PROFESSOR ALBERT S. BICKMORE: EDUCATOR 



ONK OF TIIK OHICilNATOHS OF TIIK AMKHK AN Ml SKIM OF NAl I KM, IIISTOKY, 

 ALSO rilK oK(;aMZKH and FIHSI' ( l HAIOK of I'lIK l)i:i'Ain.MK.\l' OF 



prm.u Ki)r( ATio.N 

 lij/ Kdtiiuiiil Otis llovi'ji 



FOKTY-NIXE years ugo (1S()2) thrrc caiiic to New ^'ork from the 

 ins])iriii^ atmosphere of the lahonitory of Louis Af;;assiz at Harvard 

 Inix-ersity a youns,' man with an idea to estahhsh in the metropo- 

 Hs of tlie country a nmst-um of natural history worthy the name and the 

 fame of the wliole United States, one that should firow witli the growth of 

 tlie nation. That yoimg man was Albert S. Biekmore, horn of sea-faring 

 family i)n the toast of Maine, brought up amid the indueements to nature 

 study furnished by the ocean, the beach and the virgin forest, and educated 

 at Dartmouth College. Directly after graduation with the class of 1800, 

 he became a student under and later an assistant of the great naturalist 

 Louis Agassiz. The conversations between Agassiz and the noted scien- 

 tists of this country and Europe that took place in the famous laboratory 

 were listened to with keen interest by young Biekmore, and were a means 

 of broadening the youthful student's point of view. These and other 

 experiences led to the conception of founding and building up a great 

 museum in New York. The idea was broached to Professor Asa Gray, 

 but he discouraged it through the feeling that New York was too commercial 

 in character to appreciate and support such an institution. On the other 

 hand, Dr. Jules ]\Iarcou, a famous geologist who was then residing in Cam- 

 bridge, favored the plan most heartily and showed his practical interest 

 in the museum as finally developed by bequeathing to it his extensive and 

 \aluable library of geological works and maps. The real impetus howe\er 

 came from a fortunate hour spent with Sir H. \V. 1). Adand, then the fore- 

 most naturalist and museum man of Knglaud, who heartily endorscnl the 

 young student's scheme. 



Nine months' service in the Union army in 1862-1863 interrupted these 

 plans, although part of the soldier naturalist's time was utilized in collecting 

 mollusks for his famous teacher, but neither New York nor the country 

 was ready for the launching of the museum project, and after tlie mustering 

 out of his regiment Biekmore returned to his studies and work at the Agassiz 

 Museum. An opportunity to go to the Far East on an exploration cruise 

 was eagerly embraced, and three years, 18()5 to 1868, were spent most 

 profitably in China, Japan, Siberia and the Dutch ICast Indies. 



Meanwhile sentiment in New York was ripening for undertaking the 

 enterprise. Mr. W. .\. Haines, who had the largest pri\ate colli'ction of 



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