Talk:Theodore Jasper

	Biography portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Biography, a collaborative effort to create, develop and organize Wikipedia's articles about people. All interested editors are invited to join the project and contribute to the discussion. For instructions on how to use this banner, please refer to the documentation.BiographyWikipedia:WikiProject BiographyTemplate:WikiProject Biographybiography articles
	This article is supported by the science and academia work group (assessed as Low-importance).
	An editor has requested that an image or photograph be added to this article.

Birds Low‑importance

Theodore Jasper is part of WikiProject Birds, an attempt at creating a standardized, informative and easy-to-use ornithological resource. If you would like to participate, visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks. Please do not substitute this template.BirdsWikipedia:WikiProject BirdsTemplate:WikiProject Birdsbird articles

Low

This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.

WikiProject Birds To-do:

Here are some tasks awaiting attention:

Article requests : Endemic birds of Papua New Guinea (more)
Cleanup : Bullfinch • Vesper sparrow • Bird flight • Bird bath (more)
Copyedit : Plushcap • Magpie duck • Saker falcon (more)
Expand : Phalarope • Nidicolous • Gouldian finch • Cathartes • Cnemophilidae • Avian malaria (more)
NPOV : Debeaking • Driven grouse shooting • Abu Dhabi Falcon Hospital (more)
Stubs : Cathartiformes • Semiplumbeous hawk • Rainbow-bearded Thornbill • Sunda scops owl (more)
Update : Coal tit • Scottish crossbill • New Caledonian lorikeet • Operation Migration (more)
Verify : Argus (bird) • Blyth's frogmouth • Nik Borrow • Pytilia • Fregata • Chestnut-headed tesia • Darter • Pallid scops owl • Starling (more)
Wikify : Ninox boobook ocellata • The Institute for Bird Populations (more)
Other : Add photos to bird articles needing photos (search Flickr for free images). Add taxonomic authorities to genus articles.

More outstanding tasks at the project's cleanup listing, Category:Birds articles needing attention, and Wikipedia:WikiProject Birds/Todo.

Identity of Theodore Jasper, artist in Studer's Popular Ornithology

This page from Cornell University says that Theodore Jasper (artist for Studer's Popular Ornithology) was a medical doctor and ornithologist, however this appears to be an error. Haverstock et al. (2000, see references in article) has a biographical listing for an artist Theodore Jasper in Columbus Ohio active at the same time that ornithologist/lithographer Jacob Henry Studer resided there. There is no mention of Jasper being a physician or an ornithologist--he is listed as a tinter of photographs and a portrait painter. It seems reasonably certain that Haverstock's entry is correct and that this is Theodore Jasper, the artist of Studer's work.

Additional note: the 1903 edition of Studer's Birds of America (a.k.a. Studer's Popular Ornithology, see page text from Univ. Wisconsis) says:

The original drawings for the work were made from nature, by THEODORE JASPER, A. M., M. D., an Artist of superior capabilities, who has made Ornithology a life-study.

This would appear to be the source of the statement on Cornell's web page above, but it seems really likely this was marketing hype. The concurrence of Studer and Jasper's biographies in Haverstock's work cited in the article is just too darn good--both working in printing/illustration in Columbus, Ohio, during the same period. Cotinis (talk) 21:11, 8 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

- - See any of the works of Oliver Davie, a famous ornithologist from Columbus Ohio in the late 19th century (Nests and Eggs of North American Birds, or Methods in the Art of Taxidermy), wherein you will find many drawings by Jasper, praises for his skill in bird taxidermy from this much more famous colleague. Havistock treats only the commercial artistic work, and leaves out entirely his bird illustrations. Studer, by contrast, has no history as an ornithologist, although he claimed to be one at the end of his life; see the pathetic obit in the New York Times. John Maynard Wheaton, author of "Report on the Birds of Ohio" 1882 mentions Jasper's work with birds in eight different references. Studer, by contrast, knew very little about birds; his 'contributions' to the book he published based on Jasper's paintings feature lots of plagiarism: the account of the ivory-billed woodpecker is stolen word for word from Audubon!