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 ...

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, 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

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, 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. In 1951 the society evolved into the Museum of Science, and relocated to its current site on the Charles River.

History

Founders of the society in 1830 included Amos Binney Jr.; Edward Brooks; Walter Channing; Henry Codman; George B. Emerson; 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 high ...

) was the zoologist William Patten. Among the many scholars and curators affiliated with the society: Alexander Emanuel Agassiz; T.T. Bouvé; Thomas Mayo Brewer; 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; Albert Ordway; Samuel Hubbard Scudder; Charles J. Sprague; Alpheus Hyatt, and Jeffries Wyman. "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 1949and 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, Amos Binney, founder Image:GeorgeEmerson BSNH 1930.png, George B. Emerson, 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. 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