Subseries contains material relating to Dr. Ainley's research on ornithology beginning in Ainley's graduate research and her early post-doc career. This subseries includes drafts of Ainley's Masters thesis "La Professionnalisation De L'Ornithologie Americaine, 1870-1979" (The Professionalization of American Ornithology, 1870-1979) for the University of Montreal and drafts of her PhD thesis "From Natural History to Avian Biology: Canadian Ornithology 1860-1950" for McGill University. Thus subseries also includes materials related to an uncompleted monograph about the history of the first 100 years of the American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). The project was originally proposed to the centennial committee of the American Ornithologists' Union in 1979 and was to be completed by Keir Sterling and Charles H. Blake. Ainley was invited to join the project in 1981, shortly after which Charles Blake passed away. In 1987, the project was abandoned, but was then revived in 2003 for the 125 year anniversary based on a revision of the original manuscript and new additions to cover the period of 1983-2008, before being abandoned for a second time. Subseries also contains the research materials for Ainley's chapter in "Uneasy Careers and Intimate Lives: Women in Science, 1789-1979," entitled, "Field Work and Family: North American Women Ornithologists, 1900-1950." The article details the experience of female ornithologists, focusing on, among others, Margaret Morse Nice and Althea Sherman. Subseries consists of photocopied and hand-copied correspondence between Margaret Morse Nice and Louise de Kiriline Lawrence, between Nice and William Rowan, and between Nice and Althea Sherman.
