Alfred Marshall Bailey
American ornithologist and writer (1894-1978)
Alfred Marshall Bailey (February 18, 1894 – February 25, 1978) was an American ornithologist who was associated with the Denver Museum of Natural History (now the Denver Museum of Nature and Science)
in Colorado for most of his working life.
Early years
Bailey was born in Iowa City, Iowa, where he went to school and then attended the University of Iowa. While a student there he participated in a three-month scientific expedition to Laysan, one of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.
Career
After graduation in 1916, Bailey served as curator of birds and mammals at the Louisiana State Museum in New Orleans (1916–1919). From 1919 to 1921 he was involved in surveying south-eastern Alaska for the Bureau of Biological Survey (later to become the United States Fish and Wildlife Service), followed by a curatorial stint at the Denver Museum (1921–1926). From 1926 to 1927 he was on the staff of the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, during which period he took part in an expedition to the Semien Mountains of Ethiopia. From 1927 to 1936 he was Director of the Chicago Academy of Sciences.
Denver Museum
Bailey returned to the Denver Museum as Director in 1936, a position he served in for over thirty years, eventually retiring in 1969 at the age of 75. He was a proponent of fieldwork, over the years leading or taking part in several further expeditions to various parts of the world, including the Arctic, Siberia, Mexico, Pacific islands, and New Zealand's subantarctic Campbell Island. He was also a popularizer of science and a skilled photographer, producing the Denver "Museum Pictorial" series of booklets, and contributing articles to magazines such as National Geographic and Natural History.
The public source identifies “Alfred Marshall Bailey” as american ornithologist and writer (1894-1978). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Alfred, Marshall and Bailey.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Alfred Marshall Bailey”, the useful work is to connect “american ornithologist and writer (1894-1978)” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 2, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4723122. VIAF identifies the subject as 91241356. The Library of Congress control number is n90706087. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1894, 1978, 1916 and 1919.
Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.
- Establishing names and roles
- Building a first chronology
- Locating cited institutions
Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Alfred Marshall Bailey”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Alfred Marshall Bailey primary sources, Alfred Marshall Bailey archive and Alfred research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Alfred Marshall Bailey”?
- Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
- How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Alfred Marshall Bailey” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.