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Joan Sophia BONNELL 1851-1939 |
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Sylvester KNIGHT, JR. 1848-1885 |
Ascenath Church DICKMAN 1839-1899 |
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Moses Bradstreet BRADFORD 1799-1878 |
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Ellen Jane KNIGHT 1839-1899 |
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James Henry BRADFORD 1836-1913 |
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Harry Bonnell BRADFORD 1870-1952 |
See Photo of Harry Bonnell Bradford and his family
See Photos of Harry Bonnell Bradford
He pursued a career as a magazine illustrator in the period following his graduation until about 1910. In 1911, the Westminster Press of Philadelphia published his book: An Artist at the Zoo, which included 60 of his illustrations and fascinating facts about many of the animals in the National Zoological Gardens of Washington DC.
In 1912 Harry joined the Bureau of Entomology of the U. S. Department of Agriculture where, at the beginning, he made scientific drawings of insects under a microscope, and later experimented with photography through the microscope. His profession, as an entomologist, was his entire occupational life until he retired in 1940.
On a personal level, Harry was somewhat eccentric. He had strong opinions about food, medicine, and diet. He publicly campaigned against smallpox vaccinations, and believed arduously in what would be described today as "natural" foods. His interests included "tinting" and color photography, target shooting with pistols, playing the violin, and observing insects - especially ants and spiders. With some help from his young sons, he built his own beach cottage at Chesapeake Beach MD, which he named "The Polywog", and sailed around the bay with his sons in a tiny sailboat. He wrote articles on the management of small sailboats in popular magazines with an air of authority. His dress and mannerisms were somewhat like that of Edgar Allen Poe, whom he greatly admired as a poet, but whom he disliked for his use of alcohol, drugs, and tobacco.
Harry died in 1952 of arteriosclerosis, complicated by tuberculosis, of which he was unaware.