Artifacts & Documents: Printed Material

The Springfield Republican Reports on Roswell Field's Announcement

zoomable artifact image here

Dig Deeper

At the American Association of the Advancement of Science conference held in Springfield, Massachusetts in August 1859, Roswell Field reported that he had come to see that none the tracks found in the Connecticut River valley were made by birds, as was commonly thought. Field had several quarries on his property and believed he had seen more fossil footprints than anyone else, including even Hitchcock (with whom he was on good terms). Field now believed the tracks were made by reptiles. He did not use the word dinosaur, which had been coined 18 years earlier in England and was not yet in general use.

Creator:
Roswell Field
Date:
August, 1859
Courtesy of:
Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association Library