A. Gilbert Wright


Arthur Gilbert Wright was an American zoologist who was actively involved with the American Alliance of Museums and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Biography

Early life and education

Wright was born in Carthage, Illinois, in 1909. He attended Carthage College, and received a Bachelor's degree in biology in 1932. Later, he attended the University of Illinois and earned a Master's degree in zoology.

Career

In 1933, Wright became a zoologist at the Illinois State Museum, a position he held until 1953, when he became a curator of exhibits at the Gainesville-based state museum of Florida. He was also an intern for the Rockefeller Foundation at the Buffalo Museum of Science from 1937–38. A decade later, from 1947–48, he worked at the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale University as Chief of the School Service Department. He was appointed to the Gateway Arch National Park, then known as the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, in St. Louis from 1961 until 1963.
After the JNEM project, Wright became an Assistant Chief at the Office of Exhibits Programs on 2 June 1963 at the Smithsonian Institution. Among his duties in this role was making plans regarding exhibits at the National Museum of Natural History, for which he had the title "senior museologist" by 1965, and became an assistant director from 1971–72 and developed the insect zoo. He also taught museology at the George Washington University in Washington, D.C., during the early 70's. After he left the position of assistant director at NMNH, he became a writer and editor for the Office of the Exhibits. He retired in 1975, but continued to direct the Museum Studies Program at GWU until 1978. He died in 1987.