The Smithsonian Curator Who Loved Frogs

As the first female curator of the National Museum of Natural History’s collection of amphibians and reptiles, Doris Cochran shaped herpetology at the museum and beyond

For Doris Mable Cochran (1898-1968), an influential herpetologist and scientific illustrator who served as the first woman curator in the Division of Amphibians and Reptiles at the National Museum of Natural History, a deep love for cold-blooded animals blossomed early in childhood.

Cochran was born in Pennsylvania in 1898 and grew up in Washington, D.C., where she kept turtles as pets, as well as snails, goldfish and cats (and she’d continue to share a roof with pet toads and turtles well into adulthood). In an article in The American Magazine in the Smithsonian Institution's Archives, she attributed her “overwhelming” interest in natural history from a young age to childhood walks with her parents, where they would observe plants and animals near their family home. She fell for frogs in particular early in her career when she first traveled to Brazil in 1935 to study tropical amphibians.

“I’m really sentimental about these curious creatures,” she told The American Magazine.

After graduating high school, Cochran took a position with the War Department. In 1919, she was appointed as an aide to Leonhard Stejneger, a curator in the Division of Amphibians and Reptiles at the Smithsonian’s United States National Museum (now NMNH). While at the War Department and at the museum, she pursued a deeper understanding of the natural world, attending George Washington University at night and earning multiple degrees in zoology by 1921. At the same time, she attended the Corcoran Art School and became a scientific illustrator. She graduated from Johns Hopkins University with her masters in zoology in 1928, and earned her PhD from the University of Maryland in 1933 with a dissertation on the musculature of the state’s iconic blue crab.

Struggles at the Smithsonian

Cochran moved up the ranks within the Division of Amphibians and Reptiles at the Smithsonian, becoming assistant curator in 1927 and then associate curator in 1942. She took on more of the work for the Division as Stejneger grew older, and became acting head of the Division in 1943 following his death. In 1956, she finally became the first woman curator of the Division.

Despite eventually reaching the top of her department, Cochran struggled for promotion at the Smithsonian, working against the forces of a male-dominated academic and scientific world. In 1941, she was promoted to a salary grade equivalent to the starting salary for an assistant curator, despite having already worked as an assistant curator for over ten years. Years after being appointed acting head of the Division following Stejneger’s death, her salary remained at the same assistant curator level. She appealed for promotions multiple times, backed by her supervisor Waldo Schmitt and letters of support from herpetologists outside the museum attesting to the quality of her work and strengths as a curator.

In response to Cochran’s 1950 appeal for a promotion from associate curator to curator, Remington Kellogg, director of the museum, instructed Schmitt to start inspecting the reptile collections and files weekly to check for errors by Cochran and review all outgoing official letters she signed. Cochran was denied her appeal to become a full curator that year, a decision Schmitt strongly disagreed with. In February 1968, she received a letter stating that the Civil Service Retirement Act would force her into retirement on her 70th birthday in May. She retired voluntarily in April after nearly 50 years at the Smithsonian and died that May.

A massive scientific impact

In her research, Cochran focused on amphibians and reptiles in the West Indies and South America. By the time of her death, she had published 90 taxonomic papers and named nearly 100 new species and six new genera [the taxonomic rank between family and species that’s referenced in the first part of a scientific name (i.e. “Homo” in Homo sapiens)]. She has approximately 16 reptile and amphibian species named after her, including the genus Cochranella, a group of partially-transparent glass frogs found in Central and South America. In her expeditions to Brazil alone, she collected more than 3,000 specimens.

An expert in herpetology, Cochran was called upon to examine unidentified specimens for museums around the world. She was also passionate about making science accessible and sharing her love for reptiles and amphibians through writing, talking on radio shows, and giving interviews to the press. She even wrote letters from her basement office to budding naturalists who contacted her. A 1956 newspaper clipping in the Smithsonian’s archives recounts Cochran responding with detailed instructions to a child in Ohio asking her how to feed, care for, and raise 14 baby horned lizards.

Cochran published many popular articles and books, the most influential being Living Amphibians of the World, a comprehensive survey of amphibians that was published in 1961. Her work continues to impact science, including at the Smithsonian, where one of her historical specimens was recently used to identify a new species of poison dart frog. Recently retired curator of amphibians and reptiles Kevin de Querioz still consults her book, The Herpetology of Hispaniola, which Cochran illustrated herself. Like Cochran, he was drawn to reptiles and amphibians early on — and she even inspired some of that early passion for him.

“I was aware of her from an early age, probably around 12 years old, because of her book, Living Amphibians of the World,” he said. “It was one of my prized childhood possessions.”

Ashley D'Souza | Read More

Ashley D’Souza is a science writing intern at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, where they cover natural history research and collections news for the museum’s blog, Smithsonian Voices. Ashley is currently completing their master’s degree in science writing at MIT, where they write about any and all things wildlife. They also run the blog and YouTube channel, Confessions of a Bird Freak. In their free time, Ashley can be found wandering through the woods with their camera and binoculars and talking to trees and birds. See more of Ashley’s work at https://ashleydsouza.contently.com/ and https://confessionsofabirdfreak.com/.