Bashford Dean

Bashford Dean was a notable example of the type of man who does not interest himself in a subject without becoming the master of it. His imagination and his faculty of research were absolutely tireless. Not many investigators would have divided their life work between two such unaffiliated fields as the study of ichthyology and the study of the history of armor, but Dr. Dean was easily the foremost American authority on each. In the one he became a highly important member of the Natural History Museum’s staff; in the other he brought to international distinction his department in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. How eminently practical he was in applying the knowledge that he drew from his specialized study was strikingly shown by his designing for the army, a dozen years ago, the metal helmet which utilized for modern warfare the principles which mediæval armorers employed in a period of wholly different military methods.

Alexander Dana Noyes
1929 Century Association Yearbook