Bickmore, Albert S. (Albert Smith), 1839-1914
Dates
- Existence: 1839 March 1 - 1914 August 12
Biography
Abstract:
Albert S. Bickmore was an American museum curator and superintendent. Bickmore was the principal founder of the American Museum of Natural History.
Albert S. Bickmore was a museum curator and superintendent. Bickmore was the principal founder of the American Museum of Natural History and the organizer and first curator of the Department of Public Education; he was also curator of archaeology and curator of ethnology. After receiving his B.A. and M.A. from Dartmouth, and working at Harvard's Museum of Comparative Zoology, Bickmore traveled for three years between 1864 and 1867, through Indonesia, East Asia, Siberia and Europe, collecting specimens and studying ethnology, visiting the Ainu, Gilyaks and other peoples. On his return to the U.S., Bickmore worked with a group of prominent New Yorkers, including Morris K. Jesup, to draw up a petition and plan for an American natural history museum. When the AMNH opened in 1871, Bickmore was appointed superintendent. He developed a series of Lectures to teachers (1888-1903), illustrated with lantern slides, covering all the scientific disciplines in which the museum was involved, which could be presented to school groups or used by teachers in their classrooms. In 1884, he resigned his post of superintendent in order to act as curator of the Dept. of Public Instruction (later named the Dept. of Public Education), established in 1886. Bickmore continued to expand the educational work of the museum, offering lectures to the public and, in collaboration with Columbia University, developing courses in forestry, astronomy, mineralogy and chemistry. He retired in January 1905 to become curator emeritus.
Topics
Found in 10 Collections and/or Records:
Albert F. Bickmore (1839-1914) / Subject's left shoulder "Wm Couper New York"
Portrait bust of Albert Bickmore, AMNH founder and museum educator. Inscription: Extensive on plaque.
American Museum of Natural History correspondence regarding acquisition of image negatives, 1895
Contains two letters from S.R. Stoddard, publisher of photographs, guide books, and art of the Adirondacks and northern New York State, to A.S. Bickmore. Letters contain lists of images that were requested by Bickmore for which publisher states he will provide negatives. Letters are annotated with locations and numbers. Bickmore may have used these images for lantern slide lectures.
An autobiography, with a historical sketch of the founding and early development of the American Museum of Natural History : [microform] / by Albert S. Bickmore.
Architecture for Dinosaurs lecture slides
Slides for Nina J. Root's lecture titled "Architecture for Dinosaurs" 1992. Covers the American Museum of Natural History's first home in the Central Park Arsenal through the various reconstruction and restorations of the building and exhibit halls.
Albert S. Bickmore papers
Frederick Ward Putnam Agassiz Museum photograph
Original photograph of the old Agassiz Museum building and a "letter-press description" of the Museum from 1907, with an accompanying letter signed by F.W. Putnam to Albert Bickmore dated Feb. 17, 1910 regarding the old Agassiz Museum building, from the Peabody Museum of Harvard University.
Edgar A. Mearns correspondence, 1883-1915
The collection consists entirely of photocopies of handwritten letters. The first letter, dated May 17, 1883, is from Albert S. Bickmore, founder and superintendent of the AMNH, concerning Mearns's proposed donation of a collection of birds. The second letter is from curator J.A. Allen, discussing details of the specimens. Other correspondents include James P. Chapin, Frank M. Chapman, L.P. Gratacap, C. Hart Merriam, Jenness Richardson and Anthony Woodward.
Nuttall Ornithological Club photographs of ornithologists and other scientists
Portraits of scientits that were used in the following publications: Origins and Development of North American Avian Biogeography, p. 392; Contributions to the History of North American Ornithology, pp.387-428.
Department of Public Instruction correspondence
Additional filters:
- Subject
- Archives Microfilm 2
- Department Records 2
- Manuscript Collection 2
- Photographic Print Collection 2
- Ainu 1
- Art Survey 1
- Audio-visual education -- New York (State) -- New York. 1
- Birds -- Catalogs and collections -- New York (State) -- New York. 1
- Correspondence 1
- East Asia -- Description and travel 1
- Gilyaks. 1
- Indonesia -- Description and travel. 1
- Museum architecture -- New York (State) -- New York -- History 1
- Museum curators -- New York (State) -- New York -- Biography. 1
- Museums -- Educational aspects -- New York (State) -- New York -- History -- Sources. 1
- Natural history -- Study and teaching -- New York (State) -- New York. 1
- Natural history museums -- Educational aspects 1
- Natural history museums -- New York (State) -- New York -- History 1
- Natural history museums -- New York (State) -- New York -- History -- Sources. 1
- Natural history. 1
- Naturalists -- United States -- Correspondence 1
- Ornithologists -- United States -- Correspondence 1
- Photographic Slide Collection 1
- Portraits 1
- Zoologists -- United States -- Correspondence 1 ∧ less
American Museum of Natural History
Museum Archives at the Gottesman Research Library
200 Central Park West
New York, NY 10024-5192