Frederic Augustus Lucas, Sc.D. (March 25, 1852 – February 9, 1929) was a zoologist who served as a curator of the Brooklyn Museum and director of the American Museum of Natural History. He was an expert on the osteology and anatomy of birds.

Biography

Career

Frederic A. Lucas was prominent in the Great American Museum movement, which sought to bring

Natural Science Natural science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer review and repeatab ...

to the American public. He eventually became

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 ...

in Chief of the

Brooklyn Museum The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 1.5 million objects. Located near the Prospect Heights, Crown H ...

, in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, New York, (1904) and subsequently enjoyed an appointment as director at the

American Museum of Natural History The American Museum of Natural History (abbreviated as AMNH) is a natural history museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. In Theodore Roosevelt Park, across the street from Central Park, the museum complex comprises 26 inter ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

(1911).

Formative years

The son of Augustus Henry, a merchant seaman who was captain of a

sailing vessel A sailing ship is a sea-going vessel that uses sails mounted on masts to harness the power of wind and propel the vessel. There is a variety of sail plans that propel sailing ships, employing square-rigged or fore-and-aft sails. Some ships ...

, he accompanied his father on two long voyages, the first (1861-1862) at the age of 9 and the second (1869-1870) when he was 17. His mother was Eliza Oliver, and his paternal great-grandmother Ruby Fuller was a descendant of Dr Samuel Fuller on the

Mayflower ''Mayflower'' was an English ship that transported a group of English families, known today as the Pilgrims, from England to the New World in 1620. After a grueling 10 weeks at sea, ''Mayflower'', with 102 passengers and a crew of about 30, r ...

. He became fascinated with

sea life Sea Life is a chain of commercial sea life-themed aquarium attractions. there are 53 Sea Life attractions (including standalone Sea Life centres, mini Sea Life features within resort theme parks, and Legoland submarine rides) around the world ...

, especially the marine birds, many of which he was able to snare, skin and prepare as mounted specimens. From this he developed an ambition to become a

taxidermist Taxidermy is the art of preserving an animal's body via mounting (over an armature) or stuffing, for the purpose of display or study. Animals are often, but not always, portrayed in a lifelike state. The word ''taxidermy'' describes the proce ...

and entered

Ward's Natural Science Establishment Ward's Science is a supplier of science education materials for K-12 and college-level studies in Rochester, New York. It was founded by Henry Augustus Ward in 1862 as Ward's Natural Science and was renamed in 2012. Current areas of focus includ ...

Rochester, New York Rochester () is a City (New York), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, the county seat, seat of Monroe County, New York, Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, ...

, to learn the techniques involved. Perhaps because of the manner of his development he seems to have had little regard for investigative science per se. As a consequence, he had little opportunity for formal education and he never sought any. After the 11 years he spent at Ward's, he bragged that, "during those days he never read through any scientific book, never attended a course of scientific lectures, never did an hour's laboratory work, nor made a

microscope slide A microscope slide is a thin flat piece of glass, typically 75 by 26 mm (3 by 1 inches) and about 1 mm thick, used to hold objects for examination under a microscope. Typically the object is mounted (secured) on the slide, and then b ...

", his interests being confined to

avian Avian may refer to: *Birds or Aves, winged animals *Avian (given name) (russian: Авиа́н, link=no), a male forename Aviation *Avro Avian, a series of light aircraft made by Avro in the 1920s and 1930s *Avian Limited, a hang glider manufacture ...

osteology Osteology () is the scientific study of bones, practised by osteologists. A subdiscipline of anatomy, anthropology, and paleontology, osteology is the detailed study of the structure of bones, skeletal elements, teeth, microbone morphology, funct ...

and the mounting and tagging of specimens for exhibition. He also claimed that sharks were essentially incapable of attacking man. Yet his competency in this area was sufficient to provide him an appointment to mount and prepare avian specimens at the

National Museum of Natural History The National Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. It has free admission and is open 364 days a year. In 2021, with 7 ...

Washington, DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan ...

(1882) at the age of 21 where he was given the title of Curator.

Legacy

Lucas came to be recognized by his contemporaries as an authority on ancient animals. His description of himself was that of "all round" naturalist, a type specimen he regarded regretfully as fast disappearing. Because of his associations at the National Museum he was able to meet and associate with many men of this type, Hornaday, Akeley,

Ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...

Howell Howell may refer to: Places In the United Kingdom *Howell, Lincolnshire, England In the United States *Howell, Georgia * Howell, Evansville, a neighborhood of Evansville, Indiana *Howell, Michigan * Howell, Missouri *Howell, Utah * Howell C ...

, etc., people whose recognition was based on their writings as

explorer Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians. Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...

s rather than as

academician An academician is a full member of an artistic, literary, engineering, or scientific academy. In many countries, it is an honorific title used to denote a full member of an academy that has a strong influence on national scientific life. In syst ...

s. He never regarded as himself as deficient in that respect. After instruction in the techniques of scientific writing and manuscript preparation by a friend early in his career, he published more than 350 articles, primarily in the area of avian osteology but also relating to natural history and the role of the museum and public education.

Death

Frederic Lucas died on February 9, 1929, at his home in

Flushing, New York Flushing is a neighborhood in the north-central portion of the New York City borough of Queens. The neighborhood is the fourth-largest central business district in New York City. Downtown Flushing is a major commercial and retail area, and the i ...

at the age of 76. He was buried at

Plymouth, Massachusetts Plymouth (; historically known as Plimouth and Plimoth) is a town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. Located in Greater Boston, the town holds a place of great prominence in American history, folklore, and culture, and is known as ...

."Frederic Augustus Lucas," ''Evolution,'' vol. 2, no. 2 (March 1929), pg. 5 He was married to Annie Edgar from 1884 and they had two daughters.

References

External links

Frederic Augustus Lucas Papers

Searchable Ornithological Research Archive
* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lucas, Frederic Augustus 1852 births 1929 deaths American curators American non-fiction writers Directors of museums in the United States People from Plymouth, Massachusetts Writers from New York City