At Home in Bed with a Bug

Tiger Beetles, Marjorie Statham [Favreau] (1911-2008), Circa 1960s -1980s, Frame 20 3/8” x 15 3/8” x 5/8”, Opaque watercolor and ink on paper
©AMNH

Cicindelidia willistoni sulfontis ♀ - Williston's Tiger Beetle, Marjorie Statham [Favreau] (1911-2008), Circa 1960s -1990s, Opaque watercolor and ink on paper, In pencil on front “willistoni sulfontis ♀, 3 x 4 ½"
©AMNH

Cicindela willistoni funaroi ♀ - Funaro's Tiger Beetle, Marjorie Statham [Favreau] (1911-2008), Circa 1960s -1990s, Opaque watercolor and ink on paper, In pencil on front “willistoni funaroi ♀“, 3 x 4 ½"

Eunota californica pseudoerronea – California Tiger Beetle, Marjorie Statham [Favreau] (1911-2008), Circa 1960s -1990s, Opaque watercolor and ink on paper, In pencil on front “californica pseudoerronea”, 2 ¾ x 4”
©AMNH

Cicindela oregona maricopa - Maricopa Tiger Beetle, Marjorie Statham [Favreau] (1911-2008), Circa 1960s -1990s, Opaque watercolor and ink on paper, On reverse in pencil “maricopa”, 2 ½ x 4 ½"
©AMNH

Cicindela tranquebarica inyo - Oblique-lined Tiger Beetle, Marjorie Statham [Favreau] (1911-2008), Circa 1960s -1990s, Opaque watercolor and ink on paper, In pencil on front "tranquebarica inyo ♂", 3 x 4 ½”
©AMNH

Cicindela scutellaris yampae ♂– Yampa Festive Tiger Beetle, Marjorie Statham [Favreau] (1911-2008), Circa 1960s -1990s, Opaque watercolor and ink on paper, In pencil on front “scutellaris yampae ♂”, 3 1/8 x 4 ¼”
©AMNH

Cicindela formosa rutilovirescens ♂– Big Sand Tiger Beetle, Marjorie Statham [Favreau] (1911-2008), Circa 1960s -1990s, Opaque watercolor and ink on paper, In pencil on front “formosa rutilovirescens ♂”, 2 ¾ x 4 ½"
©AMNH

Cicindela sexguttata – Six-spotted Tiger Beetle, Marjorie Statham [Favreau] (1911-2008), Circa 1960s -1990s, Opaque watercolor and ink on paper, On front in pen “62”, In pen on reverse “sexguttata”, 2 1/8 x 4 ¾"
©AMNH

Cicindela plutonica - Alpine Tiger Beetle, Marjorie Statham [Favreau] (1911-2008), Circa 1960s -1990s, Opaque watercolor and ink on paper, In ink on front “159”, In pencil on reverse “plutonica”, 3 1/16 x 5 1/16”
©AMNH

These tiger beetle paintings are from an incomplete manuscript in the AMNH Library Archives containing over 300 paintings of tiger beetles and their genitalia, b/w photographs and hand drawn maps of their localities. Marjorie Statham [Favreau] worked on this manuscript with Dr. Mont A. Cazier (1911–1995), a noted Coleoptera scholar and AMNH Curator and Chairman of the Entomology Department as well as Director of the Southwestern Research Station in Portal, Arizona. The text of the manuscript is missing and hopefully will be found in the future. Cazier had started studying tiger beetles as a graduate student in the 1930s and while at AMNH, added over 75,000 tiger beetle specimens to the AMNH collections by 1948.

Marjorie Statham [Favreau] or Maggie as her colleagues called her, started working for the Museum in 1946 as a freelance artist. She was also working full time at the Casco (Connecticut Automotive Specialty Company) factory in Bridgeport, CT a company that initially produced products for cars including pop-out cigarette lighters, and then turned to producing household items like heating pads and irons. During WWII they produced armor piercing bullet cores and automated machinery for other manufacturers.

Local Casco Products newspaper notice from 1940s, Bridgeport History Center
©Bridgeport History Center

By 1946 Casco and other factories in Bridgeport were cutting back on hours and reducing female employees in the work force. It is unknown what Marjorie’s art background was or how she came to the Museum. Her father, Noel Statham worked in Manhattan as a chemist at the West Virginia Pulp and Paper company and would pick up and drop off insect specimens from the Museum for Statham to work on during the weekend. She was hired to paint butterflies for a major publication on American tropical butterflies by William Comstock (1880-1956). Marjorie was asked to mimic the style of Dorothy Fitchew (1889-1975), who had already painted 81 drawings for the book of British Museum specimens. Fitchew was a staff artist for the British Museum but was also known for illustrations of children’s books about fairies. Marjorie eventually produced 187 paintings for the book that was posthumously published in 1961.

Comstock, W. P.; Statham, M. Butterflies of the American Tropics: The Genus Anaea Lepidoptera Nymphalidae : A Study of the Species Heretofore Included in the Genera Anaea, Coenophlebia, Hypna, Polygrapha, Protogonius, Siderone and Zaretis; American Museum of Natural History: New York, 1961.

By 1949, Marjorie was working full time at the Museum as part of the Illustrator Corps which provided artists to a variety of departments. This funding dried up in 1950 and she was then hired full-time by the Department of Invertebrates as a technician. She assisted numerous entomologists with illustrations, collecting in the field and mounting collections for study. Her first AMNH published drawings were for entomologist Patricia Vaurie, in 1951 where she described five new species of tiger beetles. Over her time in the Department, she also produced the illustrations for two monumental and important butterfly books:

Klots, A. B.; Statham, M.; Longworth, F. A Field Guide to the Butterflies of North America, East of the Great Plains; The Peterson Field Guide Series, 4; Houghton Mifflin Company: Boston, 1951.

Brown, F. M.; Heineman, B.; Statham, M.  Jamaica and Its Butterflies; E.W. Classey: London, 1972.

In 1959, Marjorie became a minor celebrity in New York City because she was the keeper of “Buster”, an African Goliath beetle. In 1958, a day before Christmas, someone left a live African Goliath beetle in a coffee can at the door of the museum. It was brought up to the Invertebrate Department offices where it was decided that Marjorie would take it home with her in a cigar box as the offices would be closed for a week. She took the beetle home with her on the train to New Caanan, CT. Her house was on the cool side, so she kept the bug in her bed at night to keep it warm. Her friends thought that this was funny and sent her get well cards because she was at home with a bug. Back at the Museum after the holidays, Buster was put on public exhibition in the Insect Hall where visitors gathered three-deep around his case. Reporters came to see him, and photographers took his picture.

Visitors watching Buster eat his favorite food, a banana, in 1959. Buster is thought to be the first live Goliath Beetle ever to be on public display in the US.  This Spring, AMNH unveiled the Susan and Peter J. Solomon Family Insectarium, the first Museum gallery in more than 50 years completely dedicated to insects.
©James McAnally Graphic House

Marjorie Statham placing Buster in his cage for the night on top of the department refrigerator where the refrigerator coils kept him warm.
©AMNH

A major issue in keeping Buster alive was keeping him warm. They installed heating coils in his public exhibition case but Marjorie Statham (above) would place Buster in his cage for the night on top of the department refrigerator where the refrigerator coils kept him warm.

Illustrations of Marjorie Statham and Buster, circa 1958-1959, Top row by Joseph M. Sedacca of AMNH, Bottom row by Don Figlozzi of the New York Daily News.
©AMNH

Buster and Marjorie became minor celebrities with numerous news articles with illustrations detailing his story. The top two illustrations are by Museum Graphic designer, Joseph M. Sedacca and the bottom two are by Don Figlozzi (1909-1981) of the New York Daily News, known for being the animator of Jiminy Cricket in Pinocchio. Buster lived until July 8, 1959, where the Museum sent out a press release announcing his death.  He was preserved and added to the collection.

Drawing of Crematocheilus stathamae, named in honor of Marjorie Statham.
©AMNH

In 1961, Dr. Cazier named this unrelated beetle, Crematocheilus stathamae in honor of Marjorie, as she had assisted in its discovery and observed its symbiotic relationship with ants. This species of scarab beetle was found near the AMNH Southwestern Research station, in Portal, Arizona, which Dr. Cazier had started with funding from David Rockefeller in 1955. Marjorie made the drawing of the beetle that was published with its description. 

Marjorie retired as Scientific Assistant Emerita in 1977, but continued to make illustrations for scientists to use in publications as well as working on the tiger beetle manuscript until her death in 2008.

Joel Sweimler’s work as Library Exhibition Researcher is generously supported by The Future of Truth, a multidisciplinary program of the University of Connecticut's Humanities Institute, funded by the Henry Luce Foundation.