Brodie, Laura | South Carolina Public Radio

"B" is for Brodie, Laura (1908-2004). Herpetologist. Born on a farm in Lexington County, Brodie began collecting snakes and frogs as a young child. By her teens she had converted an outbuilding into her “Rockwood Museum” where she kept cages of reptiles and amphibians. After graduating from Winthrop, she obtained a position at the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology. In 1946 Brodie joined the staff of the herpetology department at the Chicago Natural History Museum (now the Field Museum of Natural History) where she assisted a noted herpetologist and collected specimens for the museum. A nearly fatal traffic accident in 1956 brought to an end her full-time career in herpetology. Laura Brodie returned to her childhood home, but continued to be an important contributor to the herpetology collections of some of America’s largest museums.