Barnum Brown was a well-known (at the time) American paleontologist, most famous for his discovery of the very first identified fossils of Tyrannosaurus rex. Marjorie O'Connell knew him through their mutual employment at the American Museum of Natural History. In 1918, after Marjorie had abruptly broken-off her relationship with Dr. Amadeus Grabau, Brown consoled her at a dinner at the Endicott hotel in NYC, where he impressed her with his obvious love for his late wife (Marian). When he went off to search for oil in Abyssinia in 1920, she began writing him long letters, which she addressed to "Dear Pal" or "Boy Blue". It is difficult to know exactly how to interpret her words. She says that they were "spiritual soul-mates" and best friends, and implies (maybe) that she would be happy to be involved with him in a long-term relationship. While at the museum, she worked on preparing the fossil ammonites that he had brought back from Cuba. Unbeknownst to Marjorie, Barnum had taken up with Lilian McLaughlin several years before. Lilian would become his second wife and the chronicler of his exploits hunting fossils around the world. As described in Brown's biography, Lilian discovered one of Marjorie's lengthy letters in a desk drawer, addressed to "Dear Pal," and wrote to one of her sisters, complaining about it. Lilian did not know who this woman from the museum was, nor did Brown's biographers (Dinguss and Norell) figure it out. But it was Marjorie O'Connell. The letters were all written on both sides of brown square pages of stationery, folded in half. At some point, Brown must have returned all of Marjorie's letters to her, as they were found in a large manila envelope among her personal papers. There is no record of Marjorie's reaction to the discovery that Barnum had married Lilian in 1922 and we don't know if Marjorie ever realized that the pair had been carrying on for several years -- including the entire time she was writing her "Deal Pal" letters in 1920 -- and that the stories Lilian tells in her books about when and how they met were completely fabricated. What Marjorie's letters do reveal is the complexity of her personality, her struggles to get the recognition she deserved as a paleontologist, the highs and lows of her bipolar disorder (never diagnosed as such, but apparent from her descriptions), and the fact that she clearly had hypergraphia -- the compulsion to write extensively -- which is not uncommon among people with bipolar disorder. I find her endlessly fascinating.
Header photo, above: Brown, Barnum (photographer), “Expedition staff, Ethiopia, 1920,” AMNH Research Library | Digital Special Collections, accessed July 29, 2020, https://lbry-web-007.amnh.org/digital/items/show/66159.
Cover photo: Barnum Brown: The Man Who Discovered Tyrannosaurus Rex, by Lowell Dingus, and Dr. Mark Norell (2010), University of California Press.
LETTERS
April 17, 1920/April 24, 1920 -- written right after Barnum Brown has sailed to London on his way to explore oil fields in Abyssinia for the British; in which Marjorie refers to BB as "Boy Blue" and "Sphinxie," thanks BB for his help dealing with her crushing breakup with Amadeus Grabau, and for potentially securing her a job at the American Museum of Natural History working on his Cuban fossils, describes her blue & white kitchen and her embroidery work, mentions Dr. Hovey's wife with disdain, describes "scientific women" and introduces her various personalities, including "The Doctor" and "Margery Daw," talks about her work as a secretary in a social work agency that deals with children.
April 17, 1920/April 24, 1920 -- written right after Barnum Brown has sailed to London on his way to explore oil fields in Abyssinia for the British; in which Marjorie refers to BB as "Boy Blue" and "Sphinxie," thanks BB for his help dealing with her crushing breakup with Amadeus Grabau, and for potentially securing her a job at the American Museum of Natural History working on his Cuban fossils, describes her blue & white kitchen and her embroidery work, mentions Dr. Hovey's wife with disdain, describes "scientific women" and introduces her various personalities, including "The Doctor" and "Margery Daw," talks about her work as a secretary in a social work agency that deals with children.
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April 28, 2920 -- written before she has had any news of his trans-Atlantic crossing having been successful, in which she wonders why she feels compelled to write to him, teases him about being prim and proper (compared to her), says she is waiting to hear if she has a contract to work on his fossils at the AMNH but may leave her other job anyway, and says she is now committed to being an "old maid."
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May 4, 1920 -- in which she writes about the terrible lives of the children served by the social services agency she works for, how much it hurts her heart, but without any insight at all into the actual causes of the conditions she deplores; she then goes off on a rant against immigrants, particularly Italians "We get the scum from Italy than which nothing is worse." She questions "Who America really belongs to" and describes her ancestors and how they contributed to the founding of the country.
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May 5, 1920 -- in which she continues her rant about the taxes levied on the middle class folks paying for the "free" resources given to the immigrants, uses a racial slur against Italians, and says that the immigrants are out-reproducing the "Native Americans" -- by which she does NOT mean the indigenous peoples of the US, but rather the WASP immigrants who came over prior to 1900; she claims that institutions for "defection children" are full of the children of Jewish and Italian immigrants; she describes the murder of a famous surgeon, Dr. Markoe, in NYC by a lunatic, and decries the "parlor Socialists" who think the USA should accept "with welcoming arms the scum of Europe." She goes on to describe what, from the present day, seems to be a manic episode of being full of energy and ideas of all kinds, and then talks about world oil exploration, and what a fine physical specimen BB is and how she would love to see him in evening clothes.
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May 17-19, 1920 -- in which we find Marjorie jumping around between "The Doctor" who is finishing up the final work on an important paper on pure palǣontology of ammonites; her domestic personality, who is re-enameling her kitchen furniture and finishing the lace on her kitchen towels; and her persona as secretary at the social service agency, analyzing data and writing a report about imbeciles in New York schools. She goes on to describe in more detail her current phase of being full of energy and happiness (mania) and then tells him about a spring suit she refashioned out of one she bought for Edna in 1919 [more about Edna elsewhere]. She then goes back to talking about working on his Cuban fossils and how important they are, and offers to start collecting research publications he might want to read when he comes back to New York. She finishes by congratulating him on some award he has won, which he had sent her a telegram to tell her about.
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June 23, 1920 -- I suspect that some of Marjorie's letters to BB never reached him, or for some reason he didn't keep them, as she seems to have been writing him almost constantly. In this missive, she begins by heaping praise on him both as a scientist and as a man with charisma, then goes on to say how much she wishes she were travelling with him in Egypt. "And what, what, what can this little marmoset have to say to the Prince that will be of any interest to him?" She tells him how she "imagines" herself into better circumstances than she actually is in (more anti-immigrant statements) and reports that she is working on his Cuban fossil material. She then claims to have turned down an offer from Dr. David White to join the US Geological Survey, reporting that:" I wrote him and said I wouldn’t give up housekeeping and that I didn’t approve of women pursuing careers. I tried to tell him as nicely as I know how but I made it quite clear that I would accept no scientific position anywhere. I suppose I’ll get him down on me same as I have everyone else who has offered me good things which I’ve refused. But I didn’t find any fault with what he had to offer I only called his attention to the fact that I’m a woman and so of course am more interested in keeping house than in science. I told him I didn’t mind doing some research on the side if it didn’t interfere with my domestic duties, etc. etc." She admonishes him to send postcards and trinkets to his daughter Frances (who was living with her maternal grandparents).
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June 26, 1920 -- in which it is clear that she is receiving letters from BB, comparing the British to the Germans, etc., so we know that he was writing to her, although those letters have not been found. She regales BB with the history of the peopling of the British Isles, then reports that "Pussyfoot" from the Museum made some silly corrections to one of her manuscripts. She talks about Alexander the Great and provides a review of Vicente Blasco Ibanez's novel Mare Nostrum/Our Sea - set in the Mediterranean. [Note: I think that Dr. Hovey at the AMNH, is "Pussyfoot." Note also that Marjorie often continued a single letter from one day to the next, then sent them together. I have broken them up by date when each one was long.]
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June 27, 1920 -- in which she tells BB about her imaginary garden and hen yard, where one of the hens has hatched out 3 ducklings, then pontificates about the meaning of monogamous vs. polygamous marriage, and how she thinks smart women should marry, keep house, and raise children rather than having careers; one has to wonder if she is trying to sell herself as the ideal mate for BB -- she had no clue he was already travelling with Lilian McLaughlin, who would become his second wife; she closes hoping he will always stay his own self and not become too important for her and their silly friendship.
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June 28, 1920 -- the very brief end to the letter she began on June 26, talking about how much she misses him.
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July 13-14, 1920 -- in which we find that BB has written her several letters and asked her to keep writing to him, so she begins an almost daily correspondence, rather than try to "wean" herself from writing to him, and that she is holding off on sending him a long letter she'd been working on since the June 28th letter. She tells him about reading "The Count of Monte Cristo," and how she admires Napoleon and other great men (as opposed to weak or mediocre men) even if they have flaws. Again, one is tempted to interpret her prose as trying to convince BB that she would be happy to be married to him and would forgive his occasional "sins" -- he was known to be a ladies' man. She ends with a quote from Byron. She continues on July 14, talking about the rise and fall of Greece and other nations, and how history is driven by the acts of individuals standing up for their ideals (she is probably referring to her tossing out of Dr. Grabau, a decision she will deeply regret in later life). She then describes the Battle of Marathon in some detail, citing it as her inspiration to stick to her decision about Grabau. She ends with some silliness about her being his "marmoset" and he being the monkey-keeper off to visit the land of her relatives.
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July 15, 1920 -- in which Marjorie relates the tale of the lost overshoe, found in the spring in one of Edna's hat boxes. BB had written her that he had no one to dance with on-board the ship, then chats about the difficulties of having a platonic conversation with a man -- if you act friendly, he jumps right to kissing, or else he just walks up and sits down and won't leave you alone. I think the ship passage he had written her about must have been when Lilian stayed behind in London and he went on ahead to Egypt and found the women on board rebuffed his advances. She ends by reminding him to be careful of his health and asks him to send her postcards.
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July 17, 1920 -- which begins with an hilarious description of her answering the door to her apartment and pretending to be the maid, then scurrying back to her bedroom to change clothes and return as the dignified "Dr. O'Connell" -- pulling a fast one over on her visitors, who were from the AMNH and there to set up a meeting with Dr. Mario Sánchez Roig of Havana.
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July 19, 1920 -- in which she laments that Dr. Roig's visit was to show her a paper his son had written based on her research, without giving herdue credit, or indeed, letting her publish the material herself! Later in the year, she did publish an important paper on the Jurassic Cuban ammonites [see second link, below]. Her letter ends with a paragraph about her dire financial straits (a common theme in all her letters throughout her life).
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| 1920jurassicammonitefaunaofcubaamnh.pdf |
July 21, 1920 -- this is the note that accomopanies the long letter she'd been writing over a 3-week period but didn't want to send until she had secured a new job. This initial note includes a very odd description of an imaginary path through a forest/garden and she invites him to join her there, then an excerpt of a poem by Henry Van Dyke.
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July 22, 1920 -- The next batch of writing is a grab bag of pieces of Marjorie’s typical brown paper, cut apart in various sizes and shapes, including several fragments. I have put them together as best I could. The first page has “15” written at the top, and begins in the middle of a sentence, but the contents make this batch of pages seem to fit between the letter of 21 July and the next letter of 24 July 1920. One fragment has 22 June 1920 written at the top. So much, or all, of it was written in late June and early July, but not sent until late in July. In it she tells him she's accepted an offer to do research at the AMNH, working on his Cuban fossils, for five months at $150/month. She feels she has been vindicated for holding out for a "pure research" position instead of going to work for a university or for the US Geological Service.
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July 24, 1920 -- in which she expresses her joy at finding out her official title is to be research assistant to Mr. Brown. She describes her return to the AMNH, how all the other women were lovely to her and how she really needs to learn to get along with other women. Ends in the middle of a sentence.
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July 25, 1920 -- in which she explains why she could never have taken a position under Dr. Hovel in the Invertebrate Department: "Of course as a scientist I resented working under an ignoramous (sic), but far more did I, as a woman, resent being associated with him. He is a contemptible sneak, treacherous and hypercritical and I found daily contact with him a great strain on my self-restraint." She explains that she could never be just an "intellectual" and wonders why so many female scientists "dress like freaks," then describes a set of pink silk and satin pajamas she is crafting for herself! She talks about her new friendships with women at the museum, and tells BB that she's received a letter from Edna's other friend [Edna Baker being the alcoholic Broadway actress she took in the previous year]. She then writes of people having different "auras" that either attract or repel her, and how attracted she was to him when they first met. She ends with the implication that she is in love with him.
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July 29, 1920 -- in which Marjorie discusses her feelings about her 5 month research position at the Museum working up BB's Cuban fossils. We can speculate that the ‘rescuing’ mentioned in this letter refers to advice BB gave her, supporting her decision not to go with Amadeus Grabau to China, or helping her out of a serious depression that she fell into after her breakup with Grabau. But this is mere speculation. She seems to have transferred her passion and love to BB, but without much, if any, reciprocation – at least none that we have evidence of.
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August 1, 1920 -- in which Marjorie talks about a month of financial/food deprivation and sitting in Madison Square Park with the hoboes. Then the letter ends and the next letter that has survived is dated 2 weeks later. I suspect that the redactions we see in the letters were done after BB returned them to her. Perhaps she didn't want anyone to read certain parts of them.
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August 15, 1920 -- which begins on p. 6, and was written on her birthday. She says she spent the entire day with BB, in her mind. She then goes on to tell a story from her childhood about punishing herself for dropping a huckleberry pie she was getting for a neighbor. She describes her very odd home life as a child, where her parents first wouldn't talk to each other, but only through her, and then her father wouldn't talk to her directly. She describes this same scenario in other letters written much later in her life. She then switches into "Dr. O'Connell" mode and talks about dinosaurs for a paragraph, then back to Marjorie Daw, the chatterbox. She laments that he has been gone for 4 months, but delights in being able to write to her and go on for page after page with inconsequential prattle.
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August 16, 1920 -- in which Marjorie tells BB that she's had a letter from David White (of the USGS) saying that it was the position in China that he had been asking her about in his previous letter. That White had recommended her for the position of chief geological scientist in Peking, and only after she turned it down had he offered it to Dr. Amadeus Grabau. Also, that White has suggested she take the Civil Service Exam so she can be hired for shorter projects of research and report writing without having to move to Washington, DC. She then talks about how she much prefers to be Marjorie Daw, at home, acting and feeling like a teenager, than "Dr. O'Connell" - especially she shies away from any position that would draw attention to her. She ends with a quote about marriage being based on love.
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September 11-12, 1920 -- in which she talks about why the medium of letter-writing is, for her, so much more freeing than face-to-face interactions, and how she never would have told him in person all the things she has written about in her letters; and how she hopes he will tell her how he feels and thinks about all the topics she raises, in hopes that his views can help temper hers and says: "There’s a good chance for you, Pal, to help me to become a good, orthodox, conventional member of society instead of the unruly, heterodox, obstreperous wild Indian that I am."
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September 14, 1920 -- which begins in the middle of a long lettere and discusses what kind of games BB likes to play with women, then goes on to claim that she and BB have a special, spiritual connection, that they understand the "real" person behind each other's mask. She talks about how every great man needs a great woman who loves him, and then talks about how important meeting him was to her life, and how she remembers everything of their long talk at the Endicott Hotel (a luxury hotel across from the AMNH) in October of 1918. BB spent the evening talking about his love for his late wife, Marian. The letter ends in the middle of a sentence, alas.
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September 23, 1920 -- in which Marjorie writes to him in London, having overheard that he will be there in early October, and talks about her excessive letter writing to him. She asks him to fill out a recommendation form for the Civil Service Exam, and updates him on her work on his Cubn ammonite fossils, then talks about her domestic accomplishments (canning fruits and vegetables!). She explains that she is very happy and full of gratitude for her life. She implies that she has enclosed some writings about her decision to break off her relationship with Dr. Grabau, and wants him to read them, and again tells him how grateful she is to him for his guidance and friendship.
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October 2-3, 1920 -- in which she begins by talking again about how she tries not to write to him too much, but can't help herself. She discusses a mutual female acquaintance from the Museum with whom she spent an afternoon, and then a male colleague who never goes to the field but only does work at the museum and writes papers. She then reports on her attendance at a lecture by Roy Chapman Andrews about his explorations in Mongolia, and says how wonderful it is that he travels with his wife and baby. She ends by saying she doesn't need him to fill out the recommendation form for the USGS as she's already been placed on their list.
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October 3-4, 1920 -- in which she begins by describing the hard physical labor she is doing to chisel the ammonites out of the surrounding rock -- how loud it is, chips flying, callouses on her hands, a chip lodging in her eye. She then turns to describing what is probably rapid-cycling mania/depression (although she was never formally diagnosed with bipolar disorder and had no inkling of it). She writes another paragraph about her work on the fossils, then notes that she is reading the memoir of Raphael Pumpelly and talks about the wonderful relationship he had with his wife, and how "modern women" would do well to reconsider whether being an independent woman is better than being a devoted wife, mother, and professional help-meet. She than talks about her reaction to someone at the Museum asking her if she knows if BB has remarried and she expresses her shock at the thought -- given that his first marriage was so wonderful -- and goes on to give him advice about whether or not he should remarry, and to what sort of woman. And she admonishes him to clean up his act and stop sinning. So she was clearly aware of his penchant for philandering. It is hard not to read into her words a longing that he would consider her as an appropriate partner, although she never comes out and says it in so many words. Knowing how her life turned out -- that she never achieved her dream of being the supportive wife of a scientific researcher, that she never had children -- it is absolutely heartbreaking to read these passages.
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October 10-12, 1920 -- in which she begins by talking about how hard she is working, then describes how energetic she is and overflowing with jollity and laughter (a manic episode) in contrast to her previous deep depression. She discusses her work as "the Doctor" and how she might turn out to be a scientist after all. She then reports on being upset when she finds out BB is still in Africa, as she hasn't heard from him for months, but she is trying to keep the faith. She fell asleep writing to him, but then discovers that Colombus Day is a federal holiday, so she lazes around all day and writes to him. She includes a description of walking across a barren, charred landscape and then finding Indian pipes blooming amonst the desolate wasteland. She says the flowers are like her faith in him, and again reiterates how much his deep and honest friendship means to her. She then quotes a passage from Cicero's essay on friendship. She tells him she's going to hide in one of his suitcases and go along on his next trip (as a marmoset). She begs him to send her a postcard she so will know he is alive and well.
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October 14, 1920 -- in which she addresses him as "Curator" and spends the entire letter talking about their mutual scientific work on Jurassic ammonites of Cuba. She entreats him to send her some of the geographic information she needs to write up the fossils properly and encourages him to join her in writing the paper about them.
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October 18-20, 1920 -- in which she explains why she turned down the offer of a full-time position in Washington, DC with the US Geological Survey. She talks about how she has no friends and no close relatives, how her only human connection is to BB. She tells him that for her, he is like the Holy Grail is to followers of Christ, that she doesn't want to move away from New York because then she couldn't see him when he returned from his travels. She says she makes most of her decisions based on intuition, and when she went to college she never intended to have a career in science. She then relates a long tale from Pumpelly's memoir about a tame wild mouflon sheep that he got in Corsica and tried to take back to Germany, and criticizes a female novel writer named Elinor Glyn (who apparently wrote "romance/bodice rippers"). She concludes by telling him how much her mother's presence depresses her, while sunshine, and being with him, even if only through writing letters to him, makes her happy.
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October 21, 1920 -- in which she tells him one of his dinosaur fossils is being mounted for display in the AMNH and that the great Asiatic expedition led by Roy Chapman Andrews is getting set to leave and how much she envies Mrs. Chapman. She explains that she likes to answer the questions of visitors to her lab, but would not want to be a "professor" in a formal classroom. She complains about all the gossip that flies about the museum, then goes on to talk about how much work she has to do -- both ironing clothes and editing proofs, but how happy she is because the weather is nice
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October 25, 1920 -- The last of the letters to Barnum Brown included in her personal papers. She begins by saying she has received a long letter from him dated September 8th. She reports that she's had a letter from Edna, who is doing very well and hopes to return to her career on Broadway, but also a letter from her "protege" Bernice, who is more problematic. She talks about getting requests from various women to live with them, but she prefers not to.
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So end the letters from Marjorie O'Connell to Barnum Brown written in 1920. There were surely others, but they were not returned to her, or she did not keep them.