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Bringing Natural History to the People: Three Pioneers

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Bringing Natural History to the People: Three Pioneers BRINGING NATURAL HISTORY TO THE PEOPLE: THREE PIONEERS OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST FRONTIER by MICHAEL ARTHUR WEISS A THESIS Presented to the Department of History and the Graduate School of the University of Oregon in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts June 1989 ii APPROVED: Dr. Louise Wade iii An Abstract of the Thesis of Michael Arthur Weiss for the degree of Master of Arts in the Department of History to be taken June 1989 Title: BRINGING NATURAL HISTORY TO THE PEOPLE: THREE PIONEERS OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST FRONTIER Approved: Dr. Louise Wade In the mid-nineteenth century, three Pacific Northwest collectors established relationships with the fledgling Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. They communicated with Assistant Secretary, Spencer Fullerton Baird, a scientist whose philosophy placed him midway between the "increase" and "diffusion" requirements of the original bequest of James Smithson. The older museum scientists had sought to keep the Institution devoted to research--the "increase" notion, whereas the younger scientists hoped for a museum and a library to bring the new science to the people--the "diffusion" notion. The three pioneers took up collecting to supplant or to supplement their religion, which had come under siege due to rational science. They wished to bring their collections to the people in recognition of the democratic and educational IV spirit of the new American museum—a far cry from the elitist curio cabinets of Europe and the popular humbug of P.T. Barnum. VITA NAME OF AUTHOR: Michael Arthur Weiss PLACE OF BIRTH: New York, New York DATE OF BIRTH: March 1, 1945 GRADUATE AND UNDERGRADUATE SCHOOLS ATTENDED: University of Oregon Michigan State University Hunter College DEGREES AWARDED: Master of Arts, 1989, University of Oregon Master of Arts, 1968, Michigan State University Bachelor of Arts, 1967, Hunter College AREAS OF SPECIAL INTEREST: History of the Pacific Northwest PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE: Community College Instructor, Social Science Department, Lane Community College, Eugene, 1985-1989 Teaching Assistant, American Studies Department, University of Oregon, Eugene, 1987-89 Teaching Assistant, Department of History, University of Oregon, Eugene, 1986-87 Community College Instructor, Social Science Department, Rogue Community College, Grants Pass, Oregon, 1972-4 Grade School Teacher, New York City Schools, 1968-71 AWARDS AND HONORS: United States Public Health Service Fellowship, 1968 Dean's List, Hunter College, 1965-6 New York State Regent's Scholarship PUBLICATIONS: Weiss, Michael A. "Henry Cummins, 19th Century Eugene Poet." Poetic Space 4, no. 7 (June 1986). VI 1 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The author wishes to express sincere appreciation to Professor Louise Wade for her patience, assistance, and encouragement in the preparation of this manuscript. In addition, special thanks are due to Professor George Sheridan and to Professor Howard Brick who joined my committee at a crucial juncture in the project. I also thank the members of the History Department of the University of Oregon for providing a superior education as well as much needed support in the form of a graduate teaching fellowship. I would also like to thank Professor Sam Girgus of the American Studies Department for providing a teaching fellowship in his department as well as excellent training and new intellectual insights. Vlll TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I. INTRODUCTION 1 II. THE LURE OF COLLECTING 11 The American Compromise 11 The Enlightenment and Museums 13 The Popularization of the American Museum .... 15 Humboldt's Impact on Natural History Collecting 24 A Protege: Louis Agassiz 27 Joseph Henry, Spencer Fullerton Baird, and the Rise of the Smithsonian Institution .... 30 III. HENRY CUMMINS AND THE "PANTHEON OF SCIENCE" .. 40 IV. JAMES GILCHRIST SWAN: NORTHWEST PACIFIC COAST PIONEER AMONG THE INDIANS 66 V. THOMAS CONDON: MISSIONARY, GEOLOGIST, PROFESSOR 110 VI. CONCLUSION 140 BIBLIOGRAPHY 146 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION In the mid-nineteenth century, three men in the Pacific Northwest established relationships with the fledgling Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. and its Assistant Secretary, Spencer Fullerton Baird. Henry Cummins and Thomas Condon of Eugene, Oregon, and James Swan of the Pacific Northwest Coast were only a few of the collector- correspondents who made up a national network providing specimens for Baird's new democratic museum. This thesis will examine their relationship with Baird and the Smithsonian, and the reasons why these three men wished to bring natural history to Americans during the second half of the nineteenth century. Profound changes were taking place in the America of the early nineteenth century. Even before his death, Jefferson's dream of a nation propelled by yeoman farmers was on the wane. Domestic manufacture had burgeoned, spurred by the British blockade during the War of 1812. Canals and railroads had not only transformed the landscape, but had extended the horizons of men and women. Changes in state constitutions enfranchised men and facilitated the presidency of Andrew Jackson; the hero of the War of 1812 exemplified the new democratic spirit and the increasing importance of the West. This new territory was a promised land, offering economic and spiritual rejuvenation. Americans newly released from political absolutism also sought release from other restraints. Enlightenment thinkers had turned to science in order to explain the natural world. In America, Franklin had taken up that spirit, blending scientific research with the quest for self-perfection. The old Calvinist belief in the depravity of man was giving way to a more positive image- During the Jacksonian era, Unitarians and Transcendental ists proposed a model of an inspired man whose miraculous willpower could create universal good. During the three decades before the Civil War, enlightened Americans were immersed in political, religious, and social reform, hoping to utilize science and pseudoscience in order to create a more perfect society. This was the ^ra of the water cure, phrenology, Graham flour, Spiritualism, abolitionism, women's rights, and temperance. In this democratic era, museum directors wished to make their collections accessible to the public while retaining a scientific demeanor. Midway between the popularizing humbuggery of P.T. Barnum and the austere research institutions of older, elitist scientists was Spencer Fuller-ton Baird (1823-1S87) of the Smithsonian. His tenure at that institution (1850-1887) served as a bridge between the old and the new museum scientists. The Institution's first Secretary was Joseph Henry (1797-1878), a research- oriented scientist who hired Baird as his assistant. Baird was a scientist, but also a formidable collector. After he convinced Henry to establish a popular museum, Baird developed a nationwide network of collector correspondents who sent materials to fill the new building, which Henry referred to as "the castle." Baird himself had, by the age of nineteen, amassed so many ornithological specimens that Audubon gave him his own huge collection. When he arrived in Washington to take up his new position, the new Assistant Secretary brought two train-car loads of specimens weighing 89,000 pounds.1 The spirit of the West characterized the three collectors in this thesis—Henry Cummins, James Gilchrist Swan, and Thomas Condon. They came to the West Coast during the great settlement wave of the 1850s. Cummins travelled from Iowa with his parents who were seeking free farmland near Eugene City, Oregon; Swan, a businessman, dissatisfied The Smithsonian Institution, The Smithsonian Experience: Science-History-The Arts . The Treasures of the Nation (New York: Norton & Co., 1977), 37. with his staid Boston life, sought wealth and adventure in the California goldfields; Condon brought his young bride to the Oregon frontier, where he served as a missionary to the pioneers. All three soon turned to a new interest—the collecting, classification, and presentation of the natural history and Native American artifacts of the new frontier. They were influenced by the Transcendental spirit which saw the connectedness of all things in nature. More importantly, they embraced science either to supplant or to supplement their religion. The work of Charles Lyell (1797-1875) in geology and that of Charles Darwin (1809-1882) in evolution influenced the three collectors as it did most Americans. Lyell s main work was The Principles of Geology: Being an Attempt to Explain the Former Changes of the Earth's Surface by Reference to Causes Now in Operation, published in 1830-33. Its importance was in connecting the scattered facts of the new science of geology. Earlier mechanical philosophers postulated a universe in which the material systems of nature, the solar system and the organic species were constant throughout the history of the earth. Lyell reiterated the major postulates of James Hutton, namely, the premise that only the geological forces now at work should be used to explain the past history of the earth and that, for this purpose, indefinitely long periods of time may be assumed. Lyell's theories were immensely popular in middle class circles where the belief in progress was most mart- ed . Harriet Martineau thought that during the 1840s the "general middle-class public purchased five copies of an expensive work on geology to one of the most popular novels of the time.' Lyell's unorthodox views soon became generally accepted and their implications
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