This collection consists chiefly of
photographs, published works, and research materials related to or collected by
Frank Bené regarding his observations and writings on hummingbirds in
Arizona. The collection also includes professional and biographical materials
as well as correspondence.
Collection Number:
MS 386
Repository:
University of Arizona Libraries, Special
Collections
University of Arizona
PO Box 210055
Tucson, AZ 85721-0055
Phone: 520-621-6423
Fax: 520-621-9733
URL: http://speccoll.library.arizona.edu/
Biographical Note
Frank Bené was born June 11, 1905 in Isaszeg, Hungary and came to
the U.S. just over a year later. His family settled in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
where Bené attended grade school and high school. After spending some
time out west, he returned to Pennsylvania and graduated with honors from
Lehigh University in 1933, and eventually received a Masters degree in
Education from the same institution. In June 1933, he was married to Katharine
Johnson. Bené worked as an instructor in social studies in the Adult
Evening School in Bethlehem for one year and in 1935 was named county
supervisor of Americanization in charge of literacy and citizenship for
foreign-born residents of Northampton County. For the following four years he
taught, published, and worked in the field of citizenship training while
pursing his interest in adult education.
As a result of failing health, Frank Bené moved to Phoenix,
Arizona in 1937. It was at this time that a serious interest in ornithology
began. Over the next five years, he read, investigated, and wrote a number of
articles, particularly short papers for
The Condor (1940, 1941, 1945) along with the memoir entitled
The Feeding and Related Behavior of Hummingbirds, which won
the Walker Prize of the Boston Society of Natural History in 1942.
An improvement in health permitted Frank to teach science for a year in
New Jersey. In January, 1943, he returned to Arizona and took a faculty
position at Arizona State Teachers College in Tempe, instructing U.S. Army
cadets at the Pre-Flight School. However, the inadequately diagnosed tubercular
illness Frank suffered from became increasingly acute and he resigned his
position in October and died in Phoenix on December 18, 1943.
Scope and Content Note
This collection consists chiefly of biographical materials, photographs,
published works, and research materials relating to observations and writings
on hummingbirds in Arizona.
The collection includes a box of envelopes of photographs and negatives
of hummingbirds. The envelopes are dated and include descriptions of
photographs that are not always consistent with the contents. Bené named
several of the hummingbirds he studied (Battlescar, Long-neck, and Sally) and
these names appear in some of the descriptions.
It is the responsibility of the user to obtain permission to publish
from the owner of the copyright (the institution, the creator of the record,
the author or his/her transferees, heirs, legates, or literary executors). The
user agrees to indemnify and hold harmless the Arizona Board of Regents for the
University of Arizona, its officers, employees, and agents from and against all
claims made by any person asserting that he or she is an owner of
copyright.
