Charles Pickering (November 10, 1805 – March 17, 1878) was an American race scientist and naturalist.

Biography

Born on Starucca Creek, Upper Susquehanna, Pennsylvania, the grandson of Colonel

Timothy Pickering Timothy Pickering (July 17, 1745January 29, 1829) was the third United States Secretary of State under Presidents George Washington and John Adams. He also represented Massachusetts in both houses of Congress as a member of the Federalist Party ...

, after the death of his father he was raised in the house of his esteemed grandfather in

Wenham, Massachusetts Wenham () is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts. The population was 4,979 at the time of the 2020 census. The town of Wenham, originally settled in 1635 and incorporated in 1643, has retained much of its historic character and rural scenery ...

. Despite his part in the student rebellion of 1823, he received a medical degree from

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 high ...

in 1826. A practicing physician in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, he became active as librarian and

curator A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the parti ...

at the city's

Academy of Natural Sciences The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, formerly the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, is the oldest natural science research institution and museum in the Americas. It was founded in 1812, by many of the leading natu ...

. Pickering went with the

United States Exploring Expedition The United States Exploring Expedition of 1838–1842 was an exploring and surveying expedition of the Pacific Ocean and surrounding lands conducted by the United States. The original appointed commanding officer was Commodore Thomas ap Catesb ...

of 1838-1842 as one of its naturalists.

Charles Wilkes Charles Wilkes (April 3, 1798 – February 8, 1877) was an American naval officer, ship's captain, and explorer. He led the United States Exploring Expedition (1838–1842). During the American Civil War (1861–1865), he commanded ' during the ...

, the expedition's commander, named

Pickering Passage Pickering Passage is a strait, in the southern end of part of Puget Sound in the U.S. state of Washington. Entirely within Mason County, the Pickering Passage separates Hartstine Island from the mainland, and connects Totten Inlet with the no ...

in honor of Charles Pickering. His journal of the Expedition was a major influence on Wilkes' ''Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition''. From 1842-43, Pickering curated the collection from the Wilkes Expedition, which was housed at the Patent Office in Washington DC, these collections were to form the foundation of the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

. Pickering was a polygenist, he believed that different races had been created separately. In 1843, he traveled to the Middle East, Zanzibar and India to continue his research for his book on the Races of Man. In 1848, Pickering published ''Races of Man and Their Geographical Distribution'', which enumerated eleven races. He later moved to

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the capital city, state capital and List of municipalities in Massachusetts, most populous city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financ ...

, where he resumed his medical practice, and eventually died on March 17, 1878. He was married to Sarah Stoddard Pickering, who posthumously published his final work. He was an associate of many important figures in America's intellectual landscape, including

Asa Gray Asa Gray (November 18, 1810 – January 30, 1888) is considered the most important American botanist of the 19th century. His '' Darwiniana'' was considered an important explanation of how religion and science were not necessarily mutually ex ...

, Horatio Hale,

James Dwight Dana James Dwight Dana FRS FRSE (February 12, 1813 – April 14, 1895) was an American geologist, mineralogist, volcanologist, and zoologist. He made pioneering studies of mountain-building, volcanic activity, and the origin and structure of contine ...

and

Louis Agassiz Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz ( ; ) FRS (For) FRSE (May 28, 1807 – December 14, 1873) was a Swiss-born American biologist and geologist who is recognized as a scholar of Earth's natural history. Spending his early life in Switzerland, he rec ...

. A subspecies of North American garter snake, '' Thamnophis sirtalis pickeringii'', is named in his honor.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . ("Pickering", p. 207).

Books

* * ''Races of Man and Their Geographical Distribution'' (1848) * ''Geographical Distribution of Animals and Plants'' (1854) * ''Geographical Distribution of Plants'' (1861) * ''Chronological History of Plants: Man's Record of His Own Existence Illustrated through Their Names, Uses, and Companionship'' (1879)

References

External links

Works on Archive.org

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pickering, Charles 1805 births 1878 deaths 19th-century anthropologists American anthropologists American naturalists Harvard Medical School alumni People of the United States Exploring Expedition Harvard College alumni Burials at Mount Auburn Cemetery

Biography

Books

See also

References

External links