United States National Museum. Division of Comparative Anatomy

The Department of Comparative Anatomy was created in the United States National Museum (USNM) in 1885. The Department (after 1897 a division in the Department of Biology) was responsible for the preparation and care of the osteological specimens of the Museum. From the early days of the museum collections, separate bone catalogs were kept, distinct from the other specimen catalogs. In addition, a series of vertebrate skulls and skeletons was exhibited in the main hall of the Smithsonian Building, and much material was in storage.

When the collections were moved from the Smithsonian Building to the USNM in 1883, a proposal was made that a Department of Comparative Anatomy be set up. Although Frederick William True and Frederic A. Lucas were listed as Curator and Assistant in such a Department as early as 1883, formal organization of the Department first came in 1885.

Lucas joined the Smithsonian Institution in 1882 as an osteological preparator and became Assistant Curator in 1887. True was the first full Curator and served from 1885 to 1890, when Frank Collins Baker became Honorary Curator. In 1893, Lucas became Curator and remained in that capacity until he left the Smithsonian in 1904. Following Lucas's departure, the Division remained without a curator until it was gradually incorporated into other zoological divisions.

Smithsonian Institution Archives, Agency History. Record 217919