Overview Joseph Mellick Leidy (1823-1891), one of the great American scientists of the 19th century, possessed a vast knowledge of the natural world. Best known as the Father of American vertebrate paleontology, he also pioneered the fields of parasitology and protozoology, and was the preeminent anatomist of his time. He was also an influential teacher of natural history and an expert in areas as diverse as entomology, geology and pathology. The Joseph Leidy Correspondence collection contains...