James Elias Cribbs

James Elas Cribbs was born on March 25, 1891, in Mercer, Pennsylvania. James received his bachelor’s degree in 1914 from Grove City College in Pennsylvania, and worked there for a short time as a professor of biology before being drafted to serve in World War I in 1917. He received his master’s degree in botany in 1916 from the University of Chicago, and in 1918 he earned his Ph.D. there. In 1919 and 1920, he was teaching at the College of Emporia, in Emporia, Kansas. 

James Cribbs was the head of the biology department at Drury University, Springfield, Missouri, from 1921 to 1942. He began teaching at Drury as an acting professor in 1920, and taught pre-medical courses. He also was the curator of The Edward M. Shepard Museum's biology section at Drury. In the summer of 1930, he participated in a travelling summer college, the Omnibus College, where he taught field zoology and art appreciation.

As an artist, Cribbs was an amateur painter in oils and watercolors and an amateur photographer. He showed his work at exhibitions in Springfield and in Kansas City in the 1930s and 1940s. It is unclear where he received his artistic training, but there are several Google references that cite his association with the Art Department at Drury College.  His family also had a history of being involved in art, with three generations of his descendants being trained artists.  At the time of his death, he was president of the Ozarks Artists Association.

He died on August 1, 1942, in Springfield.