The 1917 Directory

Information on the first two cohorts of ESA members (284 Charter Members plus 23 members elected at the December 1916 meeting) was published in the ESA Bulletin 1(3) in early 1917. This “Handbook” offers a fascinating glimpse of information abstracted from information provided by the members themselves in response to eight questions. View the Handbook.

1. On what ecological topics have you published papers?
2. In what ecological subjects have you a special interest, or work in progress?
3. In what localities have you carried on ecological work?
4. With what regions are you slightly familiar?
5. In what taxonomic groups are you particularly interested? (italics indicate willingness to identify material in that group).
6. With what experimental methods have you had the most experience?
7. With what field instruments have you worked?

Members were also asked to provide their degrees or position. Some of the results of this survey are listed on the Original Members page.
Victor Shelford, first ESA president, summarized the 1917 members by subdiscipline, as follows:

88 plant ecology
86 animal ecology
43 forestry
39 entomology
14 marine ecology
12 agriculture
7 plant physiology
4 plant pathology
4 climatology
4 geology
3 animal parasitology
3 soil physics