect.  She was 13 years old when she painted it in 1902.