Joseph Bassett Holder (1824–1888) was an American zoologist and physician. Holder was born in

Lynn, Massachusetts Lynn is the eighth-largest municipality in Massachusetts and the largest city in Essex County. Situated on the Atlantic Ocean, north of the Boston city line at Suffolk Downs, Lynn is part of Greater Boston's urban inner core. Settled by E ...

, October 26, 1824 to parents Aaron L. and Rachel Bassett Holder. His mother was a Quaker minister. Holder studied at the Friends' School in Providence, Rhode Island, and then entered the

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consi ...

, where, while a student, he acted as demonstrator of anatomy for Oliver Wendell Holmes, and was present at the first administration of ether as an anesthetic. He became city physician of Lynn, was founder of the Lynn Natural History Society, and made the first list of birds and plants in Essex county. He was a friend and colleague of Louis Agassiz. In 1859 he accepted the position of physician for Fort Jefferson,

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, at the request of Agassiz and

Spencer F. Baird Spencer Fullerton Baird (; February 3, 1823 – August 19, 1887) was an American naturalist, ornithologist, ichthyologist, herpetologist, and museum curator. Baird was the first curator to be named at the Smithsonian Institution. He eventuall ...

of the Smithsonian, and for seven years made an elaborate study of the Florida reef, being the first to establish the rapid growth of corals, an opposite view being held previous to that. At the breaking out of the Civil War, Holder joined the army as surgeon, and remained as post surgeon and health officer at Fort Jefferson, during the war. Holder resigned in 1869, to join Albert S. Bickmore in the establishment of the American Museum of Natural History of New York City, and became the curator of invertebrates. He was the author of "The Florida Reef"; joint author with J. G. Wood of "Our Living World," an elaborate natural history; "The Museum of Natural History," written with Sir John Richardson; "The Atlantic Right Whale," and many scientific papers. He was a patron of the Metropolitan Museum of Art; a founder and fellow of the American Ornithological Union; a member of the Society of Eastern Naturalists; member of the Society for Psychical Research; fellow of the

New York Academy of Sciences The New York Academy of Sciences (originally the Lyceum of Natural History) was founded in January 1817 as the Lyceum of Natural History. It is the fourth oldest scientific society in the United States. An independent, nonprofit organization wi ...

, Geographical and Linnaen societies, and member of the Harvard Club. He died in New York City on February 28, 1888. His son

Charles Frederick Holder Charles Frederick Holder (1851–1915) was an American naturalist, conservationist, and writer who produced over 40 books and thousands of articles. Known as a pioneer of big-game fishing, he founded and led the Tuna Club of Avalon, credited ...

(1851–1915) became a noted science writer himself, and collaborated with the elder Holder on ''Elements of Zoology''.

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* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Holder, Joseph Bassett 1824 births 1888 deaths American ornithologists American Quakers People associated with the American Museum of Natural History Harvard Medical School alumni Physicians from Massachusetts People from Lynn, Massachusetts 19th-century American zoologists