Keith R. Kelson

Keith R. Kelson (1918–2005) was an American mammalogist born in Wells, Utah, who earned his doctorate at the University of Utah. He taught at the University of Kansas and later served as deputy director of the U.S. National Science Foundation until his retirement. In 1959 he co-authored, with E. Raymond Hall, the two-volume Mammals of North America, a foundational work on the classification and geographic distribution of North American mammals. Six of his works are held here, mostly subspecies revisions and taxonomic and distributional comments on squirrels, sloths, and voles—specialized, closely argued museum-style taxonomy. Public information on his life and work is limited, and the common shelving category of inspirational growth does not match his actual academic subject matter.