Archive of a Spider Man

This is the spider research & correspondence archive of Patrick R. Craig (1935–2023). Craig worked primarily as a data analyst at U.C. Lawrence Radiation Laboratory and held a Top Secret Q clearance. However, his true passion was spiders. Craig moved to Bogotá, Colombia and lived there from 1964–1965. In Colombia he collected over 5,000 spiders. Craig also went on numerous spider collecting expeditions to Mexico in the 1960s and 70s and was a founding member of the American Arachnological Society. Throughout his life, Craig communicated extensively with arachnological academics worldwide, apprising them of his latest finds.

Craig discovered numerous new species, two of which were named after him: a very unusual fly, Syringogaster craigi, and a new South American Goblin Spider, Dysderina craigi. This new Goblin Spider is from Leticia, Colombia, and the archive covers Craig’s discovery of the spider. Craig also co-authored four academic publications and two books on spiders.

The archive contains approximately 1,158 pages of manuscript text in four binders and one bound notebook, as detailed below:

[Spider collecting field book from Colombia, Mexico & California]

• 9¾ × 7½ inches black canvas three ring binder. Approximately 114 pp. of dense manuscript writing and an additional 61 pp. of photocopies of academic articles on spiders. This notebook contains 20 pages of detailed spider collecting notes from Colombia [September 10, 1964–March 1, 1965], 16 pages of detailed spider collecting notes from Mexico [September 2, 1963–September 7, 1963] and seven pages of the same from California [September 1963; July 1, 1964–July 5, 1964]. Craig hand-drew five maps showing collecting areas in Mexico. The collecting notes are generally in the following format: date; location; elevation; time; weather; area; collecting method; and description.
• The notebook further contains his outline for unpublished books on spiders, copies of spider research, and numerous personal thoughts & musings.

Letters. 1961–1967.

• 9¾ × 7½ inches dark grey canvas three ring binder. Approximately 353 pp. of dense manuscript writing. Craig hand-wrote meticulous copies of his outgoing correspondence, which is 90% spider related—he writes to a who’s who of the spider research world, engaging in ​“serious fan correspondence” with academics that authored articles on spiders. The correspondence file covers Craig’s year in Colombia and various expeditions to Mexico. He reports in detail when and where he found his spiders.
• Includes, for example:
• January 25, 1962 letter to Colegio Neuva Granada in Bogotá when Craig was applying for positions in Colombia: “…I am an araneologist, interested in the study of the evolution, phylogeny and systematics of spiders. I cannot fully express how invaluable an opportunity to live in Colombia would be to my research. So little work has been done on the spiders of Colombia, and in fact so much of the flora and fauna, that not only I, but any student who would but realize this wealth, would find life-times of discovery.”
• April 10, 1963 letter to Otis Hite at the University of Arkansas: ​“I seldom have less than a hundred spiders living with me in my apartment, each in its own container… If I allow myself to think about it, I feel sad when one of my spiders die. Thus it is often true that many of the spiders that do mature, are kept alive, and some that I’ve had for quite a while are now ​‘down right pets’… I hope to delve into the behavior of spiders…”
• March 8, 1964 letter to Dr. W.S. Bristowe: ​“You are, if I may begin this reprint-request by saying so, my favorite ​‘Spider Man’… I like the kind of work you do, and feel a sort of poet’s pleasure with your words and when I recognize the spider behind the spider name, I am inspired to reach for that dimension myself.”
• March 23, 1965 letter to Honeywell, Inc. ​“I came to Colombia to collect, study and write about South American spiders. That’s my field. Yes, I collect bugs and all that but properly I’m known as an araneologist; a spider man. If you imagine that no one could possibly make a living studying spiders, you’re right. Yet the power of curiosity in a science can sometimes seem to do the impossible. So I left a good paying job in Physics back home in Berkeley, Calif. I packed my books, vials and family and went to Colombia. I’ve never had much money, I guess I never will, for science is a demanding mistress.”
• May 20, 1965 letter to Dr. W.J. Gertsch, Craig discussed the extent of spiders obtained in Colombia: ​“It seems I’ve done a lot of collecting, but after everything is filed away into vials in bottles of alcohol—well they don’t take up much room. Probably no more than 5,000 specimens.”
• Craig’s breakthrough discovery of a new spider happened in Leticia (Colombia’s southernmost city). ​“I have plans to spend a week in Leticia (if I can afford it) so as to get a few spiders from the real tropics. I’m especially interested in collecting the forest litter spiders; and in collecting the Mygalomorphae in general.”
• In the latter part of 1965, Craig returned to California with his collected spiders and started to research them. In a October 10, 1965 letter to Dr. W. J. Gertsch: ​“I did get a chance to spend a few days in Leticia. The collecting was quite good…”
• Craig made his mark in spider research with a new species that he found on that trip to Leticia, a South American Goblin Spider named in his honor, Dysderina craigi.

Journal & Log of Expedition to Chiapas, Mexico. Patrick Craig and Deborah Green.

• 8½ × 5½ inches journal with black boards. 95 pp. filled with manuscript text in narrative form sequentially from December 19, 1974–January 7, 1975.
• In 1975 Craig received a grant from U.C. Berkeley under Dr. John Doyen to photograph orchids and pollinators in Chiapas, Mexico—this is the handwritten
  journal of that trip. Of especial interest in this journal are the entries discussing Craig’s and Green’s attempts and finally success at meeting Gertrude ​“Trudi” Duby Blom (1901–1993). Blom was a Swiss anthropologist who spent five decades in Chiapas chronicling Mayan cultures.

Laboratory Note Book. Paleontology S1. Prof: Dr. Kenneth E. Caster. T.A.: Mr. Sanford Leffler. Student: Patrick R. Craig.

• 8½ × 11 inches green three ring binder. 37 pp. filled with typewritten and manuscript text along with dozens of original illustrations and 14 original black & white photographs. Together with an examination booklet with 5 pp. of manuscript text. Dated June 19, 1962–June 30, 1962. The examination booklet is from July 5, 1962. Craig received an A− on the lab notebook and 95% on the exam. His Professor, Dr. Kenneth Edward Caster (1908–1992) was an important and well-known paleontologist who contributed significantly to fossil echinoderms.

[Folder with 24 pages of misc. mostly handwritten documents]

• Highlight of this folder is a September 11, 1985 letter from the City of Berkeley to Craig: ​“Health violations found by me were discussed in great detail regarding the large amount of chemicals and the hazards associated with negligent storage of these chemicals…” The city demanded removal of all toxic substances and an inventory of chemicals that Craig planned to keep in an approved metal fire-proof case.

[Diary February 1956–April 1958]

• 9 × 6½ inches black canvas three ring binder [covers separated]. Approximately 530 pp. of dense manuscript writing. Almost daily entries from 1956–1958 of a personal nature. Although the origin of Craig’s spider interest may be in this diary, we leave that to the next owner to discover.

For more information on Craig, please see his obituary in the April 2024 Newsletter of the American Arachnological Society.

Craig co-published the following articles and books (not part of the archive):

Craig, P.R., W.E. Savary, & D. Ubick. 2005. ​“Chapter 43. Oecobiidae.” Pp. 183–184. In: D. Ubick, P. Paquin, P.E. Cushing, & V. Roth (eds.). Spiders of North America: an identification manual. American Arachnological Society, Keene, New Hampshire.

Roth, V.D. & P.R. Craig. 1970. ​“VII. Arachnida of the Galapagos Islands (excluding Acarina).” Mission zoologique belge aux îles Galapagos et en Ecuador (N. et J. Leleup), 1964–1965, 2: 105–124.

Santiago-Blay, J.A., G.O. Poinar, Jr., & P.R. Craig. 1996. ​“Dominican and Mexican amber chrysomelids, with descriptions of two new species.” Pp. 413–424. In; P.H.A. Jolivet and M.L. Cox (eds.). Chrosomelidae Biology, vol. 1: The Classification, Phylogeny and Genetics. SPB Academic Publishing, Amsterdam.

Santiago-Blay, J.A., V. Savini, D.G. Furth, P.R. Craig, & G.O. Poinar, Jr. 2004. ​“Wanderbiltiana wawasita: a new species of flea beetle (Alticinae) from Dominican amber (lower Oligocene to lower Miocene).” Pp. 275–277. In: P. Jolivet, J.A. Santiago-Blay and M.Schmitt (eds.). New Developments in the Biology of Chrysomelidae. SPB Academic Publishing bv. The Hague.

Santiago-Blay, J.A., V. Savini, D.G. Furth, P.R. Craig, & G.O. Poinar, Jr. 2004. ​“Preliminary analyses of chrysomelid paleodiversity, with a new record and a new species from Dominican amber (early to middle Miocene).” Advances in Chrysomelidae Biology 1:17–24.

Ubick, D. & P.R. Craig. 2017. ​“Chapter 68. Zodariidae.” Pp. 254–255. In: D. Ubick, P. Paquin, P.E. Cushing, & V.Roth (eds.). Spiders of North America: an identification manual. American Arachnological Society, Keene, New Hampshire.