Keen, A. Myra (Angeline Myra), 1905-

Biographical/Historical Sketch

Myra grew up on a cattle ranch in Colorado, about twenty miles south of Colorado Springs. Her parents farmed and raised cattle on the ranch. Myra rode a burro when she was four and bought her own horse when she was thirteen. She attended a one room school house for eight grades. She completed the eight grades in five years. Because of age qualifications she had to wait three years to attend high school.

She attended Colorado College and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa in 1929 and graduated in Psychology in 1930. She won a scholarship to Stanford where she earned a M.A. in Psychology and then earned her Ph. D. in Psychology from the University of California in 1934. When in Berkeley, Myra went into a small curio shop on University Avenue to buy a copy of National Geographic. She noticed some sea shells in a display case. The owner talked about the shells and Myra found herself going back again and again to look at them.

In 1934, in the middle of the Depression, Myra could not find any jobs in Psychology, plus she realized she was more interested in sea shells. During the summer she went to Monterey to learn about collecting sea shells. She spoke with Dr. Heath of the Hopkins Marine Station and was eventually introduced to Mrs. Ida Oldroyd, who as curator of shells at Stanford needed a helper. After a few month, encouraged by Professor Schenck, Myra began auditing some of his courses and became a Research Associate in Geology in 1936. In 1936 she became the Curator of Paleontology.

For one year during World War II, the Head of the Department, Dr. Blackwelder and Myra were the only instructional staff in the Department, though Myra was not on the teaching faculty.

In 1954, Myra was promoted to Assistant Professor of Paleontology in addition to her duties at Curator. In 1965 she was promoted to Professor. She became emeritus in 1970. While Myra was at Stanford she was one of ten professors, only three of whom were in the sciences.

After World War II, Dr. Hubert Schenck, a Stanford Geology professor working for General MacArthur in the re-building of Japan, had contact with the Emperor of Japan. The Emperor was a general biologist endmost interested in corals. He had a large collection. Dr. Schenck saw material in the collection that he felt was not properly identified. Dr. Schenck suggested that the material be sent of Dr. Keen to verified. That started a long correspondence ending in a private personal meeting between the Emperor and Dr. Keen in San Francisco in 1975.

Dr. Keen has written many journal articles and four books. Her Sea Shells of Tropical West America is a classic work. In addition, she has helped hundreds of people at other institutions in various ways, particularly in telling them the correct name of their shells.

After Dr. Keen retired in 1970, she remained active in the department.

From the guide to the Myra A. Keen papers, 1936-1981, (Department of Special Collections and University Archives)