Dr. James Culbertson McConnell, usually abbreviated as J. C. McConnell (born 1844 - died July 25, 1904, Liberty

Liberty, New York

Liberty, New York relates to two locations in Sullivan County, New York, United States:*Liberty , New York*Liberty , New York...

, New York) was one of the world's most acclaimed scientific illustrators.

McConnell was an anatomist with the Army Medical Museum

National Museum of Health and Medicine

The National Museum of Health and Medicine is a museum in Silver Spring, Maryland, near Washington, D.C., USA. An element of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, the NMHM is a member of the National Health Sciences Consortium....

 in Washington, D.C. For thirty-five years, he drew "many thousand exquisite drawings" of fossils, shells and bones for scientific publications. In an obituary, it was stated that, "as a draughtsman, in black and white line for scientific purposes, he had no equal in this country, if in the world."

He is most well known for his "incomparable pictures of shells" and illustrated a number of publications by the famous malacologist

Malacology

Malacology is the branch of invertebrate zoology which deals with the study of the Mollusca , the second-largest phylum of animals in terms of described species after the arthropods. Mollusks include snails and slugs, clams, octopus and squid, and numerous other kinds, many of which have shells...

 William Healey Dall. McConnell also illustrated fossils described by Charles Doolittle Walcott

Charles Doolittle Walcott

Charles Doolittle Walcott was an American invertebrate paleontologist. He became known for his discovery in 1909 of well-preserved fossils in the Burgess Shale of British Columbia, Canada.-Early life:...

.

McConnell's illustrations continued to be used long after his death. For example, most of the black and white illustrations in R. Tucker Abbott

R. Tucker Abbott

Robert Tucker Abbott was an American conchologist and malacologist . He was the author of more than 30 books on malacology, which have been translated into many languages....

's American Seashells (1954) were by McConnell.

McConnell has been described as "one of those shadowy-figured artisans about whom little is known." Although he held a medical degree and used the title "doctor", "officially he was a clerk."