Reighard, Jacob, 1861-1942

Professor of zoology at University of Michigan, director of the zoological laboratory, and museum of zoology.

From the description of Jacob Ellsworth Reighard papers, 1887-1942. (University of Michigan). WorldCat record id: 34420440

Jacob Ellsworth Reighard, professor of zoology at the University of Michigan, was born at LaPorte, Indiana, July 2, 1861, the son of John D. and Mary Hulburt Reighard. Reighard attended the public schools at LaPorte, Indiana, entered the Literary Department of the University of Michigan in the fall of 1878, and graduated with the Ph.D degree in 1882. Following his graduation he taught for three years in Indiana and Massachusetts. During the last two years of this period he was a private student of Dr. E.L. Mark of Harvard University. After this he spent a year at Michigan in the study of medicine.

He began his teaching career at Michigan in 1886 when he was appointed Instructor in Zoology. During the absence of Professor Joseph B. Steere he served as Acting Assistant Professor, 1887-88, and was made Assistant Professor of Zoology in 1889. Jacob Reighard was directly responsible for many changes in the character of zoology courses. To the old group of courses dealing with the systematics and natural history of various animal groups, he added Vertebrate Dissections, Histology of Vertebrates, Elements of Biology (Animal Life), and Embryology, each of which required laboratory work as well as the usual lectures or recitations. Beginning in 1889 the zoological courses were listed in two groups in the catalogue, "General Zoology" Systematic taught by Professor Steere, and Animal Morphology given by Professor Reighard. In 1892 Professor Reighard was made Professor of Animal Morphology; his department was separated from the old department and was known as the Morphological Laboratory.

Professor Reighard spent the year 1894-95 in study at the University of Freiburg, Germany. After his return in 1895 his title was changed to Professor of Zoology and Director of the Zoological Laboratory and the Museum of Zoology. The museum position he retained until 1913. He continued as Director of the Zoological Laboratory until 1925 when he relinquished the active directorship, retaining his professorship until his retirement as professor emeritus in 1927. In 1936, after the close of his active career, the University of Michigan conferred upon him the honorary degree of Doctor of Science.

With Professor Frederick C. Newcombe and Dr. George P. Burns of the Department of Botany, Professor Reighard was a cofounder of the University of Michigan Biological Station on Douglas Lake in Cheboygan County in 1909 and was its first Director. Professor Reighard's contribution to the development of the research function of the Museum of Zoology during his directorship, 1895-1913, was stated thus by his successor: "During this time the museum was made up of a number of collections under the direction of the heads of several teaching departments. It is largely due to Professor Reighard that the Museum of Zoology did not become an adjunct to a teaching department but was an independent research department of the University. Professor Reighard directed the scientific work of the Michigan Fish Commission for the years 1890-1895 during which time a number of important research projects were carried through to completion. Although for lack of support this series of investigations came to a close in 1895, the present Institute for Fisheries Research of the Michigan Department of Conservation probably should be considered to be "the delayed outgrowth of the scientific work which he did for the Michigan Fish Commission" some decades earlier.

For the years 1898-1901. Professor Reighard was in charge of the Biological Survey of the Great Lakes conducted by the U.S. Fish Commission, and for some years beginning in 1917 he directed important researches on the food fishes of the Great Lakes. As an outgrowth of the latter and possibly indirectly as the result of his own earlier work on the Great Lakes came the establishment in Ann Arbor of the Great Lakes Laboratory of the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries (now the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service).

Professor Reighard held membership and served as officer in various scientific organizations including A.A.A.S. (vice president of Section F, 1910), American Society of Naturalists, American Society of Zoologists (vice president of the eastern branch and president of the central branch in 1903), the Ecological Society of America, American Fisheries Society (president, 1915), and the Michigan Academy of Science (president, 1900). He presided at two sessions on Animal Behavior at the International Zoological Congress at Boston in 1907. For some years he served as trustee and member of the Executive Committee of the Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, and was a member of the Board of Scientific Advisers of the Michigan Geological and Biological Survey.

Professor Reighard was always interested in the improvement of methods and in the application of new methods to zoological research. An expert photographer, he described methods of photographing embryos, of photographing breeding fishes in their natural habitats, and of photographing coral-reef fishes by means of a submerged camera which he devised. His book on the "Anatomy of the Cat" written with H.S. Jennings has had extensive use in anatomical laboratories and was revised by Dr. Rush Elliott in the 1930's with the collaboration of Professor Reighard.

In the later years of his active career, increasing deafness caused Reighard to learn speech reading. His interest in helping others, afflicted with the same infirmity, led him to translate a number of German papers on this subject and to prepare several original papers, some of which are still in manuscript form. This work and the completion of manuscripts on breeding habits of fishes occupied much of his time after his retirement.

Jacob Reighard was responsible for the development of modern zoological teaching and research at the University of Michigan. Through his teaching, his researches and his leadership in zoological organizations he exerted a marked influence upon zoology in the United States. Reighard died February 13, 1942 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. [This sketch is an edited version of the memorial read before the Faculty Meeting, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, April 6, 1942, and was compiled by George R. La Rue, Peter Okkelberg, and John F. Shepard.]

From the guide to the Jacob Ellsworth Reighard Papers, 1887-1942, 1890-1920, (Bentley Historical Library University of Michigan)