Salty Memoirs, Adventures in Marine Science
In the early 2000’s the my parents began writing a memoir of their experiences as two of the University of Delaware first marine scientists. Their story now is told in an elegant, two-book set called Salty Memoirs: Adventures in Marine Science, consisting of Views from the Distaff Side by Joanne Daiber and Birth Pangs and Growing Pains by Franklin Daiber. The books are illustrated with pen-and-ink drawings by their oldest son, Steven, AS '78, and numerous black-and-white photographs--many taken by Franklin Daiber.
Views from the Distaff Side provides insight into Joanne Daiber's life in the early 1950s, when, as she recalls in her narrative, "It must have been a novelty to see a woman scientist." Women who were successful in joining the work force had to overcome many barriers, she writes, commenting that she was reluctant to take time off for vacation because she "was still trying to prove that a woman would not be a handicap to the job."
Of special interest to book collectors are 25 deluxe editions, in which Views from the Distaff Side and Birth Pangs and Growing Pains are bound back-to-back in a single volume.
"This was a labor of love," Steven Daiber, who designed the deluxe edition, says. Daiber, an artist and naturalist who makes handcrafted books for his company, Red Trillium Press, in Williamsburg, Mass., says he has vivid memories of his parents' research and summers at the shore.
"My parents spent a lifetime looking at the Delaware Bay estuary and marveling at the mysteries of life they found," he says. "I designed this edition to provide the reader with a tactile experience in appreciating the hidden complexity and quiet beauty of the bay."
The covers of the deluxe edition are made from Spartina, a salt-marsh grass that was collected from the Canary Creek Marsh in Lewes. Steven Daiber, his 8-year-old daughter, Lilly, and Franklin Daiber's former student John L. Gallagher, professor of marine biology-biochemistry at the University, collected the grass during the summer of 1999.
Steven Daiber also designed unique prints to accentuate the deluxe editions. An embossment of a species of copepod, a tiny crustacean named after his mother, is featured on the cover of Views from the Distaff Side, while a mummichog, a fish common to Delaware tidal creeks and wetlands, is embossed on the outside cover of Birth Pangs and Growing Pains.
For more information about Salty Memoirs, please contact the Marine Public Education Office at [MarineCom@udel.edu] or (302) 831-8083.
R/V Joanne Daiber
Joanne Currier Daiber gave up a career in marine science for love, but she never gave up her love of marine science.
Now, a new ship to support coastal research and education at UD has been named for Daiber, who was the first female marine scientist hired by the University—in an era when few women entered scientific fields.