Annie Montague Alexander (1867-1950)

Annie Montague Alexander was an intrepid woman who has influenced history and earth sciences as we know them.  This website is dedicated to those pioneering women who performed and and excelled in the jobs traditionally held by men, thus opening the doors for women scientists for decades and centuries to come.

Annie Alexander was a woman born to wealth, opportunity and prestige in a time when women's roles in society were socially and gender prescribed.  Rather than accepting her elevated social position and the comforts in life associated with it, she defied those roles and struck out as an intrepid world traveler excited by adventure, discovery, independence and most of all, paleantology.  Her contributions to the field changed not only the status and views of women on expeditions, but also the understanding of paleantology in Northern California and beyond. 

Growing up in Hawaii at a young age, Annie Alexander watched as her father Samuel Alexander worked tirelessly to turn an arid area of the island of Maui into the lush environment necessary for growing sugar cane.  She enjoyed the freedom of children on the island at that time and spent her days riding horseback around the island and her nights camping with her siblings in the forests of Maui. 

When her father made the decision to move the family to Oakland, California in 1883 for reasons of health and to further his business in sugar on the mainland, Annie was disapointed at the loss of her island home.  In 1887 Annie traveled East to Massachusetts to attend Lasell Seminary for Young Women.  This school was radical in its time with the idea that women should be educated beyond simple reading, writing and arithmetic.  Her attendence at this school may have layed the ground work for Annie's independent thinking later in her life.

Upon completing her education at the Seminary, Annie began traveling with her family at first through Europe and later alone with her father.  Whether taking a 1,500 bike tour of Europe or traveling to the South Pacific and places including; China, Java, Samoa, and Singapore Annie flourished with the exposure to other cultures, landscapes and the general freedom that traveling provided her.  Later when she was at her home in Oakland she would write letters to friends explaining her extreme loneliness and feelings of depression at being forced to stay in one place at a time. 

In 1899 Annie set out on a ten-week trip through Northern California and Orgon on horseback with a close friend Martha Beckwith.  The women collected plant samples, studied the geology of the region.  Beckwith educated Annie about the birds they encountered as well.  The trip marked the beginning of a lifeliong friendship between the women and Alexander later credited Beckwith with introducing her to geology and her ensuing passion for fossils.

In 1901 while Annie was experiencing some of her boredom at being home in Oakland, she began attending lectures by John C. Merriam, a well known and engaging professor of paleantology at UC Berkeley.  She developed a passion for paleantology through these lectures and began setting out in the Bay Area to discover fossils on her own.  She wrote letters at this time in her life extolling the amazing landscapes of the area and expressing regret that she had never appreciated the land where she lived until she was fossil hunting or digging in the near by shell mounds.  Through her continued contact with Merriam she developed a professional relationship with him and an interest in his work.  She eventually offered to fund his expeditions.  As Merriam's trips became more successful and Annie saw the fascinating fossils recovered by the team she began to express interest in joining Merriam's team in the field. Her requests to accompany Merriam's team of paleantologists in the field was eventually accepted with the understanding that she would fund the exhibitions, work on the trips (to her delight) and would donate whatever fossils she discovered back to the deparment to boost its standing as a center for paleantological research.

In 1904 the unexpected death of her father on an expedition with Annie in Africa served as a catalyst for her to absorb herself in another project to distract herself from her grief.  She was devastated by the loss of her father, however she was determined to continue to live in a manner consistent with her father's wishes for eher. Annie began formulating a plan for a museum of vertebrate zoology.  It was not until 1908 that the plans for the museum began to take a realistic shape but Annie helped prepare the plans for them museum as well as continuing on expeditions to continue collecting specimens for the museum and the paleantology department. 

It was during this time that Annie, at the suggestion of her colleagues because of issues of propriety, decided to find a female companion to travel with.  Annie had taken up some of the duties of cook at the expedition camps and she was looking for someone to  share both the physical labor and the joy of fieldwork she enjoyed as a field biologist.  It was at this time that Annie discovered a friend in Louise Kellogg.  Their first trip together was the "1908 Alexander Expedition" to Alaska.  Annie expressed concern to her colleagues about Kellogg's ability to survive the conditions in the field.   To Annie's delight, Louise proved herself to be a perfect work and travel companion and the trip to Alaska marked the beginning of a 42 year relationship between the women that ended only with Annie's death in 1950.

With Kellogg by her side, Annie continued to do field research with the UC Berkeley Department of Paleantology.  In 1920 she established the UCMP (University of California Museum of Pleantology) and created and endowment for its funding.  Over the years, Kellogg and Alexander collected, documented, and donated more than 22,000 species of plant, animal and paleantological specimens to the University.  At least 17 species of plants and animals honor Alexander in their scientific names.  Several others are named after Kellogg.

In 1911 Annie and Louise purchased the land on Grizzley Island in Suisun Bay approximately 40 miles northeast of Oakland.  They wanted to have a ranch, grow crops and raise cattle.  With a slow and difficult start, the women succedded over the years in growing hay, breeding milking shorthorn cattle, and raising nationally purchased, award winning asparagus.  Annie provided the financial backing for the ranch and made the business decisions and purchases and Louise did much of the physical labor; the plowing, planting, weeding the vegetable garden, doing the wash and the cooking.

For the remainder of her life, Annie and Louise worked in the field for at least one expedition most years.   Annie celebrated her 80th birthday in the field only 3 years before her death in 1950.

Annie Montague Alexander was an incredible woman in many ways.  Most prominant of her qualities was her refusal to accept the norms and propriety expected of women.  In an era when women in science were, at best, rare she pressed forward and accepted no other definition of her life than the one she created for herself.  It is this spirit that pioneering women scientists all over the world exhibit when they contribute to their fields of study.