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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 53 Collections and/or Records:

William King Gregory papers, 1889-1948 (bulk 1906-1948)

 Collection
Identifier: Mss .G7441
Scope and Contents The collection consists of administrative, scientific, academic and personal papers, and correspondence. Papers include Gregory's general correspondence with universities, colleges and scientists about his research topics and publications; correspondence with museums about purchasing replicas of fossils; and with students seeking employement. Other papers include lecture notes prepared for zoology classes emphasizing evolution, 1925-1926 and 1939; and manuscripts and notes for his...
Dates: 1889-1948; Majority of material found within 1906-1948

Henry Fairfield Osborn (1857-1935) / Behind subject's shoulder "M. Flinsch Buba 1938"

 Item
Identifier: Art Survey No. 653
Scope and Contents

Portrait bust of Henry Fairfield Osborn, Paleontologist and AMNH President from 1908-1933. Inscription: On base plate "For Him the Dry Bones Came to Life/and Giant Forms of Ages Past/Rejoined the Pageant of the Living." On marble base "Joy Flinsch Buba/1942".

Dates: 1938

Henry Fairfield Osborn dinosaur hunting in Montana photographs

 Collection
Identifier: PPC .O8361
Scope and Contents

Field photographs of dinosaur hunting in Montana. Taken from a Montana expedition led by Barnum Brown, includes photos of extraction of bones from the ground.

Dates: circa 1890s

Henry Fairfield Osborn Hale lectures; trip around the world; Titanothere and Proboscidea monograph

 Collection
Identifier: PPC .O836
Scope and Contents

Hale Lectures; Trip Around the World; Titanothere and Proboscidea Monograph, taken from old albums.

Dates: 1916, 1930-1935

Henry Fairfield Osborn photographs of Tyrannosaurus, restoration and model of skeleton

 Collection
Identifier: PPC .O8362
Scope and Contents

Three different poses of a tyrannosaurus rex mount with a photocopy of the title page from Osborn's article written on the subject.

Dates: 1913

American Museum of Natural History, Jesup Wood Hall papers

 Collection
Identifier: DR 091
Scope and Content Note The Jesup Wood Hall Papers consist of departmental correspondence regarding the acquisition, preparation, exhibition, and research of North American woods. Also present are department records of maintenance scheduled and conducted, plans for future acquisitions, and financial records including pricing on wood specimens obtained, departmental salaries, artistic services, exhibit budgets and estimates. The majority of material is correspondence, but advertisements and brochures, handwritten...
Dates: 1880-1953; Majority of material found within 1880-1920, 1938-1951

Joseph Asaph Allen correspondence, 1870-1919

 Collection
Identifier: Mss .A451-.A452
Dates: Majority of material found within ( 1899-1902)

Letters: [microform]

 Collection
Identifier: Archives Microfilm #36