Bashford Dean

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Bashford Dean, about 1890
Development of the helmets as a phylogenetic tree
Modern helmet designed by Dean

Bashford Dean ( October 28, 1867 in New York City - December 6, 1928 in Battle Creek, Michigan ) was an American zoologist specializing in ichthyology and an expert on medieval weapons and armor. He was curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET) and American Museum of Natural History and professor of zoology at Columbia University .

Live and act

Dean's family was very wealthy and he didn't have to worry about financing his interests for his entire life. He has been enthusiastic about natural history since childhood . His second passion for medieval weapons and armor was also awakened early on. A family friend had a collection of antiques, and Dean was particularly fascinated by a medieval helmet. When the family friend died, the collection was auctioned off in 1876. The nine-year-old Dean tried to bid for the medieval helmet, but was outbid. At the age of 10 he bought two daggers from the 16th century; they were the first pieces in what was later to become a large collection.

As a highly gifted student, he attended City College of New York from 1881, at the age of 14, then studied ichthyology and paleontology at Columbia University, where he received a Ph.D. was awarded. Dean stayed at the university; from the 1880s to the early 1900s, his research trips took him to Europe , Russia , Alaska , Japan and the Pacific coast of the USA . In 1904 he got a chair . From 1904 to 1920 Dean was curator of ichthyology at the American Museum of Natural History. In 1904 he began his connection with the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where he initially worked as a guest curator for weapons and armaments. Finally, in 1912, the museum set up its own weapons and armament department, which Bashford Dean took over. Only now did he get a salary for his work at the MET; In return, he donated a piece from his collection to the museum for the equivalent each year. Dean adopted some methods of zoology for the display of information in the museum. He was dissatisfied with the way the museum was incoherently describing the exhibits. In 1915 he visualized the development of the various weapons and armor based on the phylogenetic trees used in paleontology . Again and again he suggested that the museum take the armor out of the showcases on certain days and put it on employees of the museum in order to demonstrate it to the visitors in motion. He himself did it again and again with his collection items, to the delight of the children in his neighborhood.

Shortly after the United States entered World War I in 1917, the US government asked Bashford Dean to design appropriate body armor. Dean should bring his experience with historical armor. While the military had given up almost all personal armament by the 19th century, changes in warfare in the 20th century made it clear that new protective measures were necessary. Dean was classified as a major in the Ordnance Corps . He traveled to Europe to consult with the Allies in London and Paris . Dean and his team, including Plattner of MET, presented several prototypes ago by helmets and personal protective equipment. Various pieces were produced in small series and sent to the front for test purposes. The US military rejected Dean's preferred helmet because it looked too similar to the German steel helmet . Even if no piece of equipment was introduced, Dean's work serves as the basis for the development of later personal protective equipment.

In 1927 Dean retired as curator of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Always prone to disease, Bashford Dean died in a Battle Creek sanatorium in 1928 . A large part of his personal collection is in the MET.

Publications

Ichthyology

  • Fishes, living and fossil. An outline of their forms and probable relationships , 1895 [2]
  • Chimæroid fishes and their development , 1906 [3]
  • A bibliography of fishes , 1916 Volume 1 , Volume 2 , Volume 3

Weapons and armor

  • Catalog of the loan collection of Japanese armor , 1903 [4]
  • The collection of arms and armor of Rutherfurd Stuyvesant , 1914 [5]
  • Handbook of arms and armor, European and oriental, including the William H. Riggs collection , 1915 [6]
  • Notes on arms and armor , 1916 [7]
  • Helmets and body armor in modern warfare , 1920 [8]

miscellaneous

  • The Dyckman House , 1917 [9]

Web links

Commons : Bashford Dean  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Dean, Bashford 1867-1928 , American Museum of Natural History
  2. ↑ a b c d e Armor & Fish Man in: TIME , April 28, 1930, Vol. XV No. 17th
  3. ^ A b c Donald J. La Rocca: A Look at the Life of Bashford Dean , Metropolitan Museum of Art , March 4, 2014,
  4. ^ Ichthyology Department: History , American Museum of Natural History
  5. ↑ Carl P. Lipo, Michael J. O'Brien, Stephen Shennan, Mark Collard, Society for American Archeology : Mapping Our Ancestors: Phylogenetic Approaches in Anthropology and Prehistory , Transaction Publishers, 2017 ISBN 9780202367286 p. 81- [1]
  6. ↑ Donald J. La Rocca: Bashford Dean and Helmet Design During World War I , July 23, 2014, Metropolitan Museum of Art
  7. ↑ https://www.militarytrader.com/militaria-collectibles/american-experimental-helmets-from-wwi
  8. ↑ Aleksandr Gelfand: The Devoted Collector: William H. Riggs and the Department of Arms and Armor , Metropolitan Museum of Art , January 16, 2013
personal data
SURNAME Dean, Bashford
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American zoologist specializing in ichthyology, expert in medieval weapons and armor
DATE OF BIRTH October 28, 1867
PLACE OF BIRTH New York City
DATE OF DEATH December 6, 1928
PLACE OF DEATH Battle Creek, Michigan