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Alice Osborne Curwen

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Alice Osborne Curwen
A young white woman with short wavy hair, wearing a white blouse with a wide pointed collar, and a soft jacket or cardigan
Alice Osborne Curwen, from the 1925 yearbook of Smith College
Bornc.1902 (1902)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
DiedJuly 21, 1983 (1984) (aged 81 years)
Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, United States
Other namesAlice Osborne McKeen (married name)
Occupation(s)Zoologist, college professor
Spouse
Edward Forster McKeen
​
​
(m. 1940; died 1970)​

Alice Osborne Curwen (c.1902 – July 21, 1983) later Alice Osborn McKeen, was an American zoologist, medical college professor, and clubwoman. She taught anatomy, histology, and embryology classes at the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania.

Early life and education

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Alice Osborne Curwen was born in Philadelphia, the daughter of George Fisher Curwen and Helen Stoddard Osborne Curwen.[1] Her father was a lumber dealer.[2] She graduated from Smith College in 1925.[3] She also studied embryology at the Marine Biological Laboratory in 1924.[4] She completed doctoral studies in biology at Yale University,[5] with a dissertation titled "The telencephalon of tupinambis nigropunctatus" (1937), a study of the brain anatomy of a Caribbean lizard.[6]

Career

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Curwen continued her research on reptile anatomy in the 1930s, publishing research in the Journal of Comparative Neurology.[7] She taught zoology at Smith College, and taught anatomy, histology, and embryology classes at the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania.[8][9] She was a member of the American Association of Anatomists.[10]

After marriage, she lived in Winterport, Maine, where she was president of the Winterport Club.[11] In the 1940s and 1950s, she was a statewide lecturer and leader[12] in Episcopal churchwomen's work in Maine,[13][14] and represented Maine at a national Episcopalian conference in San Francisco in 1949.[15] She was also active in the Women's Society of Christian Service,[16][17] and a delegate to the state Republican convention in 1966.[18]

Personal life and legacy

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Alice Osborne Curwen married Edward Forster McKeen in 1940.[19][20] Her husband was superintendent at a coal plant in Maine.[21] She and her sister Elinor Ewing Curwen donated art to the Philadelphia Museum of Art[22] and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.[23] Her husband died in 1970.[24] In 1973, antiques worth thousands of dollars were stolen from her Maine home.[25][26][27] She died in 1983, in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, aged 81 years.[28]

Though few in number, Curwen's publications continue to be cited in her field.[29][30][31] As recently as 2005, she was included in a list of "illustrious" early comparative neuroanatomists, in an anatomy textbook.[32]

References

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  1. ^ "Mrs. G. Curwen Dies at Age 91". The Philadelphia Inquirer. November 30, 1959. p. 37. Retrieved October 1, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ "Obituary for George Fisher Curwen (Aged 83)". The Philadelphia Inquirer. February 9, 1945. p. 11. Retrieved October 1, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ Smith College, Class of 1925 (1925 yearbook): 45. via Internet Archive
  4. ^ Lillie, Frank Rattray; Moore, Carl Richard; Redfield, Alfred Clarence (1925). The Biological Bulletin. Lancaster Press, Incorporated. p. 34.
  5. ^ Yale University (1923). Reports to the President of Yale University. Yale University. p. 99.
  6. ^ Curwen, Alice Osborne (1937). "The telencephalon of tupinambis nigropunctatus. I. Medial and cortical areas". Journal of Comparative Neurology. 66 (2): 375–404. doi:10.1002/cne.900660208. ISSN 1096-9861. S2CID 85159872.
  7. ^ Curwen, Alice O.; Miller, Ruth N. (August 1939). "The pretectal region of the turtle, pseudemys scripta troostii". The Journal of Comparative Neurology. 71 (1): 99–120. doi:10.1002/cne.900710107. ISSN 0021-9967. S2CID 85157657.
  8. ^ "Obituary for Alice Osborne (Aged 81)". The Philadelphia Inquirer. July 22, 1983. p. 40. Retrieved October 1, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ "Make Staff Changes". The Philadelphia Inquirer. July 13, 1930. p. 9. Retrieved October 1, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ "Proceedings of the American association of anatomists". The Anatomical Record. 117 (2): 304. 1953. doi:10.1002/ar.1091170209. ISSN 0003-276X. S2CID 221401660.
  11. ^ "Past Officers Feted by Winterport Club". The Bangor Daily News. October 21, 1957. p. 12. Retrieved October 1, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ "St. John's Auxiliary to Meet Today in Presque Isle Home". The Bangor Daily News. December 8, 1953. p. 13. Retrieved October 1, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ "Episcopal Unit Elects Officers". The Bangor Daily News. January 23, 1947. p. 18. Retrieved October 1, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ "Bishop of Maine to Give Talk in Calais Church". The Bangor Daily News. March 23, 1955. p. 24. Retrieved October 1, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ^ "Women's Auxiliary Names Delegates to Episcopal Conference". The Bangor Daily News. February 16, 1949. p. 6. Retrieved October 1, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ^ "Bucksport WSCS Fair, Nov. 18". The Bangor Daily News. November 1, 1943. p. 4. Retrieved October 1, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ^ "Bucksport". The Bangor Daily News. April 24, 1944. p. 6. Retrieved October 1, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ^ "Harriman Heads GOP at Winterport". The Bangor Daily News. April 16, 1966. p. 11. Retrieved October 1, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. ^ "Leaving for Maine". The Philadelphia Inquirer. July 30, 1940. p. 12. Retrieved October 1, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. ^ "McKeen-Curwen". The Philadelphia Inquirer. September 15, 1940. p. 50. Retrieved October 1, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  21. ^ "Searsport Man Superintendent of Bucksport Plant". The Bangor Daily News. April 29, 1941. p. 11. Retrieved October 1, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  22. ^ "Woman's Jacket". Philadelphia Museum of Art. Retrieved October 1, 2021.
  23. ^ "Samuel F. DuBois, "Mrs. Samuel Moore" (1848)". PAFA - Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. December 28, 2014. Retrieved October 1, 2021.
  24. ^ "McKeen (obituary)". The Boston Globe. July 16, 1970. p. 43. Retrieved October 1, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  25. ^ Haskell, Bob (March 12, 1973). "Antiques Gone, Worth $10,000". The Bangor Daily News. p. 2. Retrieved October 1, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  26. ^ "Two Brewer Men Charged in Winterport Heist". The Bangor Daily News. March 30, 1973. p. 22. Retrieved October 1, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  27. ^ Meara, Emmett (April 24, 1973). "Testimony Given on Antiques". The Bangor Daily News. pp. 1, 2. Retrieved October 1, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  28. ^ "Obituary for Alice O. McKEEN (Aged 81)". The Boston Globe. September 5, 1983. p. 42. Retrieved October 1, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  29. ^ Reiter, Sam; Liaw, Hua-Peng; Yamawaki, Tracy M.; Naumann, Robert K.; Laurent, Gilles (2017). "On the Value of Reptilian Brains to Map the Evolution of the Hippocampal Formation". Brain, Behavior and Evolution. 90 (1): 41–52. doi:10.1159/000478693. ISSN 0006-8977. PMID 28866680. S2CID 13763864.
  30. ^ Hassler, R. G.; Stephan, H. (December 11, 2013). Evolution of the Forebrain: Phylogenesis and Ontogenesis of the Forebrain. Springer. p. 134. ISBN 978-1-4899-6527-1.
  31. ^ Hoogland, P. V.; Ten Donkelaar, H. J.; Cruce, J. A. F. (January 1, 1978). "Efferent connections of the septal area in a lizard (tupinambis nigropunctatus)". Neuroscience Letters. 7 (1): 61–65. doi:10.1016/0304-3940(78)90113-1. ISSN 0304-3940. PMID 19605089. S2CID 9150111.
  32. ^ Butler, Ann B.; Hodos, William (September 2, 2005). Comparative Vertebrate Neuroanatomy: Evolution and Adaptation. John Wiley & Sons. p. 69. ISBN 978-0-471-73383-6.
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