Baird, Spencer Fullerton, 1823-1887
Name Entries
person
Baird, Spencer Fullerton, 1823-1887
Computed Name Heading
Name Components
Surname :
Baird
Forename :
Spencer Fullerton
Date :
1823-1887
eng
Latn
authorizedForm
rda
Baird, Spencer F. (Spencer Fullerton), 1823-1887
Computed Name Heading
Name Components
Surname :
Baird
Forename :
Spencer F.
NameExpansion :
Spencer Fullerton
Date :
1823-1887
eng
Latn
alternativeForm
rda
Genders
Male
Exist Dates
Biographical History
At only 27, the ornithologist Spencer Fullerton Baird (1823-1887) was appointed Assistant Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, a precocious appointment that suited a precocious scientist. Born into a well to do family in Reading, Pa., and raised in Carlisle, Baird acquired an interest in natural history even prior to enrolling at Dickinson College at age 13. Although he was not an outstanding student, he was unusually committed to his course in life, keeping meticulous notes of naturalizing expeditions, collecting specimens of birds and animals, and teaching himself preservation techniques by the age of 16.
Baird's primary interest rapidly settled on ornithology, and by 17 he had initiated a correspondence with the best known ornithologist in America, John James Audubon. After graduating from Dickinson, Baird entered medical school at his family's insistence, a practical decision to ensure his future employment, but he soon dropped out and settled into a quiet life of private study at home, focusing, of course, on natural history, roaming widely over the countryside, often with his brother William, and amassing a huge collection of bird specimens. Having sent Audubon a new species of yellow-bellied flycatcher, Audubon, in return, sent the majority of his personal collection of birds to Baird and also named a species of bunting after him. Baird used this period, too, to further his contacts in the field, arranging meetings with Louis Agassiz, Asa Gray, John Cassin, and Thomas M. Brewer, and working for James Dwight Dana in identifying the crustacean collected on the Charles Wilkes expedition. His persistence paid off in the fall of 1846 (the year he married) when he earned an appointment as Professor of Natural History and Curator of the Museum at his alma mater, while still barely older than the students he was teaching.
In 1850, Baird was recruited to become Assistant Secretary at the new Smithsonian Institution, brought in by Dana (who had become one of its Regents) and seconded by his old correspondents, Audubon, Agassiz, and George Perkins Marsh. It took two boxcars to transport his collections of birds and mammals, pickled reptiles and fish to Washington, but the collections he brought were only one of the several benefits he brought to the institution. Baird's family connections served the institution materially. A Biddle on his mother's side, Baird had married the daughter of the Inspector General of the Army, which gave his a perfect entree to the military, enabling him to solicit specimens from officers stationed in the west, but more importantly to attach naturalists to Army exploring expeditions. Through his connections with the military, Baird added over 6,000 specimens to the Smithsonian collections. During his time at the Smithsonian, the collections increased from approximately 6,000 specimens to over 2.5 million. Baird was promoted from Assistant Secretary to Secretary in May 1878, continuing in that capacity until his death on August 17, 1887. He also served without salary as head of the United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries from its founding in 1871 until his death, and helped establish the Marine Biological Station at Woods Hole, Mass.
A remarkably prolific scientist, even by the standards of the day, Baird's list of publications extends to almost 1,100 titles on a wide range of subjects. Although most of these are relatively brief notices, he completed three monumental works, The Mammals of North America (Philadelphia, 1859), Birds of North America (Philadelphia, 1860), written with John Cassin; and The History of North American Birds (Boston, 1874-1884), 5 vols., with Brewer and Robert Ridgway.
eng
Latn
External Related CPF
https://id.loc.gov/authorities/n50082080
https://catalog.archives.gov/id/10580548
https://viaf.org/viaf/4991719
https://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q14049
https://www.worldcat.org/identities/lccn-n50082080
Other Entity IDs (Same As)
Sources
Loading ...
Resource Relations
Loading ...
Internal CPF Relations
Loading ...
Languages Used
eng
Latn
Subjects
Religion
Academy Of Natural Sciences In Philadelphia
Acoustics
Education
Aeronautics
Agriculture
Albany Academy
Albany Institute
Albany, New York
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
American Assoc. For The Advancement Of Science (+ Aagn Etc.)
American Journal Of Science (Silliman's)
American Philosophical Society
Applications for positions
Applied Science, General
Architecture
Arctic regions
Army
Army Engineers
Astronomy
Batteries
Birds
Birds
Blacks
British Association For The Advancement Of Science
Chemistry
Civil war
Coasts
Columbia
Communication
Congress
Department Of Agriculture
District of columbia
Dudley Observatory
Economics (Economic Conditions)
Educational institutions
Electrical Discharge
Electric charge
Electricity
Electric Motors, Generators, Dynamos
Electromagnetism
Energy
Steam engines
Ethnology Archaeology Anthropology
Europeans On America
Exchanges Of Publications
Exposition
Federal government
Fine Arts
Fossils
Franklin Institute
Geology
Harvard
Henry Family
Henry, Joseph, Personality, Etc
Henry, Joseph, Teaching
Indians
Indians of North America
Internal improvements
Inventors
Lectures, Popular
Life science publishing
Light House Board
Magnetism
Magnetism, Terrestrial
Magnets
Mammals
Mathematics
Matter, Structure Of
Mechanics
Medicine
Meteorology
Mint
National Academy of Sciences
National Institute
National Museum
Natural history
Natural history
Natural history
Natural history museums, United States
Naval Observatory
Navies
Oceanography
Optics
Ordnance
Ornithology
Patent Office
Permanent (Naval) Commission
Philadelphia
Photography
Physical geography
President Of United States
Princeton (College Of New Jersey)
Printers
priorities
Quackery Or Pseudo Science
Railroads
Recommendations For Positions
Reptiles
Reptiles
Royal Society
Science and medicine
Science In America
Science In Europe
Science, Other
Scientific Method
Scientific organizations
Scientific publications
Solids
Smithsonian Art Gallery
Smithsonian Board Of Regents
Smithsonian Building
Smithsonian Endowment
Smithsonian Exchange
Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Library
Smithsonian Publications
Smithsonian Weather Service
Standardization
Surveys And Explorations, General
Telegraph
Theatre
Treasury Department
University of Pennsylvania
Wilkes Expedition
Yale
Zoological museums, United States
Zoological specimens
Zoological specimens
Zoologists
Zoology
Zoology, Arctic regions
Nationalities
Americans
Activities
Occupations
Naturalist
Naturalists
Scientists
Zoologists
Legal Statuses
Places
California
CA, US
AssociatedPlace
Mexico
00, MX
AssociatedPlace
Reading
PA, US
AssociatedPlace
Birth
Birthplace
United States
00, US
AssociatedPlace
Convention Declarations
<conventionDeclaration><citation>VIAF</citation></conventionDeclaration>