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Special Collections Exhibited in the Three Village Community

Posted on by Kristen Nyitray

Rare photographs from the Robert Cushman Murphy Collection were recently exhibited at two community events hosted by Robert Cushman Murphy Junior High School and the Ward Melville Heritage Organization (WMHO) in Stony Brook, respectively. On April 22, photographs were on view at the WMHO’s 88-acre wetlands preserve at West Meadow Creek as part of Earth Day celebrations. On April 29, Murphy Junior High School held a Heritage Day with activities organized to deepen awareness of its namesake’s contributions to conserving the environment and his legacy.

Photographs of penguins taken by Robert Cushman Murphy in 1947 at the Snares Islands, known colloquially as The Snares, a group of uninhabited islands lying about 200 km south of New Zealand’s South Island.
Photographs of penguins taken by Robert Cushman Murphy in 1947 at the Snares Islands, known colloquially as The Snares, a group of uninhabited islands lying about 200 km south of New Zealand’s South Island.

Born in Brooklyn, New York, Robert Cushman Murphy (1887-1973) was a world-renowned naturalist and ornithologist, and a prolific author who focused on protecting birds and whales, and their habitats. The Robert Cushman Murphy Collection documents Murphy’s family life and professional work chiefly through photographs and slides. In his early years, Murphy’s family moved east to Mount Sinai and later he would reside in Stony Brook. With his parents’ encouragement, Murphy studied local wildlife. This passion inspired his life’s work, as he became an important conservationist, traveling around the world on expeditions including to Antarctica. 

Robert Cushman Murphy
Robert Cushman Murphy

In 1921, Murphy became associate curator at the American Museum of Natural History and in 1949, he was named Lamont Curator of Birds. Assisted by his wife Grace, the couple cataloged and relocated more than 280,000 bird specimens to the American Museum of Natural History. Murphy also remained steadfast in advocating for the stewardship of Long Island’s natural environment. He was the first president of the Long Island chapter of the Nature Conservancy and contributed to establishing the Fire Island National Seashore. In 1957, he was part of a group of Long Islanders that sued to cease spraying of DDT. His book Fish Shape Paumanok: Nature and Man on Long Island was published in 1964. Robert Cushman Murphy Junior High School in Stony Brook is named in his honor, along with Mount Murphy in Antarctica and Trachurus murphyi, the Chilean jack mackerel.

For more information about the collection, visit https://www.stonybrook.edu/commcms/libspecial/collections/manuscripts/murphy.php.  

Page from Robert Cushman Murphy’s journal about a cruise between Long Island and the Bay of Fundy on the three-masted schooner Migrant from June 28, 1933 to July 10/11, 1933. The Bay of Fundy is a bay between the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.
Page from Robert Cushman Murphy’s journal about a cruise between Long Island and the Bay of Fundy on the three-masted schooner Migrant from June 28, 1933 to July 10/11, 1933. The Bay of Fundy is a bay between the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.


Map from Robert Cushman Murphy’s journal about a cruise between Long Island and the Bay of Fundy on the three-masted schooner Migrant from June 28, 1933 to July 10/11, 1933. The Bay of Fundy is a bay between the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.
Map from Robert Cushman Murphy’s journal about a cruise between Long Island and the Bay of Fundy on the three-masted schooner Migrant from June 28, 1933 to July 10/11, 1933. The Bay of Fundy is a bay between the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.
Kristen Nyitray

Kristen Nyitray

Associate Librarian; Director, Special Collections and University Archives; and University Archivist at Stony Brook University Libraries
Contact her for research assistance with rare books, manuscript collections, historical maps, and SBU history. E-mail: kristen.nyitray@stonybrook.edu.
Kristen Nyitray

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