Call Number:

98-048

Repository:

Wagner Free Institute of Science

Extent:

0.5 linear feet (1 container)

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

[Identification of item], Wagner Free Institute of Science Closing Exercises of the Lecture Season announcements and programs, 98-048, Library and Archives of the Wagner Free Institute of Science.

Date:

1921-1989 (inclusive)

Creator:

Wagner Free Institute of Science.

Form:

Announcements and Souvenir programs

Abstract:

Incorporated by William Wagner (1796-1885) in 1855, the Wagner Free Institute of Science is a natural history museum and educational institution in Philadelphia that is dedicated to providing free public education in the sciences. This collection consists of Closing Exercises of the Lecture Season announcements from 1936 to 1983 (intermittent) and programs from 1921 to 1989 (intermittent). The announcements provide information on the following: the date, time and location of the closing exercises, the person giving the introductory remarks and awarding the certificates, the person giving the lecture, and the title of the lecture. This collection provides a record of the lectures presented at the Closing Exercises of the Lecture Season, but no lectures or details of the event are contained within the collection. This collection is an excellent resource for researchers interested in students receiving awards and the subjects these students pursued. A researcher interested in the evolution of “modern” topics in science from 1921 until 1989 may find this collection useful.

Incorporated by William Wagner (1796-1885) in 1855, the Wagner Free Institute of Science is a natural history museum and educational institution in Philadelphia that is dedicated to providing free public education in the sciences. Indeed, “its free public education courses on science … are the oldest program devoted to free adult education in the United States.” (The First 150 Years, page 1).

Before the Institute even existed, William Wagner gave free lectures to the public in his home. After the Institute was created in 1855, the lectures continued and “covered topics such as geology, physiology, botany, chemistry, engineering, paleontology, and astronomy as well as the courses taught routinely by Wagner himself: mineralogy and conchology. All were taught by scientists and scholars gathered from prominent schools and institutions, including the University of Pennsylvania and Princeton.” (NRHP Registration, Section 8, page 3). Later, the annual lecture season culminated with the “Closing Exercises,” during which a lecture was given and certificates of studies were awarded. William Wagner, “a noted Philadelphia merchant, philanthropist, gentleman scientist, and lifelong collector of natural history specimens,” (The First 150 Years, p. 1) was born in Philadelphia and graduated from the Academy, which later became the University of Pennsylvania, in 1808. He started his career in an apprenticeship in the counting house of Stephen Girard, a Philadelphia financier. As time passed, Wagner’s duties progressed until he was “assigned the position of supercargo and sent overseas to look after Girard’s shipping interests,” (NRHP Registration, Section 8, page 2). He continued working for Girard for seven years, learning from him about both business and philanthropy. Wagner then formed two businesses: a mercantile partnership with Captain Snowden creating his business Snowden & Wagner which existed from 1819 to 1825; and the Lennoxville Steam Saw Mill which existed from 1925 to 1828. By 1940, Wagner “retired from his commercial pursuits,” (NRHP Registration, Section 8, page 2).

Until this time, Wagner’s travels provided him with opportunities to collect specimens and in 1841 and 1842, he travelled to Europe with his wife. During this trip, Wagner continued to collect specimens and visited “principal scientific institutes of the Continent,” (NRHP Registration, Section 8, page 2). Upon his return to Philadelphia, the size of his specimen collection necessitated the building of a wing which he called “The Cabinet” at his home, Elm Grove. In 1847, “believing strongly that education in the sciences should be available to everyone, Wagner began offering free lectures on science at his home,” (The First 150 Years, page 1) using his extensive collection of natural history specimens. By 1855, his home no longer accommodated the number of people interested in his lectures, and he moved the lectures to the Municipal Hall at 13th and Spring Garden Streets and formally established the Wagner Free Institute of Science. Its “program [was] codified in a charter drafted by Wagner, himself,” (NRHP Registration, Section 8, page 2) on May 21, 1855. The existing building which houses the Wagner Free Institute of Science was opened in 1865 and includes an exhibit gallery, classrooms, a library and a lecture hall.

Although, he served as President of the Wagner Free Institute of Science until his death in 1885, he prepared for the future of his Institute and, in 1864, decided to leave his “estate to the charge of a Board of Trustees who would continue to run the institution according to [Wagner’s] original goals,” (NRHP Registration, Section 8, pages 3-4). After his death, the Board of Directors appointed Joseph Leidy as director of the academic programs of the Wagner Free Institute of Science. Leidy was “a biologist of international reputation,” (The First 150 Years, page 2) and was serving as Professor of Anatomy at the University of Pennsylvania and President of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. Leidy, who served until his death in 1891, “expanded the programs at the Institute to include a more significant and extensive course of scholarly research,” obtained “some of the most noted scientists and explorers of the age, including Angelo Heilprin, Joseph Willcox and Henry Leffmann for his faculty,” (NRHP Registration, Section 8, page 5), founded, with member of the Board Sydney Skidmore, the Society for the Extension of University Teaching on November 5, 1890, and reorganized the Wagner Free Institute of Science’s Natural History Museum into a systematic display. The Museum's arrangement remains virtually unaltered to this day. In 1892, Samuel Wagner, along with several other Philadelphians “appl[ied] for a charter to form the Free Library of Philadelphia,” (NRHP Registration, Section 8, page 6) and The Wagner Free Institute became Branch No. 1 of the Free Library. In 1901, a wing was built on the west side of the Institute and housed the Free Library branch until the Columbia Avenue branch opened in 1962. Samuel Wagner served as President of the Board of Trustees of the Wagner Free Institute from 1885 to 1921 and as President Emeritus from 1921 to 1937. Other administrators of the Wagner include: Thomas Lynch Montgomery, Actuary and Librarian from 1886 to 1903; John Rothermel, Superintendent from 1903 to 1913 and Director from 1914 to 1924; Carl Boyer, Curator from 1924 to 1928 and Director from 1928 to 1945; Robert Chambers, Director from 1945 to 1980; John Graham, Director from 1980 to 1988; Roger Montgomery, Director from 1988 to 1992; and Susan Glassman, Director from 1993.

According to the National Register for Historic Places Registration Form, the Wagner Free Institute of Science is “a nationally significant monument documenting the development of science, education and museums,” (NRHP Registration, Section 8, page 2). Bibliography:

“The First 150 Years: A Brief History,” author unknown, circa 2008.

National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, 1989.

This collection consists of Closing Exercises of the Lecture Season announcements from 1933 to 1983 (intermittent) and programs from 1921 to 1989 (intermittent). The announcements provide information on the following: the date, time and location of the closing exercises, the person giving the introductory remarks and awarding the certificates, the person giving the lecture, and the title of the lecture. From 1936 until 1989, all the lectures were given under the auspices of the Fannie Frank Leffman Memorial Lectureship. The programs contain the same information listed in the announcements as well as listing the trustees, the faculty and the recipients of the certificates. The lectures covered a broad range of topics including, to name a few, foreign travel, television, “Inside Japan and Hawaii, December 7, 1941,” fundamentals of electronics, glass, atomic energy, space travel, echo-location, and ethnology. Local professors, physicists, naturalists, geologists and explorers presented these lectures free to the public. This collection provides a record of the lectures presented at the Closing Exercises of the Lecture Season, but no lectures or details of the event are contained within the collection. This collection is an excellent resource for researchers interested in students receiving awards and the subjects these students pursued. A researcher interested in the evolution of “modern” topics in science from 1921 until 1989 may find this collection useful.