From 1880 to 1920, the study and curation of the United States National Museum collection of echinoderms was under the administrative direction of the Division of Marine Invertebrates. In 1920, an independent Division of Echinoderms was created. Austin Hobart Clark, who had served since 1908 as Collaborator and Assistant Curator in the Division of Marine Invertebrates, was appointed Curator and remained in the position until his retirement in 1950. At that time, the Division of Echinoderms ceased to exist as an administrative entity, and the collections reverted to the care of the Division of Marine Invertebrates. On July 1, 1965, the Division of Echinoderms was revived as a division of the newly created Department of Invertebrate Zoology. Around 1988, the name was changed to the Division of Echinoderms and Lower Invertebrates.
Professional staff of the Division since 1965 have included David L. Pawson, Associate Curator, Curator, Research Zoologist, and Senior Research Zoologist, 1965- ; Klaus Ruetzler, Associate Curator, Curator, and Research Zoologist, 1966- ; Frederick M. Bayer, Curator, Research Zoologist, and Zoologist Emeritus, 1972- ; and Stephen Cairns, Curator and Research Zoologist, 1985- .
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Agency History. Record 217931
