PSM V55 D471 Boston society of natural history and mit rogers building

The Boston Society of Natural History (1830–1948) in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

, was an organization dedicated to the study and promotion of natural history. It published a scholarly journal and established a museum. In its first few decades, the society occupied several successive locations in Boston's

Financial District A financial district is usually a central area in a city where financial services firms such as banks, insurance companies and other related finance corporations have their head offices. In major cities, financial districts are often home to s ...

, including Pearl Street,

Tremont Street Tremont Street is a major thoroughfare in Boston, Massachusetts. Tremont Street begins at Government Center in Boston's city center as a continuation of Cambridge Street, and forms the eastern edge of Boston Common. Continuing in a roughly so ...

and Mason Street. In 1864 it moved into a newly constructed museum building at 234 Berkeley Street in the

Back Bay Back Bay is an officially recognized neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, built on reclaimed land in the Charles River basin. Construction began in 1859, as the demand for luxury housing exceeded the availability in the city at the time, and t ...

, designed by architect

William Gibbons Preston William Gibbons Preston (September 29, 1842 – March 26, 1910) was an American architect who practiced during the last third of the nineteenth century and in the first decade of the twentieth. Educated at Harvard University and the École des ...

. In 1951 the society evolved into the

Museum of Science The Museum of Science (MoS) is a science museum and indoor zoo in Boston, Massachusetts, located in Science Park, a plot of land spanning the Charles River. Along with over 700 interactive exhibits, the museum features a number of live presentat ...

, and relocated to its current site on the Charles River.

History

Founders of the society in 1830 included

Amos Binney Amos Binney (October 18, 1803 – February 18, 1847) was an American physician and malacologist."Amos Binney" http://www.inhs.uiuc.edu/~ksc/Malacologists/BinneyA.html accessed 31 May 2012. Biography His son was William G. Binney. He was a ...

Jr.; Edward Brooks; Walter Channing; Henry Codman;

George B. Emerson George Barrell Emerson (September 12, 1797 – March 14, 1881) was an American educator and pioneer of women's education. Biography He was born in Kennebunk, Maine. He graduated from Harvard College in 1817, and soon after took charge of an acad ...

; Joshua B. Flint; Benjamin D. Greene; Simon E. Greene; William Grigg; George Hayward; D. Humphreys Storer; and John Ware. Several had previously been involved with the

Linnaean Society of New England The Linnaean Society of New England (1814–1822) was established in Boston, Massachusetts, to promote natural history. The society organized a natural history museum and also arranged lectures and excursions for its members. In 1817 it became invol ...

. By 1838, the society held "regular meetings on the 2nd and 4th Wednesday of each month."Boston Almanac. 1838. "In its collection are about 700 specimens in mineralogy and geology, besides the rich collection of Dr. C.T. Jackson, and the state collection; botany, 5,000; mammalia, 30 entire skeletons and 30 crania; birds, 200 species; reptiles, 130; insects, about 15,000; crustacea, 130; radiata, 190. Library, 600 volumes and pamphlets. The room ... gratuitously opened to the public every Wednesday from 12 to 2 o'clock." In 1864, William Johnson Walker, a surgeon and financial supporter of the society, donated money for the Walker Prize to recognize work in the field of natural history. In the 1960s its scope was extended to all areas of science and with an emphasis on communication as well as excellence. One of the recipients, while he was a first year student at the Lawrence Scientific School (which later became part of

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

) was the zoologist William Patten. Among the many scholars and curators affiliated with the society: Alexander Emanuel Agassiz; T.T. Bouvé;

Thomas Mayo Brewer Thomas Mayo Brewer (November 21, 1814 – January 24, 1880) was an American naturalist, specializing in ornithology and oology. Biography Thomas Mayo Brewer was born in Boston, the younger brother of noted Boston merchant Gardner Brewer. He ...

; George Emerson; A.A. Gould; F.W.P. Greenwood;

Charles Thomas Jackson Charles Thomas Jackson (June 21, 1805 – August 28, 1880) was an American physician and scientist who was active in medicine, chemistry, mineralogy, and geology. Life and work Born at Plymouth, Massachusetts, of a prominent New England fami ...

;

Charles Sedgwick Minot Charles Sedgwick Minot (December 23, 1852 – November 19, 1914) was an American anatomist and a founding member of the American Society for Psychical Research. Life Charles Sedgwick Minot was born December 23, 1852, in Roxbury, Massachusetts. ...

;

Albert Ordway Albert may refer to: Companies * Albert (supermarket), a supermarket chain in the Czech Republic * Albert Heijn, a supermarket chain in the Netherlands * Albert Market, a street market in The Gambia * Albert Productions, a record label * Albert ...

;

Samuel Hubbard Scudder Samuel Hubbard Scudder (April 13, 1837 – May 17, 1911) was an American entomologist and paleontologist. He was a leading figure in entomology during his lifetime and the founder of insect paleontology in America. In addition to fossil insects ...

; Charles J. Sprague;

Alpheus Hyatt Alpheus Hyatt (April 5, 1838 – January 15, 1902) was an American zoologist and palaeontologist. Biography Alpheus Hyatt II was born in Washington, D.C. to Alpheus Hyatt and Harriet Randolph (King) Hyatt. He briefly attended the Maryla ...

, and

Jeffries Wyman Jeffries Wyman (August 11, 1814 – September 4, 1874) was an American naturalist and anatomist, born in Chelmsford, Massachusetts. Wyman died in Bethlehem, New Hampshire of a pulmonary hemorrhage. Career He graduated Harvard College in 183 ...

. "After World War II, under the leadership of

Bradford Washburn Henry Bradford Washburn Jr. (June 7, 1910 – January 10, 2007) was an American explorer, mountaineer, photographer, and cartographer. He established the Boston Museum of Science, served as its director from 1939–1980, and from 1985 until his ...

, the society sold the Berkeley Street building, changed its name to the Boston Museum of Science. ... The cornerstone for the new Museum was laid at Science Park

n 1949 N, or n, is the fourteenth Letter (alphabet), letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the English alphabet, modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is English alphabet# ...

and a temporary building was erected to house the Museum's collections and staff. In 1951, the first wing of the new Museum officially opened."Museum of Science, Boston
History of the Museum of Science
Retrieved 05-01-2010

Galleries

1830–1833

Image:AmosBinney BSNH 1930.png,

, founder Image:GeorgeEmerson BSNH 1930.png,

, founder Image:BenjaminGreene BSNH 1930.png, Benjamin D. Greene, founder Image:BostonAthenaeum PearlSt 1830.png,

Boston Athenaeum Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- most ...

building, Pearl Street, Boston, home to the BSNH in the early 1830s

1833–1863

Image:ProvidentInstSavings TremontSt Boston HomansSketches1851.jpg, Building of the Provident Inst. for Savings, Tremont St., Boston, built in 1833. Offices on the third floor were occupied by the Boston Society of Natural History, 1833-1847 Image:1837 BostonJournal NaturalHistory v1 Plate1 BFNutting Pendleton.png, Plate from: ''Boston Journal of Natural History'', 1837 Image:1839 BostonJournal NaturalHistory v2 illus1.png, Plate from: ''Boston Journal of Natural History'', v.2. 1839. Image:MedicalCollege building MasonSt Boston.png, Home of the Boston Society of Natural History (c. 1847-1863), Mason Street, Boston

1864–1946

Image:Natural History Museum and Central Church, by Alden, A. E., 1837-.jpg, Natural History Museum, corner of Boylston Street and Berkeley Street, Back Bay, Boston, c. 1864 Image:BostonNaturalHistoryMuseum BSNH 1930.png, Museum exhibition gallery, c. 1930 Image:BostonNaturalHistoryMuseum2 BSNH 1930.png, Museum interior, c. 1930 Image:Rogersbldg2009.JPG, Former museum building, Berkeley Street, Boston, 2009

References

Notes Further reading ::Publications of the society
Act of incorporation, constitution, and by-laws
of the Boston Society of Natural History. John H. Eastburn, printer, 1832. * Boston Journal of Natural History
v.1
(1834–1837)
v.2
(1838–1839)
v.4
(1843–1844)
v.5
(1845–1847)
v.6
(1850–1857)
v.7
(1859–1863). * Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History
v.1
(1841–1844)
v.34
(1907–1912) * Memoirs Read Before the Boston Society of Natural History. (1861–1949)
v.1
(1866–1869).
Objects and claims of the Boston Society of Natural History
Printed by J. Wilson and Son, 1861. * Annual report
(1865–1876)
*

Alpheus Spring Packard Alpheus Spring Packard Jr. LL.D. (February 19, 1839 – February 14, 1905) was an American entomologist and palaeontologist. He described over 500 new animal species – especially butterflies and moths – and was one of the founders of ''The Am ...

. Observations on the glacial phenomena of Labrador and Maine. 1867. * Louis Agassiz
Address delivered on the centennial anniversary of the birth of Alexander von Humboldt
1869. (The lecture took place at Music Hall, followed by a reception at Horticultural Hall). * Anniversary memoirs of the Boston Society of Natural History, 1830–1880. Boston, 1880. * Lucien Carr
Notes on the crania of New England Indians
1880. *

William James William James (January 11, 1842 – August 26, 1910) was an American philosopher, historian, and psychologist, and the first educator to offer a psychology course in the United States. James is considered to be a leading thinker of the lat ...

The feeling of effort
1880.
Museum and Library bulletin
1906. *

Douglas Wilson Johnson Douglas Wilson Johnson (1878–1944) was an American geographer and geomorphologist known for his contributions to the understanding of coastal processes and landforms. Johnson was a descendant of a slave-holding American family of English roots. ...

A geological excursion in the Grand Cañon district
1909.
Bulletin of the Boston Society of Natural History
1915. * P. Creed, ed
The Boston Society of Natural History, 1830–1930
Boston: 1930.

External links

Boston Museum of Science

University of Southern California. Acquired the library of the Boston Society of Natural History in 1944–1946. * (Describes items given to the Boston Society of Natural History in the 1830s) {{authority control Organizations based in Boston History of Boston 1830 establishments in Massachusetts Natural history museums in Massachusetts 19th century in Boston Natural history societies