Ralph L. Hand was born November 13, 1894, in Jamestown, New York. He moved to Idaho in 1920 to attend the University of Idaho. He worked for the U.S. Forest Service on fire control. He married Ellen Paris in Lewiston, Idaho, in 1930; they had two children, Ralph E. and Elinor. He was a Mason, a member of the American Legion, and a veteran of World War I. He was also an active member of the Missoula Chapter of the Audobon Society.
He developed an intense interest in birds as a boy. He published about fifteen papers on the birds of northern Idaho and western Montana in the Auk, the Condor, and the Murrelet . Hi unusual bird records were published regularly for many years in American Birds . In 1969, the Zoology Department at the University of Montana distributed his annotated list of birds of western Montana; it was widely used by area birders. He died January 14, 1978.
From the guide to the Ralph L. Hand Papers, 1886-1977, (University of Montana--Missoula Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library Archives and Special Collections)
