Editing The American Naturalist (section)

==History==

[[File:American Naturalist Volume 1 Plate 1.jpg|thumb|left|Plate 1 from the first issue of the Journal, showing land snails of New England. Engraved by Edward S. Morse]]
The journal was founded by [[Alpheus Hyatt]], [[Edward Sylvester Morse|Edward S. Morse]], [[Alpheus Spring Packard Jr.|Alpheus S. Packard Jr.]], and [[Frederick Ward Putnam|Frederick W. Putnam]] at the [[Essex Institute]] in [[Salem, Massachusetts]].<ref>{{cite journal|author=Dunn, L. C.|author-link=L. C. Dunn|title=''The American Naturalist'' in American Biology|journal=The American Naturalist|date=Sep–Oct 1966|volume=100|issue=915|pages=481–492|jstor=2459204|doi=10.1086/282444|s2cid=83809336}}</ref> The first issue appeared in print dated March 1867.<ref name=Periodicals>"American Naturalist," in International Magazine Co., ''Periodicals,'' vol. 1, no. 1 (October-December 1917), pg. 5.</ref> In 1885 the four men founded the American Naturalist Society, where in 1887 the journal was designated an official organ of the society for publication.<ref name=":0" />

In 1878 the journal was for sale and [[Edward Drinker Cope|Edward Cope]] bought half the rights. He moved the journal to Philadelphia and arranged to edit it jointly with Professor Alpheus S. Packard Jr. Cope became editor-in-chief in 1887 and continued in that capacity until his death in 1897.<ref>[http://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/cope-edward.pdf National Academy of Sciences Biographical Memoir of Edward Drinker Cope]</ref> 

In 1897, a group of professors from the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]], [[Harvard University]], and [[Tufts University]] bought the rights from the Cope estate and kept the journal in publication until 1907 when [[James McKeen Cattell|J. McKeen Cattell]] acquired control.<ref name=":0">{{cite journal|author=Conklin, Edwin G.|author-link=Edwin Conklin|title=The Early History of ''The American Naturalist''|journal=The American Naturalist|year=1943|volume=78|issue=774|pages=29–37|doi=10.1086/281164|s2cid=85127322}}</ref> Cattell's son Jacques became co-editor and publisher with his father in 1939.<ref name="history ASN">{{cite web|url=http://www.amnat.org/about/history/timeline.html|title=History of the ASN|access-date=5 December 2013|year=2012|author=American Society of Naturalists}}</ref> 

Although the ASN became increasingly involved in editing ''The American Naturalist'' through changes in 1941 and 1951, the journal remained with the Cattell family until 1968, when the University of Chicago Press took it over after [[Jacques Cattell]]'s death.<ref name="history ASN"/>{{-}}