Making fish skeletons visible
Hollister joined the New York Zoological Society’s Department of Tropical Research in 1928. She refined clearing and staining methods that made soft tissues transparent and colored bones for anatomical study.
She published her method in 1934. Alongside exploration, this laboratory work addressed how structures difficult to observe directly could become research material.
Diving and recording at the surface
During Bathysphere expeditions Hollister often transcribed William Beebe’s telephone descriptions of animals and dive conditions from the surface. Such records also supported scientific illustrations.
She descended herself, reaching 410 feet in 1930 and 1,208 feet in 1934. Surface recording and direct underwater observation were distinct parts of her contribution.
Leading an expedition
In 1936 Hollister led an expedition to British Guiana, collecting animal material and photographing the Kaieteur Falls region. Aerial photography supplemented records obtainable from ground travel.
The places and animals were not unknown locally. The archive also records prior names for some waterfalls; her contribution involved investigation, documentation and communication rather than discovery that erased local knowledge.
References: [1]
Organizing local conservation
In the 1950s Hollister worked with residents and scientists to protect Mianus River Gorge from development, organizing investigations, visits and fundraising as conservation-committee chair.
With support from The Nature Conservancy, the effort became an early TNC land-protection project. Field knowledge, public communication and organization were brought together in protecting a specific natural area.