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Academy’s Past – An Era of “Unprecedented Prosperity”

After an interim few years, The New York Academy of Sciences’ (the Academy’s) next substantive home was in a small room at the American Museum of Natural History.

Published May 22, 2025

By Nick Fetty
Digital Content Manager

American Museum of Natural History | 200 Central Park West | 1904-1949

 Image courtesy of the American Museum of Natural History.

The first cornerstone for the American Museum of Natural History’s (AMNH) 77th Street building was laid by U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant in 1874. Three years later President Rutherford B. Hayes presided over a public ceremony of the building’s grand opening. In May 1878, the Academy deposited its library in AMNH; several years later, in 1904, it would move into a relatively small room there, although the collaborative relationship with the museum was significant.

The five story, red brick and stone, Victorian Gothic structure was designed by architects Calvert Vaux and Jacob Wrey Mould, both of whom also played a role in the development of the adjacent Central Park. An addition in the late 19th century added a 77th Street-facing façade consisting of “smooth and rock-faced Vermont pink granite with steep sloping red slate roofs”. In the following years, various other additions would be built until it became the towering, castle-like structure that exists today. The building was designated a landmark in 1966.

The Academy enjoyed “unprecedented prosperity” in the final decades of the 19th century. In 1887, the American Association for the Advancement of Science held its annual meeting in New York City and the Academy served as the host. During the conference, Albert A. Michelson and Edward W. Morley presented their research disproving the existence of an “ether” through which light was thought to travel in the form of waves. The findings were awe-inspiring to those in attendance and preceded Albert Einstein’s theory of special relativity.

The Original Science Alliance and the Puerto Rico Survey

In 1891, under the leadership of Nathaniel Lord Britton, the Academy launched the original Science Alliance (in the late 20th century, the Academy started a very different program with the same name), an organization that united New York’s scientific clubs and societies. The original Science Alliance also published a bulletin to announce meetings and foster collaboration among member groups.

The 19th century Science Alliance included the Academy, the Torrey Botanical Club, the New-York Microscopical Society, the Linnaean of New-York, the New-York Mineralogical Club, the New-York Mathematical Society, and the New-York Section of the American Chemical Society. Though in existence only 13 years, the Science Alliance convened several times at the AMNH and considered a permanent home at the old City Hall, in part because of its 1200-seat auditorium.

In 1913, the Academy embarked on one of its most impactful contributions in natural history: An extensive survey of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Spearheaded by Britton and other Academy Members, the survey would eventually last over 30 years and comprise a comprehensive report of 19 volumes of findings in geology, meteorology, oceanography, archaeology, anthropology, botany, and zoology. The survey was a landmark scientific undertaking with a multifaceted and enduring impact.

Sciences Become More Specialized

A 1948 meeting of the Council of The New York Academy of Sciences. Eunice Thomas Miner sits at the head of the table.

During the early 20th century, the Academy hosted a range of lectures and other programming, which reflected the broader trend of science branching into more specialized disciplines. A 1915 Academy talk focused on the then-novel practice of skin grafting for burn victims. By the late 1920s, the Academy was supporting research to examine the potential of solar energy. A 1932 event explored the mystery of hypnosis, while a 1938 session examined the potential health benefits of coffee. A chimpanzee, that had been trained to “eat soup noiselessly” and ride a tricycle, even served as guest of honor during an Academy dinner.

In 1942, the Academy published the book Balinese Character: A Photographic Analysis by anthropologists Margaret Mead (who would become Academy vice-president) and Gregory Bateson that explored “the role of culture in personality formation” in Bali, Indonesia.  In 1946, two years after streptomycin was discovered, the Academy hosted the first large scientific conference on antibiotics.  

The Academy’s nearly 50-year residence at the AMNH was its longest time at a single place. And owing to significant growth during this period, in large part because of efforts led by Eunice Thomas Miner, the Academy once again found itself in need of a larger, standalone space. Miner’s unique talents and unflagging efforts would, in 1949, lead to Norman Bailey Woolworth gifting to the Academy the Ziegler-Woolworth Mansion on East 63rd Street.

This is the eighth piece in an eleven-part series exploring the Academy’s past homes. Read:

Academy’s Past – A New Name for a New Era

The Lyceum of Natural History in the City of New York was renamed The New York Academy of Sciences (the Academy) in 1876 to better encapsulate the work and mission of the organization during this era of broad scientific discovery.

Published April 8, 2025

By Nick Fetty
Digital Content Manager

Mott Memorial Hall. Image courtesy of the New York Public Library.

Mott Memorial Hall | 64 Madison Avenue | 1867-1878

The Lyceum of Natural History in the City of New York (the Lyceum), and its library, moved into Mott Memorial Hall at 64 Madison Avenue in 1867.

During this time, visions of what would become the American Museum of Natural History developed by Lyceum members and associates and other prominent members of the city, including American financier and investment banker J. P. Morgan as well as Theodore Roosevelt, Sr., the father of the future American president. The loss of the Lyceum’s priceless collection in the fire of 1866 added significant impetus for establishing a world-class history museum within the city.

As multiple stakeholders for the natural history museum competed for its design and scope, Lyceum members could refocus their efforts, such as “with keeping the organization intact.” In relatively short order, the museum organizers planned for the new institution to be located adjacent to and on the west side of the newly constructed Central Park, in addition to an art museum on the east side of the park (which would become the Metropolitan Museum of Art), a botanical garden, observatory, and zoo.

An Era of Broad Scientific Discovery

It was in 1876 that the institution’s name was changed from “The Lyceum of Natural History in the City of New York” to “The New York Academy of Sciences” (the Academy). Leading members felt that the term “sciences” better encapsulated the work and mission of the organization during this era of broad scientific discovery beyond natural history. This same year, the Academy voted to allow women to attend meetings and become members, keeping with its founding, egalitarian principles (though much later than by today’s expectations).

Hamilton Hall.

Historical records provide relatively little information about Mott Memorial Hall, though it was used by both The New York Genealogical and Biographical Society and the New York State Medical Association. According to the 1886 history account written by Lyceum Recording Secretary Herman Le Roy Fairchild, after ten years in Mott Memorial Hall, the Academy shared space in the New York Academy of Medicine’s West 31st Street facility and then moved to Columbia College’s Hamilton Hall.

A centennial history, penned by John Hendley Barnhart from the New York Botanical Garden and published in The Scientific Monthly in 1917, adds that the Academy also briefly utilized space in Columbia’s old library building, Columbia’s Schermerhorn Hall, in Cooper Union, at the American Society of Mechanical Engineers’ facility on West 31st Street, and in the Chemist Club’s assembly room on West 55th Street. In 1906, the Academy moved to the American Museum of Natural History, where it found a home for the next 44 years.

This is the seventh piece in an eleven-part series exploring the Academy’s past homes. Read:

One of Early America’s Engineering Marvels

One of the Academy’s earliest Honorary Members had an immense impact on transportation and economics in the United States during the 19th century.

Published March 26, 2025

By Nick Fetty
Digital Content Manager

DeWitt Clinton. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

DeWitt Clinton, one of The New York Academy of Sciences’ earliest Honorary Members, had a significant political, economic and social impact on New York City and state, though his contributions reverberated across the country.

Clinton was born in Ulster County, New York in 1769 to a father who served as a general during the Revolutionary War. He attended King’s College (now Columbia University) and upon graduation pursued a brief career in law. He eventually shifted his focus to politics.

Practicing Politics

Despite his first two political campaigns ending in defeat, Clinton persisted and was eventually elected to a seat in the New York State Assembly, the lower chamber in the state’s bicameral legislature. He moved up to the New York State Senate (the upper chamber) before being elected to the U.S. Senate, though this appointment was short-lived because months later he was elected mayor of New York City.

Clinton spent nearly 10 years as the city’s chief executive. During his tenure he advanced for public education and established various public-welfare institutions. He then rose to the governor’s office, serving as the state’s top executive for nearly another 10 years before his death in 1828.

Clinton’s political ambitions were strong but his attempt at reaching the highest office in the land, the presidency, fell short. Running on the “Fusion” party ticket, Clinton was defeated by James Madison 128 electoral votes to 89 electoral votes in the 1812 election. Much of Clinton’s support came from antiwar states in the North.

His Lasting Legacy

Perhaps the most impactful part of Clinton’s legacy was the role he played in the development of the Erie Canal. When construction on the canal began in 1817, the United States was relatively young. The transcontinental railroad had not yet been completed and much of the Midwest was considered the frontier.

The 363-mile canal route traversed from the New York Harbor up the Hudson River to Albany and then west to Buffalo. From there, ships could navigate through the Great Lakes, using a series of locks and dams, eventually reaching Chicago at the westernmost terminus. The canal was completed in 1825.

The Erie Canal was considered an engineering marvel and had an immeasurable economic impact on the burgeoning United States. It enabled development of the sparsely populated states in the Midwest and allowed crops and natural resources from the heartland to be transported faster and more efficiently than over land.

Much of the land was cleared with a combination of manpower, beasts of burden, and gun powder. The original canal was roughly four feet deep and 40 feet wide. Today, tourism is the main source of boat traffic along the canal.

An Appreciation for the Arts and Sciences

In addition to his involvement with the Erie Canal project, Clinton was also known for having a deep appreciation for the arts, sciences, and other educational matters. He led efforts to combat the spread of yellow fever and supported organizations like the Free School Society (which later became the city’s public school system), the American Academy of Fine Arts, the New-York Historical Society, and the Literary and Philosophical Society.

During his lifetime he “published many articles that were well received.” He was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1816 and was named an Honorary Member of The New York Academy of Sciences in the early 19th century.

Also read: A Pioneer in Pap Smears and Cancer Research

This is part of a series of articles featuring past Academy members across all eras.

From Surveying Railroads to Designing Durable Clothes

One of the Academy’s early members realized through his brief career as an engineer that those who worked outside needed more durable gear. He combined his engineering experience with his entrepreneurial instinct to establish a company that has become a lasting brand in the fashion industry.

Published March 19, 2025

By Nick Fetty
Digital Content Manager

David T. Abercrombie during his World War I service. Image courtesy of Popular Science Monthly, July 1919.

David T. Abercrombie was an engineer, outdoorsman, entrepreneur, and member of The New York Academy of Sciences (the Academy) who lived from 1867 to 1931. After a medical condition sidelined his engineering career, he applied his experience working on the railroads to the field of outdoor outfitting and eventually the war effort.

Early Career

Abercrombie was born in Baltimore in 1867. He graduated from Baltimore City College, prior to enrolling at Maryland Institute, School for Art and Design (known today as the Maryland Institute College of Art) where he studied engineering. This was during an era when engineering as a profession and field of study was in its relative infancy.

Upon graduation, Abercrombie worked as a surveyor and civil engineer for various railroad companies. He mapped previously unexplored areas of Appalachia from North Carolina to Kentucky. To handle the rough terrain and unpredictable elements, Abercrombie fashioned gear for his crew that would be able to stand up to these rough conditions.

Poor vision sidelined Abercrombie’s engineering career when he was just 25, but despite this setback, Abercrombie did have a clear vision of what his next steps would be.

Engineer Turned Entrepreneur

Image courtesy of Popular Science Monthly, July 1919.

Abercrombie established the Abercrombie Company in 1898 and operated “a small waterfront store on South Street in Lower Manhattan.” He sold firearms, outdoor clothing, fishing gear, and camping supplies. His own designs were featured in some of his products.

The company quickly found success with prominent clients such as explorer Robert Peary, author Ernest Hemmingway, and aviator Charles Lindbergh. This client base even included two American presidents. Theodore Roosevelt and his Rough Riders were outfitted with Abercrombie gear during the Spanish-American War, while John F. Kennedy was a fan of the company’s chinos-style pants.

A lawyer named Ezra Finch was also a fan of the rising brand, so much so that he left his practice to run the company with Abercrombie. In 1904 the company’s name was changed to Abercrombie & Fitch. However, the two men quickly found out that they had different visions for the company’s future. Finch wanted a more generalized store that would appeal to a wider customer base, while Abercrombie insisted focusing on their core product of high-quality outdoor gear. This rift led to Abercrombie leaving the company in 1907.

Abercrombie’s Next Endeavor

With the United States’ involvement in World War I becoming an inevitability, the U.S. Army recruited Abercrombie for the war effort. Abercrombie served as a Major in the Quarter Master Reserves where he led a team of civilians in producing military uniforms. According to the July 1919 issue of Popular Science Monthly, Abercrombie’s ingenious packaging and folding processes saved the U.S. military nearly $85 million. His technique not only protected clothing from water damage, but it also enabled gear to be packed tightly, compressing twenty cubic feet into four, according to Popular Science Monthly. He was discharged from the Army with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.  

By the mid-1920s Abercrombie was semi-retired and became active with several scientific and scholarly organizations, which included active membership in the Academy. During this time he also constructed a 25-room castle-like mansion located on a 22-acre property overlooking the Hudson River in Westchester County, roughly 40 miles north of the city. The mansion was named ELDA, an acronym for the Abercrombie’s four children: Elizabeth, Lucy, David, and Abbot.

Abercrombie died in 1937 after succumbing to rheumatic fever. He was 64 years old.

Also read: Leading the Fight Against Tuberculosis and Syphilis

This is part of a series of articles featuring past Academy members across all eras.

Leading the Fight Against Tuberculosis and Syphilis

One of the Academy’s earliest Honorary Members helped to advance medicine in the early 20th century and improve overall public health.

Published March 11, 2025

By Nick Fetty
Digital Content Manager

Florence Rena Sabin

Florence Rena Sabin, an Honorary Member of The New York Academy of Sciences (the Academy), made several significant research contributions to the field of medicine, but her impact extended further, influencing politics and public health.

Sabin was born in the Colorado Territory in 1871. Her mother, a teacher, and her father, an engineer, likely influenced her to have an appreciation for education and STEM. She attended Smith College where she studied zoology, and upon graduation taught high school to earn enough money for medical school.

One of 14 Women in Medical School

Sabin was one of just 14 women when she enrolled in Johns Hopkins Medical School. While medical studies were still in their relative infancy at this time, Sabin’s mentor, Franklin P. Mall, took a unique approach to his teaching and mentoring. He focused less on lecturing, and instead provided “more opportunities for students to learn for themselves through dissections, research, and advice from instructors.”

While in medical school, Sabin created a three-dimensional model of a newborn baby’s brainstem which was the basis for the widely used lab manual, An Atlas of the Medulla and Midbrain. Another significant accomplishment from her medical school days were the findings she uncovered when studying the embryological development of the lymphatic system.

A Woman of Firsts

After completing medical school, a Fellowship was set up in the Department of Anatomy so Sabin could remain at Johns Hopkins. She gravitated toward research and teaching, and eventually landed herself a spot on the faculty, the first woman to do so. She ascended the faculty ranks, and by 1917 she held the title of Professor of Histology, “the first woman to obtain a full professorship in the Johns Hopkins Medical School.”

Sabin continued to advance medicine while on the faculty. Much of her early research examined the lymphatic system. Later, her research focus shifted to blood, blood vessels and blood cells. In 1924 she was elected president of the American Association of Anatomists, and the following year was elected to the National Academy of Sciences, the first woman to do so in both instances.

Advancing Public Health

A diagram of the brain featured in An Atlas of the Medulla and Midbrain.

Sabin left Johns Hopkins in 1925 to join the Rockefeller Institute (now The Rockefeller University) in New York City. Her research there focused on tuberculosis, specifically “the role of monocytes in forming tubercles.”

Toward the end of her career, Sabin moved back to her home state of Colorado. She served on various committees and boards focused on improving public health. Through this work, she saw tangible results for her efforts with tuberculosis cases going from 54.7 to 27 per 100,000, while incidence of syphilis decreased from 700 to 60 per 100,000.

She passed away in 1953. In 1959, a bronze statue of Sabin was given to the National Statuary Hall for display in the United States capitol in Washington D.C. Hers is one of two statutes representing the state of Colorado.

Also read: Elsie Clews Parsons – A Social Scientist and Social Critic

This is part of a series of articles featuring past Academy members across all eras.

A Social Scientist and Social Critic

One of The New York Academy of Sciences early Fellows advanced anthropological understandings of Native tribes. Her social sciences background also extended into feminism and broader societal critiques.

Published March 6, 2025

By Nick Fetty
Digital Content Manager

Elsie Clews Parsons. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Elsie Clews Parsons was born to a prominent New York family in 1875. She earned a BA from the recently established Barnard College prior to completing her PhD in sociology from Columbia University in 1899. The following year she married Herbert Parsons, a New York City lawyer also involved with politics, furthering her access to “the wealthy, social, and generally conservative circles of New York City.”

While she could have spent her life as an elite socialite, she instead pursued a rigorous career in the social sciences, and later in life championed feminism and pacificism that may have run counter to those conservative, social networks.

Early Sociological Works

After completing her PhD, Parsons returned to Barnard where she served as a sociology lecturer and a Hartley House Fellow. However, her time on the Barnard faculty was relatively short-lived as in 1905 the family moved to Washington D.C.

She published her first major work, The Family: An Ethnographical and Historical Outline, in 1906. This was a textbook for freshman sociology students that taught them the basic sociology of familial matters from “The Meaning of the Family in Evolution” to the economic and ethical dynamics amongst kin. It included a robust discussion about “trial marriage” which at the time was considered provocative, but likely played a part in the book’s successful sales.   

Between 1913 and 1916, she published five pieces: Religious Chastity (1913), The Old Fashioned Woman (1913), Fear and Conventionality (1914), Social Freedom (1915), and Social Rule (1916). Because of the notoriety of her first book, she penned her two 1913 pieces under the pseudonym “John Main” to avoid jeopardizing her husband’s political career.

It was during this time that she was elected a fellow of The New York Academy of Sciences (the Academy), meaning that she was selected by active members for her scientific achievement.

Anthropological Research

Parson developed an interest in anthropology after visiting the American Southwest with her husband. She began making frequent trips to Arizona and New Mexico to study the Hopi and Pueblo tribes, where she “recorded in meticulous detail data on social organization, religious practices, and folklore of the Southwest Indians.” She worked closely alongside Franz Boas, a prominent Columbia academic who has been dubbed “The Father of American Anthropology.”

Later in her career, she expanded her focus area to study tribes and cultures in the Great Plains, the Carolinas, the Caribbean, Central America, and South America. Publications from this era include The Social Organization of the Tewa of New Mexico (1929), Hopi and Zuni Ceremonialism (1933), Mitla: Town of the Souls (1936), Pueblo Indian Religion (1939), and Peguche (1945).

A Leader to the End

Parsons contributed to the intellectual discourse up until her death, serving as associate editor for the Journal of American Folklore between 1918 and 1941. She was president of the American Folklore Society (1918-1920), the American Ethnological Association (1923-1925), and the American Anthropological Association (1940-1941). Parson passed away in 1941 at the age of 66. Her Journal of a Feminist was published posthumously.

In the 1960s, the American Ethnological Society (AES) established the Elsie Clews Parsons Prize to not only recognize “the best graduate-student paper that engages with AES’s core commitments to combining innovative fieldwork with rich theoretical critique,” but to also carry on the legacy of this trailblazing scientist.

Also read: Celebrating Girls and Women in STEM

This is part of a series of articles featuring past Academy members across all eras.

Academy’s Past: Fire Leads to Academy Setback

A devastating fire would destroy the Lyceum’s next home, including the Lyceum’s priceless collection that took half a century to assemble.

Published February 18, 2025

By Nick Fetty
Digital Content Manager

NYU Medical School | 14th Street and 3rd Avenue | 1851-1866

Courtesy of The New York Public Library

The Lyceum of Natural History in the City of New York’s (the Lyceum’s) next home was in the newly constructed NYU Medical School at the intersection of E. 14th Street and 3rd Avenue.

The Lyceum was offered meeting space in the new facility but had to store most of its collection in the building’s cellar, while the library was deposited with the Mercantile Library Association. Unfortunately, the era in the NYU Medical School building would end with a devastating setback for the Lyceum.

On May 21, 1866, an arsonist set fire to the Academy of Music theatre, which spread to adjacent buildings and eventually enveloped the NYU Medical School facility. Half a century’s hard work was lost when the Lyceum’s collection – including “inter alia, John James Audubon’s collection of birds, an unrivalled mineralogical cabinet with specimens obtained by the New York State Geological Survey, and Samuel Latham Mitchill’s ichthyological Collection” – was destroyed. Fortunately, the library stored offsite survived.

Two firefighters perished in the ordeal, and the “death toll could have been considerably higher for eighteen other firemen were trapped inside the Academy but were quickly rescued.” Following the fire, there were calls to better fireproof buildings in New York City to prevent lives and irreplaceable items from being lost in the future. After the fire, the infamous Tammany Hall would be constructed near the site of the former NYC Medical School building.

Once again, the Lyceum was on the search for a new home, and after a brief stint at Clinton Hall, that next home became Mott Memorial Hall.

This is the sixth piece in an eleven-part series exploring the Academy’s past homes. Read:

Academy’s Past – A Home to Ourselves

Unfortunately for the Lyceum, the time spent in its first standalone facility was short-lived.

Published October 29, 2024

By Nick Fetty
Digital Content Manager

Lyceum Building | 563 Broadway | 1836 – 1844

From the New York Academy of Medicine.

For the first time in its relatively short history, The Lyceum of Natural History in the City of New York (“the Lyceum”) had its own standalone building when it moved into 563 Broadway, south of Prince Street.

The first meeting in the new building was held on May 9, 1836, with 18 members present, “an unusually large attendance.” The front of the building was light gray in color and consisted of a granite pilaster and columns, reminiscent of ancient Greek or Roman architecture. The building had a frontage of 50 feet, with a depth of 100 feet.

Searching for Revenue Streams

The new space provided ample room for the collections and library given the standards of the time, though later historical accounts suggest that such an “edifice” would “be considered a very contracted space.” The new building also included spaces that could be rented to other entities, serving as a revenue source for the Lyceum, which would rename itself The New York Academy of Sciences in 1876.

Retail stores on the ground level were rented for an annual rate of $750. Rooms on the second and third floors were rented for $350 each year. The Lyceum leased its lecture hall for use by the New Jerusalem Church on Sundays, and the museum room at one time served as a space for the exhibition of paintings.

Despite the multiple uses of the building, the revenue streams generated were insufficient and the cachet of the Lyceum having its own building proved to be impractical. Financial inflation was common at this time which led to an economic depression, and the institute was forced to sell the property in 1844 for $37,000 (more than $1.5 million today), just enough to cover the building’s three mortgages and the accompanying interest. The Lyceum would move to its next home in 1845, a few blocks up Broadway.

This is the fourth piece in an eleven-part series exploring the Academy’s past homes. Read:

Beyond the Beaches: Revealing the Real Puerto Rico II

A map of the West Indies from the early 20th century.

Part Two: A Lasting Impact

What started off as a discovery excursion with many unknowns quickly yielded promise and proved to be one of The New York Academy of Sciences’ greatest early 20th century achievements.

Published October 1, 2024

By Nick Fetty
Digital Content Manager

From The Scientific Survey of Porto Rico and the Virgin Islands

While celebrating its centennial in 1917, The New York Academy of Sciences also celebrated the success of one of its early scientific endeavors that still resonates today.

The Academy started planning a scientific expedition to Puerto Rico in 1912 and by 1914 the first groups of scientists were traveling to the island to begin conducting research. The findings from this field work were published in a 19-volume series titled The Scientific Survey of Porto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Much of the research was conducted and published in the early half of the 20th century, when relatively little was known about the region.

A researcher poses next to a limestone slab with a human face carving. From The Scientific Survey of Porto Rico and the Virgin Islands

Expanding the Breadth of the Survey

Because of the success of the initial endeavor, the survey eventually expanded beyond the island of Puerto Rico to also include the Virgin Islands. Academy scientists observed “the physiography of the region was remarkably uniform,” according to historian Simon Baatz in the 2017 update to his seminal history of the Academy published in 1988.

The scientists reported three cycles of erosion in the area including Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Baatz wrote: “The first cycle, which formed the ‘upper peneplane of Porto Rico’ was ended by uplift; the second cycle destroyed the earlier peneplane and ‘produced an old erosional surface approximately 700 feet below the first’; while the third cycle, which was terminated by submergence, resulted in the formation of a lower peneplane.” These fundamental geological structures are estimated to have been created during the conclusion of the Tertiary period.

Howard Meyeroff, a geology professor at Smith College, made several trips to the region in the 1920s. In The Scientific Survey of Porto Rico and the Virgin Islands he reported “the entire Porto Rico-Saint Croix-Virgin Islands area developed as a unit until the late Tertiary dissection of the coastal plain.” During this same era, other researchers would study the region’s mammalogy (mammals), mycology (fungi), and ornithology (birds).

“A 10,000-Acre Swamp Below Sea Level”

H.A. Gleason studied wetlands in Puerto Rico as part of the Academy’s expedition. Gleason was the curator of the New York Botanical Garden and was a pupil of Academy Fellow Nathanial Lord Britton as a doctoral student in taxonomy at Columbia University.  While scientific in nature, Gleason’s Puerto Rican research also had an economic component.

Gleason studied a swamp along the north shore of Arecibo, largely surrounded by fertile cane fields. With sugarcane as a major export for the island, Gleason suggested draining the swamp so that the entire area could be used to cultivate this cash crop.

However, with the swamp being at sea level Gleason stated it cannot be drained using “ordinary means,” as reported by the Yonkers Herald. Instead, he suggested they’d need to follow the example of the Hollanders by “[building] dikes to keep out the sea, and then [draining] the swamp by means of pumps,” which could be powered by windmills because of near constant “trade winds.”

Gleason also observed differences in the island’s topography between the north and south. While the north is swampier and saw greater rainfall, the south is semi-desert, arid and is subject to “long periods of drought.”  

Along with co-author Mel T. Cook, Puerto Rico’s government botanist and plant pathologist, this research was published in The Scientific Survey of Porto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

“Curious Habits of Birds”

The Smithsonian Institute’s Alexander Wetmore studied birds in the region in the late 1920s. He observed that the stomachs of the Antillean grebe would often “contain masses of their own feathers, plucked and swallowed, which are regularly ground up and passed on into the intestines,” he wrote in The Scientific Survey of Porto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

Wetmore also studied the honey-creeper. He didn’t have to travel far as the bird would often fly into the parlor of his hotel “to search the blossoms of cut flowers in vases,” according to reporting from the Roanoke World-News.

During these excursions into the hotel room, the bird became puzzled upon seeing its own reflection in the mirror. Wetmore wrote “As it fluttered before the glass, the bird on the opposite side always rose to meet it, and after several attempts to evade the reflection, first on one side and then on the other, it would drop down, baffled, and scold its image sharply with quickly flitting wings.”

Additionally, it was observed that female honey-creepers didn’t always appreciate the company of their male counterparts, particularly during nest building. As Wetmore wrote, “he brings materials only when the female is absent, for when she catches him in the nest, she immediately drives him out.”

Lastly, and perhaps most morbidly, Wetmore uncovered an interesting trait of the brown pelican, also referred to as an alcatraz. After speaking with locals, he discovered that “when the alcatraz grows old and feeble, rather than suffer death by starvation it commits suicide by hanging itself by the head from the fork of a mangrove or the crevice between two stones.”

Advancing the Archeology

Researchers under the auspices of the Academy continued to conduct impactful archeological research in the region, eventually expanding to also cover other islands such as Cuba, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, the Bahamas and more by the 1930s.

On Puerto Rico, researchers in 1940 noted “[two] periods of prehistoric occupation on the island were distinguishable in clearly stratified deposits of culture refuse found on the north and south coasts.”

Done in multiple excavations across various parts of the island, the artifacts that researchers collected included decorative bowls, shell chisels, and carved stone figures.

The Puerto Rican Influence in NYC Today

Much of the success of this effort is attributed to Academy president Nathanial Lord Britton. What started as a four-year project in 1912, continued into the mid-1940s.

Britton controlled nearly every aspect of the survey until his death in 1934. Not only was he lauded for his organizational and administrative efforts, but he led what “proved to be the most ambitious project ever undertaken by The New York Academy of Sciences” so successfully that it became “an almost routine affair,” according to Baatz.

While Britton and other researchers from New York helped to influence the scientific culture in Puerto Rico, Puerto Ricans have influenced the culture in the city and other parts of the United States in various ways.

More than 1.1 million Puerto Ricans live in the New York Metropolitan Region, according to 2022 data. This influence has contributed to the city’s rich culture in everything from theatre (West Side Story, Hamilton) to music (Jennifer Lopez, Mark Anthony) to sports (Bernie Williams, Yankees; Carlos Beltrán, Mets).

This is the second article in a two-part series examining the Academy’s past expeditions to Puerto Rico. The series is part of National Hispanic Heritage Month.

Read: Part 1 – Into the Unknown.

Academy’s Past – A Need for More Space

A black and white photo of the 19th century New York Dispensary building.

The Lyceum’s third home served as a placeholder until funds were raised for a standalone facility.

Published September 16, 2024

By Nick Fetty
Digital Content Manager

New York Dispensary | White Street and Center Street | 1831 – 1836

From The New York Public Library.

The Lyceum of Natural History in the City of New York (“the Lyceum”) called the New York Dispensary home from 1831 to 1836. The Lyceum – which would rename itself The New York Academy of Sciences in 1876 – procured space on the third floor to house its cabinets and library, in addition to meeting rooms and office space. The lease dictated an annual rental rate of $150 (more than $5000 today) to be paid in quarterly installments.

Unlike cannabis-selling dispensaries that have popped up recently in various cities in the U.S., the New York Dispensary in the early 19th century was more akin to a religion-affiliated hospital that served those without financial means. It dispensed vaccines and other medical drugs to improve public health for the city’s most vulnerable populations. According to the Dispensary’s 1837 annual report, “The Institution is founded for, and dispenses its assistance only to the poor.”

An Immediate Need for More Space

Almost immediately upon moving into the new facility, Lyceum officials pursued a plan to purchase a piece of land on which to erect a new building and home. When attempts to collaborate on a building project with related institutions like the New York College of Pharmacy and the Mechanics’ Institute proved fruitless, the Lyceum decided to go it alone.

In 1834, John C. Jay, a curator for the Lyceum, led a successful effort to raise funds to purchase land and, eventually, construct a new building. Jay recommended the purchase of a 50- by 100-foot plot of land on Broadway between Houston and Prince Streets for approximately $22,000 (nearly $800,000 today). Individual contributors to the project funding were granted Lyceum membership that included access to the Lyceum’s library, as well as free admission to its museum and lectures for donors and their families.

Despite the success of the fundraising campaign, some members expressed concern about the Lyceum’s ability to pay off the debt that would be incurred. Nevertheless, the Lyceum proceeded with the project, which was “speedily completed,” and it moved into the new facility in May 1836.

This is the third piece in an eleven-part series exploring the Academy’s past homes. Read:

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