Cook County IL Archives News.....Dr F J V Skiff, Field Museum Director, Dies in Chicago 1921
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/il/ilfiles.htm
************************************************

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Deb Haines http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00003.html#0000719 October 24, 2011, 8:06 pm

Journal Of IL State Historical Society, Vol 14 1921
Dr. Frederick James Volney Skiff, director of the Field Museum, Chicago since 
it was founded more than a quarter of a century ago, died in St. Luke's 
hospital, Thursday, February 24. He was 70 years old. Death was caused by 
Angina pectoris, superinduced by a complication of diseases, followed an 
illness of three days. Dr. Skiff, who lived at the Parkway hotel, 2100 Lincoln 
Parkway, attended a meeting of the Museum's board of trustees Monday 
afternoon. Dr. Skiff was born in Chicopee, Massachusetts. He moved to 
Lawrence, Kansas, in 1870 where he was engaged in newspaper work. Seven years 
later he went to Colorado as a member of the staff of the Denver Tribune, of 
which he became editor in 1881. He was a member of the Colorado state 
legislature in 1885-86, and was later commissioner of immigration and 
statistics for Colorado. He was deputy commissioner general of the Columbian 
World's Fair in 1893, chief of staff to the commissioner general of the United 
States to the Paris Exposition of 1900, director general of the St. Louis 
exposition in 1901, director in chief of foreign participation at the Panama-
Pacific exposition in Seattle in 1911, and director general of the San 
Francisco exposition in 1915. These activities served as foundation for his 
international fame. In 1904, Dr. Skiff was made a Commander of the Legion of 
Honor of France. He was entitled to wear the Order of the Crown of Italy, the 
order of the Red Eagle of Germany, the Order of the Double Dragon of China, 
the grand cross of the Sacred Treasure of Japan, as well as decorations 
bestowed by Leopold of Belgium, Francis Joseph of Austria and other 
sovereigns. He was sometimes referred to as the "most profusely decorated man 
in America." Dr. Skiff, who received the degree of master of arts from 
Colorado College in 1905 and degree of doctor of laws from George Washington 
University in 1908, was a member of American Institute of Mining Engineers, 
the International Museum Association of England and of the National Education 
Association. He is survived by his widow who was Miss Mary B. French of 
Garrett, Kansas. They were married in 1876. Funeral services were held in the 
New England Congregational Church, on Monday afternoon, Dr. Frank W. Gunsaulus 
officiated. Burial was in Oakwoods Cemetery.

Additional Comments:
Source: Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, Published Quarterly 
by the Illinois State Historical Society, Springfield, Illinois. Vol. 14 April-
July, 1921 No. 1-2.

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/il/cook/newspapers/drfjvski255gnw.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/ilfiles/

File size: 3.2 Kb