■920 FREDERIC WARD PUTNAM. 



FREDERIC WARD PUTNAM (1839-1915) 



Fellow in Class III, Section 2, 18G5. 



Frederic Ward Putnam, the son of Ebenezer and Elizabeth (Apple- 

 ton) Putnam was born in Salem, Massachusetts, April 16, 1839, and 

 died in Cambridge, August 14, 1915. Although his father, grand- 

 father and great-grandfather were all graduates of Harvard College, 

 he planned to take up a military career, having been promised an 

 appointment at West Point. Through the influence of Louis Agassiz, 

 however, his attention was turned toward the study of Natural 

 History, and he accordingly entered the Lawrence Scientific School 

 in 1856, graduating in the class of 1862. 



For some years he devoted himself to work in Natural History. 

 In 1875, however, he was made Curator of the Peabody Museum of 

 American Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University, and 

 from that time on, his main energies and interests were centered on 

 archaeology and anthropology. He applied himself to the building 

 up of the museum collections by explorations in the field; to the 

 training and teaching of investigators and students; and to the 

 establishment and development of anthropological institutions 

 throughout the country. His great services in all of these lines have 

 led to his being regarded as one of the founders of anthropology in 

 America. 



The professional and honorary positions held by Professor Putnam 

 have been as follows; — Curator of Ornithology, Essex Institute, 

 Salem, 1856-64; Assistant to Professor Louis Agassiz, Harvard 

 LTniversity, 1857-64; Curator of Vertebrates, Essex Institute, Salem, 

 1864-66; Superintendent, Museum of the Essex Institute, 1866-71; 

 Superintendent, Museum of the East Indian Marine Society, Salem, 

 1867-69; Director, Museum of the Peabody Academy of Science, 

 Salem, 1869-73; Curator of Icthyology, Boston Society of Natural 

 History, 1859-68; Permanent Secretary, American Association for 

 the Advancement of Science, 1873-98; Assistant, Kentucky Geologi- 

 cal Survey, 1874; Instructor, Penikese School of Natural History, 

 1874; Assistant, United States Engineers in Surveys West of the 

 100° Meridian, 1876-79; Assistant in Icthyology, Museum of Com- 

 parative Zoology, 1876-78; Curator of the Peabody Museum of 

 American Archaeology and Ethnology, 1875-1909; Honorary Curator, 

 1909; Honorary Director, 1909-1915; Peabody Professor of American 



