1905. 8vo, pp. [ii], [461]-508, [8] list of publications; with 17 half-tone plates, and large folding engraved ‘geologic map’ printed in green, red, blue, brown and orange, housed within pocket on rear pastedown; map a little creased at one fold, but otherwise good; lightly browned throughout with some minor dinking to fore-edge in places; stapled as issued in the original printed wrappers, staples rusted, and both inner hinges cracked, with evidence or previous attempt to re-glue spine to book-block, spine somewhat browned and soiled, 3cm tear to rear cover where inside pocket has slightly pulled away; a sound copy. The Ph.D. dissertation of the noted U.S. geologist, glaciologist and educator, Ida Helen Ogilvie (1874-1963), earned whilst at Columbia University, under the guidance of her advisor, the petrologist James Furman Kemp (1859-1926). Ogilvie's dissertation was the geologic mapping of the Paradox Lake Quadrangle in the Adirondack Mountains of New York. Fifteen-minute quadrangle maps were only just becoming available for this part of the United States, and hers was the first quadrangle report on rocks from the Adirondacks published by the New York State Museum in 1905.
‘Ida Ogilvie’s wealthy parents had expected their daughter to be socially prominent and allowed her to travel extensively before she attended college... However by the time she reached Bryn Mawr, she had no intentions of pursuing the life of a society matron. She studied geology with Florence Bascom, then went to Columbia University to complete a doctoral degree (1903).
After completing this degree, she took a position at Barnard College, where she founded the department of geology. Not content with working only with undergraduates, she wanted to teach graduates at Columbia as well. However, they were well stocked with professors in her areas of expertise. She found, nevertheless, that they had no one to teach glacial geology. Interested in the subject since her time at Chicago, she read extensively and prepared herself to teach it. Ogilvie was an excellent lecturer and spent a considerable amount of time organizing and preparing for her classes. She worked extensively on the geology of New York State and the glaciers of Alberta, Canada. The second woman to be admitted to the Geological Society of America, one of the three women first admitted to the Columbia Chapter of Sigma Xi, and vice-president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Ogilvie was active professionally. She used a portion of her inherited wealth to support geology students at Bryn Mawr, Columbia and Barnard’ (Ogilvie, II. p. 958).
Ogilvie was one of the first students of Florence Bascom, who set a generation of women from Bryn Mawr onto careers in geology. Ogilvie’s hiring at Barnard College began one of the few geology programs at elite women’s colleges, with others started by Elizabeth F. Fisher at Wellesley College, and Mignon Talbot at Mount Holyoke. Maps in the 15 Minute Quadrangle series were made in the period between the 1890s and the 1950s and were created by the Map Division of the United States Geological Survey (USGS), to provide a detailed topographic map coverage of the entire United States at the same scale. The term Quadrangle refers to the sides of the maps which are 15 minutes of latitude and longitude in length. The series was gradually replaced by the 7.5 Minute Quadrangle series. The 15 Minute Quadrangle maps provide vital geographic, historical, and topographic information that can be used in understanding the nature of a place.