Collection: Papers of Timothy J. McNary |

Content Description

Collection contains McNary's diaries, letters, postcards and other materials while in Niger as a Peace Corps volunteer. He self-published the diaries and letters with his spouse Cathy McNary in 2020, titled An African Journal. Some of the letters concern his specimen collecting while in Africa with the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. The collection also contains three 3 1/4' floppy discs related to his book.

Dates

Creation: 1975 - 2000
Creation: Majority of material found within 1982 - 1986

Biographical / Historical

McNary, an alumnus of Colorado State University (1975, 1980), joined the Peace Corps in 1983, where he was stationed in Niamey, Niger, where he worked as a field biologist on pest control, especially grasshoppers, locusts, and catepillars.

Upon returning to the States, McNary worked for the Department of Agriculture from 1986-2013, specializing in Orthoptera, an order of insects that includes grasshoppers, locusts, and crickets.

He later joined CSU's Gillette Museum of Arthropod Diversity as curator for their grasshopper collection.