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Osborn, Henry Fairfield, 1857-1935

 Person

Dates

  • Existence: 1857-08-08 - 1935-11-06

Abstract

Henry Fairfield Osborn was a paleontologist, museum curator and administrator at the American Museum of Natural History. His 45-year career at the museum established it as a leading institution of research and scholarship in the fields of paleontology and evolution. Osborn's interest in paleontology, atypically for his time, derived as much from biology as from geology; in his undergraduate and graduate studies, he concentrated on biology, anatomy, embryology and neurology. In 1891, Osborn began his tenure at the AMNH by organizing and heading the new department of mammalian paleontology, while simultaneously accepting a similar position in biology at Columbia University. The AMNH department, which was eventually renamed vertebrate paleontology, was definitive in the museum's research and mission: the study and teaching of evolution. Osborn began his administrative work in 1899, becoming president in 1908, a position he held for twenty-five years. His strength was in leadership and education rather than empirical science; under his guidance, the museum expanded greatly in physical space and endowment, scientific staff, research and public education. Like his predecessor Albert S. Bickmore, Osborn recognized the need to combine information with entertainment. He popularized paleontology by ensuring that the museum's exhibits did not merely display the researchers' work, but also explained it in an attractive and accessible manner. Osborn, like so many of his contemporaries, was a prolific writer. His attempt to research and publish a definitive record of all the fossil mammals of North America was wildly overambitious, but by the time of his death he had completed substantial works on Equidae, titanotheres, rhinoceroses and Proboscidea, as well as on sauropod dinosaurs; his total publications number 940 (books, monographs, articles and papers), about half devoted to vertebrate paleontology.

Citation:
From biographical note for Osborn's archive collection at the AMNH Library, Mss .O835, written by Ann Herendeen.

Topics

Found in 55 Collections and/or Records:

Series 6: Administrative, 1918 - 1932

 Series
Scope and Contents

Series 6 contains Osborn’s administrative materials. It is arranged chronologically.

Dates: 1918 - 1932

Theodore Roosevelt correspondence

 Collection
Identifier: Mss .R6673-.R6675
Scope and Content Note This collection consists of three boxes of correspondence (typed carbon copies, photocopies and originals) between Roosevelt and various individuals. The majority of the letters are between Roosevelt and Frank M. Chapman (AMNH ornithologist) or Henry Fairfield Osborn (geologist, paleontologist, and AMNH President) whom Roosevelt was particularly friendly. The correspondence generally covers topics related to the men’s shared interests in the different fields of natural history, as well as...
Dates: 1871-1937

Theodore Roosevelt Memorial and Exhibitions collection

 Collection
Identifier: Mss .R6671
Scope and Content Note This collection contains a wide range of materials mostly concerned with various memorials and exhibitions celebrating the life of Theodore Roosevelt, and in particular, his close relationship with the American Museum of Natural History. Materials include; typed, handwritten and carbon copies of correspondence, photographs, negatives, pamphlets, invitations, programs, books, items and texts from the various exhibitions, blueprints, an LP record, artwork (drawings, etchings), postcards,...
Dates: 1899-1984; Majority of material found within 1899-1970

Transcript and correspondence relating to Henry Fairfield Osborn, 1912-1934.

 Collection
Identifier: DR 157
Abstract

Contains a transcript for the "Report of Proceedings of the Seventh Annual Meeting of the American Association of Museums, Held at West Hall, American Museum of Natural History Buildings, New York City, June 4th to 7th, 1912". Also includes two letters of correspondence to Osborn from Jean Labatut and Charles Johnston which had previously been sent with printed publications.

Dates: 1912 - 1934

W. Douglas Burden papers

 Collection
Identifier: Mss .B87
Dates: 1920-1978 (bulk 1926-1961)