A native of Bellows Falls, Vermont, Jennie Maria Arms Sheldon (1852-1938) grew up in Greenfield, Massachusetts, where her father owned a hardware store. After graduating from high school she went to Boston where she became associated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Woman’s Laboratory, and began teaching science at several Boston schools. A tireless researcher, she wrote articles on geology, botany, and zoology, and joined the museum staff of the Boston Society of Natural History. After her marriage to George Sheldon in 1897, she divided her time between Deerfield, Massachusetts, and Boston. She and her husband catalogued many of the collections in Deerfield’s Memorial Hall Museum, where Mrs. Sheldon served as curator from 1913 until her death.