Collection Guides for the James F. Wright Papers and Michael Loomis Papers Now Available

Additions to the James F. Wright Papers (MC 00373) and the Michael Loomis Papers (MC 00407) are now fully processed and reflected in the Special Collections Collection Guides.

James F. Wright served on the veterinary faculty of North Carolina State University from 1984 to 2004 as visiting associate professor and later as adjunct associate professor in the Department of Microbiology, Parasitology, and Pathology at the College of Veterinary Medicine. He was previously employed as a pathologist and consulting clinical veterinarian at the North Carolina Zoo and a clinical veterinarian at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C.

Dr. Wright was a pioneer in zoological health, particularly due to his contributions to the development of early dart guns and tranquilizing agents. The James F. Wright Papers contain professional correspondence, reports, notes, articles, five 16mm films relating to the early use of dart guns and tranquilizing agents, and documents from the American Association of Zoo Veterinarians. This collection is dated from 1856 to 1997, with the bulk of the materials from 1957 to 1975.

Michael Loomis is currently an adjunct associate professor of zoological medicine at North Carolina State University College of Veterinary Medicine. Working alongside Dr. Wright, Dr. Loomis served for 30 years as the Chief Veterinarian at the North Carolina Zoo. As Chief Veterinarian, Dr. Loomis oversaw the division that provides all veterinary medical care for the Zoo’s animal collections. The collection includes a letter to Dr. Loomis regarding a visa request and an invitation to Korup, Cameroon for an elephant tagging mission. Additionally, there are North Carolina Zoological Park anesthesia records, Guidelines for the Keeping of Reptiles in Breeding Groups, and documents from the American College of Zoological Medicine. The Michael Loomis papers are dated from 1977 to 2017.

The James F. Wright Papers and Michael Loomis Papers are available for research. For more information or to request access to these records, please use our online request form. To learn more about Dr. Wright, Dr. Loomis, and the topic of Zoological Health, a list of related collections is listed on our website.