Stanley Crittenden Ball (b. November 19, 1885; d. August 9, 1956) was born in Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts, and educated at Yale University (Ph.B., Sheffield Scientific School, 1911; Ph.D., 1915). After brief appointments at the Massachussetts Agricultural College in Amherst, Springfield (Massachusetts) College, and the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum in Honolulu, Hawaii, in 1926 he returned permanently to Yale where he taught biology courses — especially in entomology and ornithology — and curated the zoology collections until his retirement in 1954.

An all-round zoologist, Ball is now best known for his studies of the spadefoot toad (Scaphiopus holbrookii) and autumn bird migration on the Gaspé peninsula, Quebec. Not so well known is his primary role in planning and supervising the construction of all vertebrate and most of the invertebrate exhibits mounted in the Yale Peabody Museum during his tenure, most notably the exquisite wildlife dioramas illustrating Connecticut environments that are permanently on view in the Hall of Southern New England.

Photograph courtesy of Manuscripts & Archives, Yale University Library.