JOSEPH HODGES CHOATE 
A FOUNDER OF 
THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF 
NATURAL HISTORY 
At the age of thirty-seven, in the month of 
February, 1869, Joseph Hodges Choate became 
one of the Founders of The American Museum 
of Natural History and served the institution con- 
tinuously for forty-eight years, sending his last 
official letter to the President on May §, 1917, 
and attending his last meeting of the Board of 
Trustees on May 7, 1917. To the end he was 
fresh and young in heart, powerful and vigorous 
in mind, and his interest in the Museum showed 
no abatement. 
The history of the Museum, as recorded in the 
Minutes of the Board of Trustees, shows that he 
was the author of the Charter, of the Act of Incor- 
poration, of the original Constitution and By-Laws 
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