Late WSU scientist Paul Schroeder gifts 31,000 beetle specimens to Washington’s largest insect museum
Long after his passing, Paul Schroeder’s curiosity for the natural world will be felt every time someone examines the tiny creatures he gave to Washington State University’s M.T. James Entomological Collection.
The WSU zoologist, who passed away at age 84 in 2023, spent more than 60 years gathering and identifying beetles from around the world. Schroeder willed his collection of over 31,000 specimens to the museum, a physical archive of over 3 million insects and arthropods and the largest such repository in Washington state.
The science bug bit Paul early. From boyhood, he was fascinated by animals, especially birds, fish, and invertebrates.
“Collecting was Paul’s passion,” said Alice Schroeder, Paul’s wife and a retired WSU associate professor of genetics. “By the time he was 8, he knew he wanted to be a naturalist.”
Growing up in New York, young Paul would excitedly identify birds during summer vacations in the country. After his mother died of a hormonal illness when he was 14, he became drawn to endocrinology.
“In college he was often asked, ‘Schroeder, why don’t you become a doctor or a lawyer?’” daughter Lianne MacDonald remembered. “He said, ‘I want to know all of biology, not just human biology!’”
Graduating from Stanford University with a doctorate in zoology, Paul spent two years as a postdoctoral fellow in invertebrate endocrinology at the University of California, Berkeley, before joining the WSU biology faculty in 1968 as an assistant professor. He made his career studying the biology and endocrinology primarily of marine invertebrate worms, helping identify new species.
A leader in the zoology department, where he was chair for several years, and a gentle but firm teacher who set high expectations for his students, Paul especially loved teaching a five-day, intensive marine invertebrate course on the Pacific coast.
Paul’s interest in the James museum went beyond the fact that he knew its namesake, WSU entomologist Maurice James.
He first encountered insect collecting in 1961 through a fellow Stanford graduate student, then went on a three-month voyage in the South Pacific, collecting beetles everywhere the ship landed. By the time he met Alice in 1964, he was an enthusiast.
The sheer number and diversity of beetles worldwide fascinated Paul. With 400,000 described species and counting, beetles make up a quarter of all known animal species.
“Paul thought it would be a hobby that would last a lifetime because you could never collect all of them,” Alice said.
Beetle trips became a family activity, as Alice and daughters Lianne and Lisa joined Paul on outings. Small enough to easily spot the insects among leaves, logs, and rocks, the two young girls were naturals. Watching larvae transform into adult insects, they experienced a sense of wonder similar to their dad’s.
“When I was 4 years old, I knew that dad’s favorite beetles were the Tenebrionidae, the darkling beetles,” Lianne said. “I didn’t realize it then, but that, coming out of a kid’s mouth, was incredible.”
By middle school, collecting was no longer cool, and beetles were “gross,” Lianne said. Paul’s passion for science and learning, however, always inspired her.
The collection sometimes raised a chuckle from new friends and acquaintances. But when Alice introduced Paul to her relatives in the Midwest, the farmers got it.
“They understood why someone would be interested in beetles,” she said. “‘Oh good, you can tell us what’s eating our cornfield.’ That’s the real reason museums have these collections—so people can identify what they’ve found and learn if it’s a friend or foe.”
Paul’s collection is so well identified that it is especially valuable to science. Museum Director Elizabeth Murray was thrilled to receive it last fall.
“Paul’s collection is really a jewel,” she said. “We’re very fortunate and excited to have it.”
Scientists are now curating more than 140 specimen-filled wooden drawers and cigar boxes (a longtime mainstay for insect collectors), as well as Paul’s collecting gear and insect literature. Properly cared for, insect specimens can last for centuries.
“Our oldest specimens in the collection date to 1894,” Murray said. “Paul’s beetles will still be looked at hundreds of years from now.”
With insect populations in decline globally, threatening pollination and the world’s food supply, family members hope that Paul’s collection will spark awareness and curiosity in those who view it.
“Paul wanted to give his collection to the James museum because he knew it would be used,” said Laura Lavine, chair of the Department of Entomology. “He was not only a scholar— he cared very much about training the next generation. This gift is a continuation of his legacy as an educator.”
