- Richard E. Blackwelder
Richard Eliot Blackwelder (
January 29 ,1909 -January 17 ,2001 ) was an Americanbiologist ,professor andauthor specializing inentomology andtaxonomy . After a distinguished professional career, he retired in 1977, and in 1978 he discovered the works ofJ. R. R. Tolkien , which were to be the focus of his energies for the remainder of his life. [Elston, Charles B: "Richard E. Blackwelder: Scholar, Collector, Benefactor and Friend", in "The Lord of the Rings 1954-2004: Scholarship in Honor of Richard E. Blackwelder"] Over the next twenty years, Blackwelder amassed a large collection of Tolkien-related books and other materials, which he sorted and indexed. The Blackwelder Collection, donated toMarquette University in 1982, is believed to be the largest single body of secondary sources on Tolkien ever to be developed. [ [http://www.marquette.edu/library/collections/archives/tolkien.html Marquette University Special Collections and Archives site, retrieved February 15, 2007] ]Marriage and academic career
Blackwelder was born in
Madison, Wisconsin , and earned hisPh. D. degree in 1934 fromStanford University . He married Ruth MacCoy in 1935 and from 1935-1938 served as a W. R. Bacon Fellow at theSmithsonian Institution . He served as AssistantCurator of Entomology at the U.S. National Museum (now theNational Museum of Natural History ) from 1939 to 1955. He was Associate Professor atSt. John Fisher College inRochester, New York , for two years before becoming Professor ofZoology atSouthern Illinois University in Carbondale, a position he held until is retirement in 1977.In 1947, Blackwelder's colleague
Waldo L. Schmitt andGeorge W. Wharton established theSociety of Systematic Zoology . Blackwelder was actively involved in the Society, serving as Secretary-Treasurer (1948-1959), and becoming its President in 1961. Blackwelder was a Fellow of theCalifornia Academy of Sciences and a Timothy Hopkins Lecturer. [ [http://www.science.siu.edu/zoology/blackwelder/index.html Richard E. Blackwelder (1909-2001), Southern University Illinois Carbondale web site, retrieved January 19, 2007] ]Tolkien collection
The knack for organizing and categorizing that drove Blackwelder to excel in taxonomy also colored his post-retirement passion for Tolkien's
legendarium . Blackwelder amassed a large collection of Tolkieniana, which he sorted and indexed before arranging to donate the collection to the Archives of Marquette University. The Blackwelder Collection consists of "ten linear feet of documents in 140 ... three ring binders, ... over 1,200 volumes ... and over 70 theses anddissertations ." [Elston, "Richard E. Blackwelder"]He spent four years compiling a concordance to the names of characters, animals, and plants in Tolkien's work, which was published in 1990 by Garland Press as "A Tolkien Thesaurus". A fifteen-page companion booklet, "Tolkien Phraseology", was published by Marquette in 1990. [Elston, "Richard E. Blackwelder"]
During these years, Blackwelder was actively involved in
Tolkien fandom , contributing frequently toBeyond Bree .Death and bequest
Blackwelder died on
January 17 ,2001 , twelve days before his 92nd birthday. [Elston, "Richard E. Blackwelder"] His ashes are interred with his wife's in the MacCoy niche at Sunset Mausoleum nearBerkeley, California . [ [http://www.science.siu.edu/zoology/blackwelder/index.html Richard E. Blackwelder (1909-2001), Southern University Illinois Carbondale] ]In 1987, Blackwelder established the Tolkien Archives Fund at Marquette University to catalog Marquette's manuscript collection, sponsor public programming, and to provide support for the acquisition and preservation of Tolkien research material in the Department of Special Collections. The fund is endowed by Blackwelder's estate. Among the acquisitions funded by this bequest is the
Grace E. Funk Tolkien/Fantasy Fiction Collection of 2,376 books, articles, films, documentary videos, photocopied articles and newspaper clippings. [ [http://www.marquette.edu/library/collections/archives/tolkien.html Marquette University Special Collections and Archives site] ] .The Tolkien Archives Fund also contributed financial assistance to the Marquette University Tolkien Conference (October 21-23, 2004) "The Lord of the Rings 1954-2004": Scholarship in Honor of Richard E. Blackwelder". The proceedings of the conference were published in 2006.
Books
Blackwelder published many books of interest to specialists in zoology and entomology. His other significant works include:
*"The Zest for Life, or Waldo Had a Pretty Good Run: The Life of Waldo LaSalle Schmitt" The Allen Press, Inc., Lawrence, Kansas, 1979
*"A Tolkien Thesaurus" Garland Publishing, New York, 1990
*"Tolkien Phraseology: A Companion to A Tolkien Thesaurus" Tolkien Archives Fund, Marquette University, 1990Notes
References
* [http://www.science.siu.edu/zoology/blackwelder/index.html Richard E. Blackwelder (1909-2001), Southern University Illinois Carbondale web site, retrieved February 19, 2007]
*Hammond, Wayne G. andChristina Scull , editors: "The Lord of the Rings 1954-2004: Scholarship in Honor of Richard E. Blackwelder" Marquette University Press, 2006, ISBN 0-8746-2018-X.
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