Ruth A. M. Schmidt

Ruth Anna Marie Schmidt (April 22, 1916 – March 29, 2014) was an American geologist and paleontologist who was a pioneer for women scientists. She spent most of her career in Alaska, where she established a United States Geological Survey (USGS) field office and established the first Department of Geology at the Anchorage Community College, now part of the University of Alaska Anchorage. In 1964, Schmidt directed the initial assessment of the damage done to the city of Anchorage by the Great Alaska Earthquake, the largest earthquake in North American history, and the second largest earthquake ever to be recorded. She worked for the USGS in Washington, DC during the era of McCarthyism and was investigated twice for disloyalty because of her membership in the interracial Washington Cooperative Bookshop. She was cleared both times. She earned a number of awards, honors, and letters of commendation and appreciation. After her death in 2014, she was recognized as a philanthropist.

Early life and education

Schmidt was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1916.Ruth A. M. Schmidt papers, 1912–2015. UAA/APU Consortium Library Archives and Special Collections, University of Alaska Anchorage. HMC-0792. Box 1, Folder 1. She graduated from Brooklyn's Erasmus Hall High School, and then attended the Washington Square College of New York University 1932–1936, during the height of the Great Depression. She earned high marks and graduated with an AB (artium baccalaureus) in geology in 1936.Ruth A. M. Schmidt papers. (1912–2015). UAA/APU Consortium Library Archives and Special Collections, University of Alaska Anchorage. Accession number HMC-0792. Box 2, Folder 7 "Transcripts college." Her family encouraged the Schmidt siblings to obtain degrees in higher education, and all of her siblings, including three sisters and one brother, earned college degrees in the 1920s. While in college, she was inducted into Phi Omega Pi, earned the most valuable player award for hockey from the Washington Square College of New York University Alumnae Association,Undated newspaper clipping. (1937?). Ruth A. M. Schmidt papers. (1912–2015). UAA/APU Consortium Library Archives and Special Collections, University of Alaska Anchorage. HMC-0792. Box 1, Folder 60. "Ruth Schmidt, junior, who won the [Alumnae Club] medal for being the most valuable member of the year's hockey team, has a very special fondness for fossils. Queer tastes these young athletes seem to have. In hockey she practically won all the games single-handed. But even so, she's crazy about fossils." and was celebrated in the school newspaper as "crazy about fossils."

After college, she studied comparative anatomy, biology, and inorganic chemistry at the Hunter College of the City of New York, and trained in radiography with New York University Professor H. H. Sheldon.Sheldon, H. H. (1943). Letter of recommendation written on Auto-Ornance Corporation letterhead by Columbia University Professor of Physics H. H. Sheldon. Ruth A. M. Schmidt papers. (1912–2015). UAA/APU Consortium Library Archives and Special Collections, University of Alaska Anchorage. HMC-0792. Box 2, Folder 8. To earn money for graduate school, she worked as an x-ray technician at a private medical doctor's office and at Long Island Hospital. She also worked at the American Museum of Natural History, where she took x-rays of vertebrate and invertebrate specimens.Sheldon, H. H. (1938). Recommendation letter dated April 13, 1938. Ruth A. M. Schmidt papers. (1912–2015). UAA/APU Consortium Library Archives and Special Collections, University of Alaska Anchorage. HMC-0792. Schmidt competed with 84 other candidates to win a $500 fellowship from New York City Panhellenic to conduct advanced study of the application of radiography to paleontology. She began her graduate studies in pure science at Columbia University in 1938, and finished her coursework in 1942. She was awarded her master's degree—the A.M. (Artium Magister)--in 1939. The title of her thesis was, "Miocene Ostracoda from Yorktown Formation." Beginning work on her dissertation in 1941, she completed her dissertation in 1948 and graduated with her doctorate degree in geology in 1948.

Career Schmidt was a pioneer for women in the sciences throughout her career. When WWII broke out, many male graduate students were drafted into military service. Because of the shortage of teaching and research assistants, Schmidt was recruited by Columbia University Professor A. K. Lobeck to serve as an assistant, the first female graduate student to teach all-male classes at Columbia.Lobeck, A. K. (1948). Letters of recommendation. Ruth A. M. Schmidt papers. (1912–2015). UAA/APU Consortium Library Archives and Special Collections, University of Alaska Anchorage. HMC-0792. Box 2, Folder 10. She taught science and military map-making.

Schmidt was also interested in civil rights for ethnic minorities, and when she lived in Washington, she joined the Washington Cooperative Bookshop because of its mission of racial inclusion.Transcripts of hearing October 25, 1950. (1950). Ruth A. M. Schmidt papers, 1912–2015. UAA/APU Consortium Library Archives and Special Collections, University of Alaska Anchorage. HMC-0792. Box 2, Folder 14. Her membership in this organization, which was branded as communist by U.S. Attorney General Tom C. Clark in 1947, led to two investigations against Schmidt by the Department of Interior. She was cleared both times.

Schmidt traveled widely throughout her career as a geologist. Her passportsRuth A. M. Schmidt papers, 1912–2015. UAA/APU Consortium Library Archives and Special Collections, University of Alaska Anchorage. HMC-0792. Box 1, Folder 10. bear the stamps of two dozen countries, including Algeria, Antarctica, Argentina, Aruba, Australia, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Ecuador, the Falkland Islands, Finland, Hong Kong, Iceland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). She also traveled across the United States, and lived in several states as part of her work for the USGS. Schmidt traveled extensively throughout Alaska too, and crossed the Arctic Circle numerous times both in Alaska and elsewhere.

United States Geological Survey (USGS)

Schmidt began working for the United States Geological Survey (USGS) in Washington, D.C., in early 1943,Schmidt, Ruth A. M. (1943). Letter to Dr. W. S. Adkins of Shell Oil Company declining to apply. Ruth A. M. Schmidt papers. (1912–2015). UAA/APU Consortium Library Archives and Special Collections, University of Alaska Anchorage. HMC-0792. Box 2, Folder 10. postponing the completion of her doctoral dissertation until 1948.Bucher, Walter H. (1943). Recommendation letter addressed to Lt. Col. S. F. Poole of the Pentagon. Ruth A. M. Schmidt papers. (1912–2015). UAA/APU Consortium Library Archives and Special Collections, University of Alaska Anchorage. HMC-0792. Box 2, Folder 10. She worked in various positions for the USGS until 1963. From 1946 through 1948, she conducted research on radiography, paleontology, and micro-paleontology for the Paleontology and Stratigraphy Branch of the USGS.Schmidt, Ruth A. M. (1974). Job application for the state of Alaska Commissioner of Natural Resources. Ruth A. M. Schmidt papers. (1912–2015). UAA/APU Consortium Library Archives and Special Collections, University of Alaska Anchorage. HMC-0792. Box 2, Folder 26. Beginning in 1948, and continuing through 1950, Schmidt worked for the top secret Military Geology Unit of the USGS, preparing "engineering geology reports, (classified) for [the] Corps of Engineers on suitability of areas in European and Pacific Theaters for construction and alignment of roads, airfields, and location of construction materials." She was one of the few women geologists to be hired to do this work, which was classified and required a security clearance. In 1949, Schmidt received routine clearance under the new loyalty investigation programSchmidt, Ruth A. M. (1954). Letter to Mr. John Coyle dated June 24, 1954, asking for letter of support of her loyalty. Ruth A. M. Schmidt papers, 1912–2015. UAA/APU Consortium Library Archives and Special Collections, University of Alaska Anchorage. HMC-0792. Box 2, Folder 21. that had been instituted by President Harry Truman through Executive Order 9835.

From 1950 to 1952, Schmidt worked for the Geological Division of the USGS, organizing the Lexicon Project (map names) in Washington, and the Paleotectonic Map Project in Denver, CO. From 1952 until her departure for Alaska in 1956, she worked for the Mineral Classification Board, cataloging minerals for all US federal lands. In 1956, Schmidt transferred to Alaska to establish a field office for the U.S. Geological Survey in Anchorage, where she was the division geologist until 1963. She was "in charge of all technical and administrative matters pertaining to classification of federal lands [regarding] oil, gas, coal, and other locatable minerals."

Letters in the Ruth A. M. Schmidt papers collectionEberlein, Don. (1961). Letter dated December 15, 1961. Ruth A. M. Schmidt papers, 1912–2015. UAA/APU Consortium Library Archives and Special Collections, University of Alaska Anchorage. HMC-0792. Box 2, Folder 26.Schmidt, Ruth A. M. (1961). Letter to David M. Hopkins dated October 6, 1961. Ruth A. M. Schmidt papers, 1912–2015. UAA/APU Consortium Library Archives and Special Collections, University of Alaska Anchorage. HMC-0792. Box 2, Folder 26. indicate that by 1961, Schmidt had become unhappy doing office work for the USGS, and she asked for a transfer to the USGS Oceanography Division or the Geological Division so that she could conduct geological research. Her request to transfer to the Geological Division was declined by Don Eberlein, with the reason given that "the big push is for hearty new male PhD's with training and experience in regional geologic mapping and potential such that they may be expected to qualify as project chiefs in a reasonably short period of time." In this letter, Eberlein suggests that Schmidt "learn to live with the job emotionally" and to work on research in her "spare time."

In 1963, after twenty years of service, Schmidt resigned from the USGS so she would not have to leave Alaska where she had purchased a home in the city of Anchorage and a small plot of wetlands outside of town upon which she had built a cabin. She had also become involved in the local and Alaska community, having co-founded the Alaska Geological Society in 1957–58 and serving as its first president.Elkins, Reginald. (n.d.) "Alaska Geological Society history." http://www.alaskageology.org/documents/ags_history.pdf

University of Alaska Anchorage Schmidt began teaching classes as a part time lecturer and adjunct in 1959 at the Anchorage Community College, which was incorporated into the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) in 1962. She was the first geology professor at the university, and for a time, she was the only geologist. Women geologists were very rare at the time of Schmidt's appointment to the position, and Schmidt is credited for being a pioneer for women scientists. She founded the Department of Geology served as its first chair, and in 1970, designed and oversaw the construction of the geology laboratory. She was recognized as a distinguished lecturer, and then was promoted to associate professor in 1970. In this position, she taught geology, environmental education, landscapes and resources of Alaska, geomorphology, and paleontology, in addition to doing other work expected of a professor including student advising and curriculum development. She worked for UAA for 25 years until her retirement from teaching in 1984.