The Development of Natural History Museums in the United States

Katharine Galloway Garstka
Librarian and Natural History Writer

A museum is created whenever a curious person brings home something from the outside world to admire, study or think about later. Museums are simply collections of interesting materials brought together for the purposes of study and appreciation. Anthropologists suggest that even prehistoric peoples may have kept collections of curious natural objects, if only for short periods of time. However, the large, specialized, public museums we are familiar with are a much more recent phenomenon.

In the United States today there are over 6,000 museums covering numerous topics as diverse as transportation, textiles and medicine. These collections range in size from one-room museums to complexes of buildings that take days to explore. Natural history museums form only a fraction of the total, about 400, but many are world-famous institutions.

“Natural history” as a discipline is not closely defined, and thus natural history museums have been free to interpret the term in a variety of ways. In addition to biological exhibits, they may or may not include such topics as anthropology or astronomy within their walls. They may specialize in local material or may combine history, technology, or even art collections within the same institutions.

Public museums are generally considered to have originated in the United States. Collections in other parts of the world were primarily developed by royalty or wealthy individuals, or in universities, and access was severely limited. Some institutions in the United States also fit this pattern. Many other museums in this country were formed by groups of citizens setting out to create public museums, just as many public libraries were founded.

University museums were among the first institutions to organize natural history collections as study materials for students and researchers. Harvard University had been acquiring what it called “curiosities” in the first half of the 1700’s, although the first of Harvard’s museums, the Museum of Comparative Zoology, was not officially opened until 1860. Professor Louis Agassiz, renowned as a naturalist and teacher, spent much of his life planning, collecting for and directing the museum. He outlined his purposes in developing the Museum of Comparative Zoology:

"1) To express in material forms the present state of our knowledge of the animal kingdom; 2) To make the museum a center of original research, where men who are engaged in studying the problems connected with natural history could find all they needed for comparative investigation; and 3) To make the museum an educational institution having a widespread influence upon the study, the love and the knowledge of nature throughout the country.”

These are aims with which most natural history museums today would agree. Agassiz and his museum have certainly had a widespread influence on the study of natural history and museums. He often worked closely with Spencer Fullerton Baird of the Smithsonian’s National Museum in obtaining specimens for both institutions. One of Agassiz’s students, Albert S. Bickmore, was instrumental in founding the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Other students spread Agassiz’s dedication to natural history museums all over the country, as the second half of the 1800’s brought a flurry of museum founding.

“Anthropologists suggest that even prehistoric peoples may have kept collections of curious natural objects...”

Most of the first natural history museums in the United States were founded in the 1800’s, and in the beginning they primarily housed collections of specimens for research purposes. So little was known about so much of our flora, fauna and geology, that research collections for cataloging and description of species were needed before all else. Later, some of these research collections were displayed to the public. Finally, after the value of educational exhibits was fully accepted, collecting was done specifically for the purpose of public exhibition.

As museums proliferated, it became apparent that more communication within the museum community would be valuable. Consequently, in 1906 a group of museum administrators, mostly representing science and natural history museums, met to discuss their mutual problems and goals. They formed the American Association of Museums, with the stated aims of promoting museums, increasing public knowledge of muse-ums, and helping all those concerned with such institutions. The AAM instituted a newsletter, now called The Museum News, and has sponsored research, produced directories and other publications, and promoted small museums. In early days it was even responsible for the establishment of several museums.

Accreditation of museums by the AAM began in 1970 and standards for museums and museum training pro-grams are of constant concern. Much of the current work of the organization involves seeking new sources of funding and promoting legislation favorable for museum growth. As with other professional organizations, continuing education and ethics for museum scientists and administrators are also important concerns of the AAM.

During the years of museum growth and change, exhibits within museums have also changed direction. From basic display cases filled with curious objects, they have evolved to complex studies and naturalistic habitat groups. As biology itself turned from simple classification to the study of relationships, so did museum exhibits. As interest in evolution arose, natural history museums became a major source of public education, explaining evolution and showing the diversity of forms which characterizes the living and fossil worlds. The natural history museum thus interprets the fundamental principles of biological science to the public at large.

In keeping with its role as interpreter, the museum community has developed many other educational activities. Lectures and classes for both adults and children, interpretive tours, traveling collections and instructors, and field trips have proved popular all over the country. Many excellent natural history libraries are located in museums and are utilized by museum members and researchers. Museums

...the museum community has developed many educational activities, Lectures and classes, interpretive tours, traveling collections and field trips...

The First Museum

The first public museum in America was organized in Charleston, South Carolina, prior to the Revolutionary War. In 1773 the Charleston Library Society formed a committee to promote a natural history collection of the area. The South Carolina Gazette, in an introductory article, asked the public “to procure... the natural productions of the country, either animal, vegetable, or mineral... together with explanations of the use of the articles in agriculture, commerce or medicine.”

The original collection thus acquired was destroyed along with the museum building in a fire in 1778. The Society maintained its interest in natural history, and in 1792 it moved a new collection into the city’s rebuilt courthouse. In the early 1800’s it was partially funded by the state and city and in 1850 the museum became part of the College of Charleston. At ceremonies marking the museum’s affiliation with the college, Louis Agassiz commended the museum on obtaining one of the finest collections in the United States.

The Charleston Museum remained part of the college until the early 1900’s. Then, having obtained a larger building away from the campus, a non-profit corporation was formed, and in 1915 the museum severed ties with the college. In the 1920’s and 30’s the natural history and cultural history collections were divided into separate halls. The next decades were devoted to expanding the natural history collections and on acquiring historical materials concerned with South Carolina.

The year 1972, when the American Association of Museums made an accreditation visit, marked a new era for the museum. Increased funding provided a larger staff and a new building was planned. A reference library of over 20,000 volumes, and collections in natural sciences, history and decorative arts, and anthropology, were moved in 1979 to a new building financed by the city and county.

The country’s earliest museum, originally devoted to the natural history of its region, is still supported and appreciated by its community over 200 years later.

The Nation's Attic

When Joseph Smithson, a wealthy English chemist, died in 1829, he bequeathed a collection of minerals and scientific manuscripts to the United States. He also bequeathed his entire estate, the proceeds of which amounted to $508,318.46, to found “an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men.” This bequest was not made known until 1835, and it was the following year before Congress acted to accept the money and fulfill the obligations it entailed - founding an institution. There followed a debate as to what sort of institution was intended.

Finally, by 1846, a museum had been planned, although it was not built and ready for occupation until 1858. It included exhibits of natural history, including anthropology, and some historical and industrial collections. Because of the extensive collections in so many areas, the Smithsonian is still sometimes referred to as “the nation’s attic.”

The United States National Museum, which is part of the Smithsonian complex, was formally established in 1875. It now includes the Museum of History and Technology and the Museum of Natural History. The latter contains collections in geology, biology, archaeology and anthropology.

The American Museum
of Natural History

One of the most outstanding natural history museums in the United States, the American Museum of Natural History in New York’s Central Park, was incorporated in 1869, and obtained the Arsenal building in the park the following year. Then, in what was a unique demonstration of municipal interest in a scientific institution, the city of New York was induced to appropriate $700,000 for building a museum, Albert Bickmore, formerly a student of Louis Agassiz, was one of the leaders in the drive to obtain city support. The first section of the building was opened in 1877, although major building continued into the 1930’s. New exhibits and renovations have continued almost without ceasing up to the present day.

From the beginning, the American Museum has pioneered new techniques in exhibits and research. It is credited with mounting animal skeletons in natural positions for the first time, and with creating the first habitat group exhibit. The museum sent collectors into the field to seek specific items at a time when most other museums simply collected whatever was at hand. American Muse-um of Natural History scientists were among the first to take photographs and tape recordings and to use chemical analysis to study the natural history of animals. The museum contains one of the finest natural history libraries in the world. The American Museum also maintains field stations for educational and research programs. The first station was opened in Florida in 1941 and has been followed by stations in the Bahamas, Arizona, Long Island and Georgia.

The first major scientific institution in California was founded in 1853 in San Francisco. Originally called the California Academy of Natural Sciences, it existed as a society without a formal museum building for the first 20 years, although it began publishing scientific papers almost immediately. By the time its first collection was opened

in 1872 in an old church, the organization had changed its name to the California Academy of Sciences. The donation of a site in downtown San Francisco enabled the Academy to build a large museum on Market Street. The museum was occupied in 1891, and then destroyed in the earthquake and fire that leveled much of the city in 1906. To replace this institution, the citizens of San Francisco approved a charter amendment to build a museum complex in Golden Gate Park. The Hall of North American Natural History opened in 1916, followed by the Aquarium (1923), Stimson African Hall (1934), and the Planetarium, Auditorium, Hall of Man and Nature, and research laboratories in 1952.

The Academy has continued its active scientific publishing, promotes research activities, displays collections to the public, and offers numerous educational programs to the San Francisco area.  

The Natural History Museum
of Los Angeles County

The Museum of History, Science and Art, built in what had been called Agricultural Park in Los Angeles, was officially organized in 1911, and opened in 1913. The park had been renamed Exposition Park in 1910 when the museum building was begun, and several organizations contracted to collect and install exhibits. The building contained a rotunda and three wings: the north wing for history and a library, the west for art, and the south for science. Some of the first scientific exhibits were fossils from the La Brea tar pits; the fossils shared exhibition space with the animal head trophies donated by Los Angeles big game hunters.

The first museum expansion came in 1925 when the first of eight planned units opened. It was connected to the original building and contained exhibits in all three fields: history, science and art. The old science wing was then devoted to La Brea fossils and renamed Hancock Hall. Habitat groups were developed for the new halls around this time. In 1938 the administration of the museum changed - from one director to separate departmental directors, including one for science, so that each collection could be developed by specialists.

For many years various plans for developing museums in Los Angeles’ Hancock Park, site of the La Brea car pits a few miles east, had been promoted and abandoned. Finally, in 1966, the art division moved to a new building in Hancock Park, leaving 20 galleries empty in the old museum. They were soon filled with natural history materials.

In 1976 a new north wing was opened for exhibits, offices, laboratories and shops. The following year the George C. Page Museum of La Brea Discoveries, a satellite of the Natural History Museum, was opened near the new art museum in Hancock Park.

When the San Diego Society of Natural History was organized on October 9, 1874, it was the first incorporated scientific society in Southern California, being preceded in northern California by the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. The San Diego Society first met, all nine members of it, at Daniel Cleveland’s office. (Cleveland, then a young lawyer, was later to make a name for himself as a botanist.) The Society grew rapidly, but it was not until 1912 that a home was found for it. A room of the Hotel Cecil was set aside for the Society and was used for meetings and housing collections until 1916.

After the Panama-Pacific Exposition of 1915 - 1916, many of the buildings erected for it in Balboa Park were left vacant. The Society purchased one, the Nevada building, and by 1917 the museum society had moved in collections of plants, mammals, shells, insects, fossils, minerals and fishes, plus a library. In 1920 the museum moved to the former Foreign Arts building (also left from the Exposition), which was larger than the Nevada building. Expanding collections necessitated another move in 1922, this time to a third Exposition relic, the Canada building.