RISE AND FALL OF THE BOSTON SOCIETY OF NATURAL HISTORY, THE

Northeastern Naturalist, 2004 by Johnson, Richard I

ABSTRACT - The Boston Society of Natural History, founded in 1830, replaced the Linnaean Society, which had been active from 1813 to 1823. The founding members of both groups were mostly physicians who were interested in natural history. They were concerned with the collection and display of natural objects, the study of specimens, and public education. The large number of important publications that the Boston Society would eventually produce between 1834 and 1946 commenced with a noteworthy volume of the Boston Journal of Natural History. After 30 years of effort, capped by the generosity of Dr. William J. Walker, a beautiful museum building was finally completed in 1863. Soon thereafter, professionals who had mostly been trained by Louis Agassiz at Harvard filled the museum positions. From 1870 until his death in 1902, Alpheus Hyatt, an Agassiz student and an exponent of the neo-Lamarckian School, was director of the Boston Society. He was succeeded by Charles W. Johnson. A paucity of funds during Johnson's tenure caused the trustees to limit the Society's scope to the natural history of New England, and the dispersal of its collections was begun. In 1946, the Society's extensive library was sold, and soon afterwards the museum building was also disposed of. The Society changed its name to the Boston Museum of Science. It was now no longer concerned with research but only with popular education. It is located today in Boston's Science Park beside the Charles River.

THE BOSTON SOCIETY COMES OF AGE

When the Boston Society of Natural History (BSNH) was founded largely as a research institution in February 1830 by seven self-trained naturalists, Boston was still a small city, virtually an island. Beyond the Boston Common extended the rather foul Back Bay; the city was connected to the west only by a narrow causeway. One of its principal cultural institutions was the Boston Athenaeum, founded in 1807, whose initial purpose was as a place where merchants could share shipping news. However, it soon was transformed into a serious library, a center for the fine arts, and a repository of historical artifacts (Pierce and Slautterback 1991). Before the development of manufacturing, especially of textiles, and the advent of the railroad, there was virtually no leisure class in Boston. Everyone of significance had a business or professional occupation. It is not surprising that, after the first meeting of the Boston Society in the home of Dr. Walter Charming, most of those who were to become active members were physicians who had a strong interest in natural history. The exception was naturalist Thomas Nuttall (Fig. 1), who was elected as the Society's first president. Nuttall declined the honor, claiming that he was only a temporary resident of the Boston area. All of the other founding officers of the Society were physicians, as were four of the eight curators who were also chosen at the initial meeting.

The formation of the BSNH was a brave undertaking, since the failed Linnaean Society, begun by a number of the same individuals in 1814, had had the same goals: the collection and display of natural objects, their study, and the education of the public. By 1823, the Linnaean Society had failed for lack of financial support. The Boston Athenaeum declined to house the collections of natural history objects that had been assembled. Harvard University then became the repository of choice. However, when the newly formed BSNH requested the return of this material, it had mostly disappeared. After Nuttall's refusal to serve as president of the new Society, Dr. Benjamin D. Greene, whose interest was botany, was chosen to be head. The Society dedicated itself to an important role in education. Prior to receiving its charter from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as the Boston Society of Natural History in 1831, a series of lectures on natural history (the topics now unknown) had been offered to the public. These lectures were held in the hall of the Boston Athenaeum, which at that time resided in a mansion on Pearl Street that had been donated by James Perkins. Pearl Street was then an old thoroughfare, beautified by other stately houses and shade trees.

In 1833, the Society relinquished the room it had occupied at the Athenaeum and moved into a hall on the third floor of the new Savings Bank Building on Tremont Street that overlooked the Boston Common. Soon thereafter, collections of shells belonging to Dr. Amos Binney, Jr. (Fig. 2) and of minerals belonging to Dr. Charles Thomas Jackson (Fig. 3) were exhibited. In 1835, Ambrose S. Courtis bequeathed the Society $15,000. Unfortunately, the first payment of $2000 was lost because of the failure of the bank in which it had been deposited, but subsequent payments kept the Society solvent and were to be its chief source of income for the next 25 years. This new wealth gave hope that the Society might prosper. The mammal collection was begun auspiciously in 1836 with the acquisition of the bones of an elephant that had died in a menagerie. According to the original account, these bones were stored and bleached in the "house" of James Blake. One hopes that "house" meant barn! In any case, the skeleton was assembled by Dr. Nathaniel Bradstreet Shurtleff, the Society's first Curator of Comparative Anatomy.