Harry MacGinitie

Harry MacGinitie working at his excavation site at the fossil beds

Harry D. MacGinitie ( 1896 – 1987) was a paleobotanist.

He once commented that “We get all tangled up with the present. The present is just a little flick in time between the past and the future."

 

Harry using horses with a plow at the excavation site

In 1936 and 1937, Harry MacGinitie made extensive excavations at Florissant.

His excavations used horses and plow to remove layers of soil and rock.

 

A beautifully preserved specimen of the extinct species of maple, Acer florissantii, collected by MacGinitie

In 1953, he completed the monograph “Fossil Plants of the Florissant Beds, Colorado” in which he named about 20 new species.

Also, MacGinitie revised and updated the names of fossil plants that had been described from Florissant by earlier paleobotantists. Today, his collections are at the University of California Museum of Paleontology.