Erasmus M. Nighbert

Unknown. “Erasmus M. Nighbert.” Special Collections, USDA National Agricultural Library. Accessed April 19, 2024, https://www.nal.usda.gov/exhibits/speccoll/items/show/8200.

Erasmus Manford Nighbert was born March 14, 1869 in Scottsville, Illinois. He studied at Ontario Veterinary College in Toronto, earning his bachelor’s degree in veterinary science in 1894. He returned to Illinois, where he practiced veterinary medicine and served as assistant state veterinarian before resuming his education.  He received his D.V.S. degree at the Kansas City Veterinary College in 1902.

Upon completing his doctorate, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) appointed Nighbert as a field agent in meat inspection and tick eradication. In 1921, Nighbert transferred to the BAI’s Zoological Division experiment station in Queen City, Missouri, where he served as a field agent for the control of internal parasites of sheep. He was relocated to the Moultrie, Georgia experiment station in 1925 to lead the swine parasite program there. He later became an extension parasitologist headquartered in Washington, D.C.

Nighbert retired from the BAI in 1933. He died on December 23, 1952 at his home in Cantonment, Florida.


Sources:

Andrews, John S. “Animal Parasitology in the United States Department of Agriculture, 1886-1984.” In 100 Years of Animal Health 1884-1984, edited by Vivian D. Wiser, Larry Mark, H. Graham Purchase, and Associates of the National Agricultural Library, 113–65. Beltsville, MD: Associates of the National Agricultural Library, Inc., 1987.

"Erasmus M. Nighbert, 1869-1952." U.S. National Animal Parasite Collection Records. Box 120, Folder 8. Special Collections, National Agricultural Library.