Field Briefs 



Priscilla F. Turnbull 

 1924-1985 



Priscilla Turnbull, a research associate in 

 Geology and former Field Museum staff 

 member, died Dec. 6, 1985. A life-long 

 resident of Chicago or of its suburb Park 

 Forest, she obtained her bachelor's and 

 master's degrees in geology and paleon- 

 tology at the University of Chicago. She 

 served as a scientific assistant from 1946 to 

 1954 and was a Field Museum research 

 associate in Geology from 1974 to 1985. 



In 1946 at the Museum she met Wil- 

 liam D. Turnbull, now curator of fossil 

 mammals, and they were married in 1948. 

 For most of their married life they did 

 fieldwork together in the Cenozoic of 

 Wyoming and Australia, although Priscil- 

 la's first publication (1955, co-authored 

 with her husband), was on the anatomy 

 of Phlegethontia, an amphibian from the 

 Pennsylvanian of Illinois. 



Priscilla also collected with Rainer 

 Zangerl (now curator emeritus of Geol- 

 ogy) in the Mesozoic of Wyoming (1948) 

 and with the late Robert Denison, former 

 curator of fossil fishes, in the Devonian 

 of Utah and Montana (1949-1950), and 

 she was the faunal analyst on a 1974 Ameri- 

 can Museum of Natural History expedi- 

 tion which excavated a Bronze Age site 

 in Pakistan. Her field experiences, thus, 

 were widely varied as to time and area. 



Beginning in 1961, Priscilla special- 

 ized in the study of the nonhuman bones 

 excavated from prehistoric archaeological 

 sites in the late Quaternary of Mauritania, 

 Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Iran, and Pakistan, 

 and all of her publications thereafter (ten 

 published, two in press, and one finished 

 and two unfinished manuscripts) are re- 

 lated to those studies. She had the unusual 

 distinction of having published articles in 

 three of the Field Museum's four scientific 

 series (Anthropology, Geology, and Zool- 

 ogy) as well as in the Bulletin. Most of 

 Priscilla's studies were on collections 

 shipped to her; the only site at which she 

 6 herself excavated the faunal remains was 



that of Allahdino, Pakistan. However, 

 during those years of work on osteo- 

 archaeological collections, she was also 

 rearing a son, participating in her hus- 

 band's fieldwork in Australia and Wyo- 

 ming, and was active in civic work in Park 

 Forest, where the Turnbulls lived for most 

 of their married life. 



Priscilla was a meticulous worker, as 

 I know from having shared laboratory 

 research with her; she never recorded an 

 identification of a broken piece of bone 

 until she was absolutely certain of its va- 

 lidity. She was a small lady, perky, in- 

 dustrious, and thoughtful. She is sorely 

 missed by all who knew her. — Charles A. 

 Reed, Research Associate, Department of 

 Zoology 



Richard M. Jones New Board Chairman 



Richard M. Jones, president and chief 

 financial officer of Sears Roebuck and 

 Company, has been elected chairman of 

 Field Museum's Board of Trustees for a 

 two-year term. He succeeds James J. 

 O'Connor, who had served as Board chair- 

 man since January 1982. Jones joined the 

 Board of Trustees in 1981. In addition to 

 his new position on the Board, he is serv- 

 ing as chairman of the Museum's Capital 

 Campaign. 



The recent Board elections installed 

 the following officers also: Robert A. 

 Pritzker, president and chairman of the 

 Marmon Group, was elected chairman of 

 the Board's Collections and Research 

 Committee; Marshall Field, chairman of 

 the board for the Field Corporation, be- 

 came chairman of the Public Programs 

 Committee; Blaine J. Yarrington, former 

 executive vice president (retired) of Stan- 

 dard Oil of Indiana, was elected chairman 

 of the Finance and Museum Services 

 Committee. 



Newly elected trustees include Mrs. 

 Phillip D. Block III; Robert D. Cadieux, 

 president and director of Amoco Chemi- 

 cals Corporation; Worley H. Clark, Jr., 



president and chief executive officer of 

 Nalco Chemical Company; Thomas J. 

 Eyerman, partner, Skidmore, Owings & 

 Merrill; Ronald J. Gidwitz, president, 

 Helene Curtis Industries; Clarence E. 

 Johnson, president of Borg-Warner Cor- 

 poration; and John J. Kinsella, chairman, 

 Leo Burnett-USA. 



New Women's Board Officers 



The new president of Field Museum's 

 Women's Board is Muriel (Mrs. Malcolm 

 N.) Smith, elected at the Board's annual 

 meeting, May 13. Mrs. Smith succeeds 

 Mrs. Philip D. Block III, elected in 1984, 

 and becomes ex officio member of the 

 Board of Trustees. Other new officers 

 elected at the May meeting were three 

 vice presidents: Mrs. Michael N. Bilan- 

 dic, Mrs. Edward Hines, and Mrs. Edward 

 Byron Smith, Jr. 



Mrs. John W. Taylor III was elect- 

 ed recording secretary, Mrs. Frank W. 

 Blatchford III was elected corresponding 

 secretary, and Mrs. Walter L. Cherry was 

 elected treasurer. Also elected were three 

 members-at-large: Mrs. Robert Lane 

 Cruikshank, Mrs. Gerald S. Gidwitz, and 

 Mrs. David W. Grainger. 



The Board's new president, a member 

 of that body since 1976, was also recently 

 honored by the National Society of Fund 

 Raising Executives. That group, consist- 

 ing of professional fund raisers in the U.S. 

 and Canada, named Mrs. Smith "Out- 

 standing Volunteer Fund-Raiser of the 

 Year" for 1986. Well known for her in- 

 volvement in Chicago community proj- 

 ects since 1957, Mrs. Smith is also chair- 

 man of the board of trustees of the Erikson 

 Institute; president of the Taylor Institute; 

 heads the Development Committee of 

 Michael Reese Hospital and Medical 

 Center; and is trustee of numerous social 

 welfare, educational and arts organiza- 

 tions. She plays an active role in the 

 United Way, recruiting board members 

 from the Chicago corporate community. 



