Elsie Naumburg

Who was Elsie Naumburg?

Elsie Margaret Binger Naumburg was an American ornithologist.

Naumburg was born in New York City. She studied at the Sachs Institute at the University of Frankfurt and at the University of Munich, and studied with Carl Edward Hellmayr for several years. On returning to the United States she joined the staff of the Bird Department at the American Museum of Natural History, under Frank Chapman. She specialised in South American birds.

Naumburg’s most important work was on the birds of the Matto Grosso, based on collections made by George Kruck Cherrie during Theodore Roosevelt's expedition to Brazil. She later employed Emil Kaempfer to collect birds in southeastern Brazil.

Naumburg married Victor Reichenberger in 1908, and some of her early publications were under that name. Reichenberger died in 1913, and she married Walter W. Naumburg in 1923.