John Livsey Ridgway

Who was John Livsey Ridgway?

John Livzey Ridgway was an American scientific illustrator and brother of ornithologist Robert Ridgway. Ridgway collaborated with his brother on ornithological illustration and published his own works. Ridgway was born in Mount Carmel, Illinois to David and Henrietta Reed Ridgway, and attended public schools in Illinois. Robert Ridgway brought him to work as a copyist and draftsman for the United States National Museum in the 1880s. Ridgway was a draftsman for the United States Geological Survey from 1884–1918, and its chief illustrator from 1918–1920. He also worked for the Carnegie Institution of Washington. In 1920 he moved to California, where he worked for the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and the California Institute of Technology, working for the latter institution up until his death.

John Ridgway illustrated several works in the fields of ornithology and paleontology. Notable among these were:

Contributions to the Natural History of Alaska

Report upon Natural History Collections Made in Alaska between the Years 1877 and 1881 .