COOLIDGE, DANE (1873-1940). Dane Coolidge, naturalist and writer of western novels, the son of Francis and Sophia (Whittemore) Coolidge, was born in Natick, Massachusetts, on March 24, 1873. The family moved to Los Angeles in 1877, and Coolidge subsequently grew up on his father's orange farm at Riverside, California. He received his B.A. from Stanford University in 1898 and studied at Harvard University in 1898-99. During the summers Coolidge collected animals for Stanford University, the British Museum, the United States Biological Survey, the United States National Zoological Park, and the New York Zoological Park. In 1900 he worked as a field collector for the United States Natural History Museum.