Markman, Harvey C., 1881-1969.

Harvey C. Markman was a well-rounded naturalist who in 1919 started his career at the Colorado Museum of Natural History, the original name of Denver Museum of Nature & Science, as a handyman and served as Curator of Geology and Paleontology from 1936 until his retirement in 1954. Harvey C. Markman was born in 1881 in Richmond, Indiana. In 1893 the family moved to Colorado and settled in Montclair, then a town just east of Denver. Markman's first job after high school was as an apprentice with the local phone company, then named Colorado Telephone Company. He worked his way up to foreman, then central office engineer. Following an abiding interest in natural history, he enrolled at the University of Colorado as a special student and, in his own words, "for three years, crammed in all of the biology courses which were offered to undergraduates, along with some geology, philosophy, theory of education, and a few other subjects which appeared to be more or less pertinent to an understanding of nature and what to do about it." Disillusioned with academia, he returned to the telephone company. Then he tried farming on a homestead in Utah, but after his partner died, he returned to Denver in 1919. He contacted a family friend and fellow naturalist at the Museum, Philip Reinheimer, and got the job of his lifetime. From youth Markman was an avid birder. He learned taxidermy and acquired a good knowledge of local wildlife. He joined the Colorado Ornithological Association and met many prominent area naturalists. One special skill he developed was wildlife photography, especially of birds. In 1920 he accompanied Reinheimer to the Horsetail Creek site in Weld County, Colorado, where the Museum opened a quarry rich in Oligocene mammal fossils. Markman learned to excavate, clean and mount the specimens, a task he repeated many times in his early career at the Museum. In 1936 he was appointed Curator of Geology and Paleontology, a position he held until his retirement in 1954. As Curator, he designed and built numerous exhibits of rocks, minerals and meteorites in addition to many fossil displays. Markman was instrumental in expanding the Museum's outreach and education programs, especially among students in Denver area schools. He also was a good writer and authored two popular Museum publications, Fossil Mammals and Fossils, released in 1952 and 1954, respectively. The latter went through several editions and both had many printings. Markman never married. He died in 1969 in a nursing home in Denver, age 87.

From the description of Earth Sciences Department records 1920-1956. (Denver Museum of Nature & Science). WorldCat record id: 69018513

...