Introduction and background -- Section I: The Bailey family history -- Early family history: from blacksmithing to Bailey Station (1637-1864) -- Iron Creek baby (1864-1872) -- Life around the Bailey homestead -- Wildlife and hunting around the homestead -- Schooling and the making of a naturalist -- Specimens and trapping talk (1886-1887) -- Section II: Working for Merriam and the US Government -- Employment and a field trip -- Dear folks at home -- Grand collecting country: Dakota Territory -- Full of sharp points -- Get all the mammals you can -- On the road again -- The west beckons: on to Utah -- It takes grit (December 1888 and 1889) -- Down the Colorado -- The promise of plenty of company -- On the very border -- A splendid trip: in the field with Merriam -- A great place for cactus (1889-1890) -- Sagebrush, alkali, and mountain magic -- All hurry and change -- Into Death Valley -- Farmer or naturalist? -- Section III: Becoming a scientific naturalist -- Country boy in the city -- Dixie and new kinds of wilderness -- Ozark country and beyond -- I just want to remember -- Fit for scientific work -- The school of life -- From sermons in the woods to marital bliss (1895-1899) -- Safe and wild in Texas (1900-1905) -- Wolves dead and alive -- Making sense of scents -- Movin' on (1908-1910) -- Section IV: Work at the survey after Merriam's departure -- In sickness and in health (1911-1912) -- So long to administration, back to the field (1913-1914) -- Changes in leadership and direction (1915-1919) -- Rats, bats, and beaver (1920-1924) -- Family time and professional success (1925-1927) -- Beaver, deer, and cross-country trips (1928-1929) -- Predator and prey and patents (1930-31) -- Rewards and sudden announcement (1932-1933) -- Section V: Retirement and the end -- Trapping a new life (1933-1939) -- The early war years and prairie trek (1940-1942) -- Gathering -- Bailey in perspective -- Appendix. biographic profiles of naturalists associated with Vernon Bailey.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.