| Summary: | This excerpt of a list of specimens from the State Museum at the University of Washington shows many examples of items donated by the Young Naturalists' Society. Most items are artifacts from various tribes in the Pacific Northwest including many carvings, arrow heads and knives. Other items range in source, with some objects originating in Siberia, Kentucky, and Ohio. In 1854, territorial governor, Isaac Ingalls Stevens, suggested that a university for Washington Territory be established. The school did not officially open until November 4, 1861 with 30 students. In 1862, the Washington territorial legislature incorporated the school and appointed a Board of Regents. Throughout the university's early years, the university consisted not only of college curricula but also preparatory school curricula. The school faced constant changes in administration, enrollment and financial support in its first twenty years, often closing due to lack of students or funds. By the 1890s, the school had grown by leaps and bounds and exceeded the size of its original campus. Students in 1889 numbered approximately 300. A graduate of the school and later professor, Edmond Meany, served as head of a committee to choose a new site off of Union Bay, further north and east of its current site. In 1895, the school formally moved to this new campus. The Young Naturalists' Society initially began as a small group of young amateurs interested in the natural sciences in 1879. The society's founding members included Edmond S. Meany, J. O. Young, Brooks Randolph and Charles Denny. In 1882, Professor Orson Bennett Johnson accepted a position at the University of Washington as a professor of natural science. Upon his arrival in Seattle, Johnson joined the group and led the organization to develop a large collection of specimens and create a museum. In 1885, the Young Naturalists' Society leased a building in downtown Seattle from the University of Washington. In 1886, the society placed its growing collection in the building. Well-known members of the organization included Edmond S. Meany, later a history professor at the University of Washington, and Trevor Kincaid, another professor at the University. In the 1890s, the society's specimen collection numbered over 65,000 items. In 1895, the University of Washington moved to its current campus and the society in turn moved its collections to the new campus. In 1899, the Washington State Legislature designated the society's collection as the Washington State Museum. In 1904, the society disbanded and gave up its collection to the state museum at the University of Washington. The current Burke Museum was originally founded in the late nineteenth century by members of the Young Naturalists Society on campus. The building contained their collection of natural history specimens. In 1899, the museum was officially designed as the Washington State Museum, gaining in its collections and research. From 1909 to the 1920s, Frank S. Hall served as the museum's curator and later, director. During his administration of the museum, he attempted to make the aims of the museum to represent Washington state, the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. From 1909 to the 1920s, the museum's collections were housed in a building leftover from the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific (AYP) Exhibition, the California Building. When this building started to lake, the museum's collections were moved to the Forestry Building. This building, however, was infested with beetles and in 1923, the museum's collections moved again, this time into various departments or storage around the university. In 1927, the collections were reassembled in the Washington State building, yet another structure remaining from the AYP Exhibition. In 1962, a new building was constructed for the museum and the museum itself was renamed the Burke Museum following a major bequest from Caroline McGilvra Burke in honor of her spouse, Thomas Burke. (Source: HistoryLink at http://www.historylink.org)
|
|---|