Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University

The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, formerly the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, is the oldest natural science research institution and museum in the Americas. It was founded in 1812, by many of the leading naturalists of the young American republic with an expressed mission of "the encouragement and cultivation of the sciences". It has sponsored expeditions, conducted original environmental and systematics research, and amassed natural history collections containing more than 17 million specimens. The Academy also organizes public exhibits and educational programs for both schools and the general public.

History

During the first decades of the United States, Philadelphia was the cultural capital and one of the country's commercial centers. Two of the city's institutions, the Library Company and the American Philosophical Society, were centers of enlightened thought and scientific inquiry.
The increasing sophistication of the earth and life sciences, combined with a growing awareness of the variety of life and landscape in the American wilderness that has not been discovered, led a small group of naturalists to establish the Academy of Natural Sciences in the winter of 1812. The academy was meant to foster a gathering of fellow naturalists, and nurture the growth and credibility of American science. They frequently looked to their European counterparts for inspiration and expertise and longed to be regarded as equals. On 25 April 1817 they were incorporated into the society under the title of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia by the legislature of Pennsylvania. By 1 January 1818, eight members were published.
In 2011, the Academy became affiliated with nearby Drexel University and changed its name to the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University.

Notable members

Within a decade of its founding, the Academy became the undisputed center of natural sciences in the United States. Academy members were frequently enlisted to participate in national surveys of the western territories and other major expeditions. Several of its earliest members, including William Bartram, John Godman, Richard Harlan, Angelo Heilprin, Charles Alexandre Lesueur, William Maclure, Titian Peale, Charles Pickering, Thomas Say, and Alexander Wilson were among the pioneers or recognized authorities in their respective areas of study. Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, John Edwards Holbrook of South Carolina, Thomas Nuttall and Richard Owen of the United Kingdom, Georges Cuvier of France, and Alexander von Humboldt of Prussia were among the corresponding members of the Academy's first decades.
Later during the 19th century, other notable naturalists and scientists, including John James Audubon, Charles S. Boyer, John Cassin, Edward Drinker Cope, Ezra Townsend Cresson, Richard Harlan, Ferdinand V. Hayden, Isaac Lea, William W. Jefferis, John Lawrence LeConte, Joseph Leidy, Samuel George Morton, George Ord, and James Rehn were members. Corresponding members included Charles Darwin along with his supporters Asa Gray, and Thomas Henry Huxley.
For much of its history, new members had to be nominated by two current members and then elected by the remaining members. These requirements were dropped in 1924. Notable 20th-century scientists include James Böhlke, James Bond, Henry Weed Fowler, Ruth Patrick, Henry Pilsbry, H. Radclyffe Roberts, and Witmer Stone.

Collections and research

The Academy of Natural Sciences holds an internationally important natural history collection. Currently, there are over 18 million biological specimens, and hundreds of thousands of volumes, journals, illustrations, photographs, and archival items in its library. These collections were obtained through multiple means, including the donation or purchase of existing collections or individual items, the collection activities of Academy-sponsored expeditions, or those of individual scientists, whether or not they work at the Academy. Some collections were originally gathered by other institutions. For example, a number of the natural history collections at the American Philosophical Society were relocated to the Academy by the end of the 19th century.
Traditionally, researchers at natural science institutions such as the Academy engaged in biological taxonomy, the science of discovering, describing, naming, and classifying species. In recent decades, research has shifted in emphasis to the science of systematics, the study of the evolutionary relationships among these species. The Academy preserves many type specimens, the reference material that helps establish a species' identity. They also preserve additional specimens with which scientists can investigate the nature of these species, their relationships with other species, their evolutionary history, or their conservation status.

Museum collections and research programs

The Academy's collections include a wide range of specimens across the tree of life. The museum also maintains several historically important collections.

Botany

is study of plants, including nonvascular bryophytes and vascular plants, including ferns, conifers and flowering plants. The field of botany has also traditionally included the study of algae, lichens, and fungi which are now classified in different biological kingdoms. Collections at the Academy, which are housed in the Philadelphia Herbarium, the oldest institutional herbarium in the New World, include some of the oldest and most important botanical collections in the Americas. Notable early collectors include Benjamin Smith Barton, Constatine Rafinesque, Thomas Meehan, Thomas Nuttall, and Fredrick Pursh.
The herbarium contains approximately 1.5 million specimens of vascular plants, fungi, lichens, algae, and fossil plants, 40,000 of which are types. It also contains some special collections, including the plants collected by Johann and Georg Forster during the voyages of Captain James Cook, and by Meriwether Lewis during the Lewis and Clark expedition. The department's current focus is plant biodiversity and evolution focusing on Apocynaceae and Polygalaceae.

Diatoms

The Academy's Diatom Herbarium, the largest in the Americas and the second largest in the world, contains approximately 220,000 slides of these microscopic algae. The herbarium contains many specimens contributed by notable collectors, a diversity of fossil diatoms, and diatoms collected as part of numerous freshwater environmental surveys in the United States. The Diatom Herbarium also provides collections and taxonomic services for the [|Phycology Section] of the Patrick Center for Environmental Research. Former curators of note include Charles S. Boyer, Ruth Patrick, and Charles Reimer.

Entomology

has been important to the Academy since its founding. Two of its earliest members include Thomas Say, regarded as the father of American entomology, and Titian Peale, a leading natural history illustrator and the chief naturalist on the United States Exploring Expedition. The entomology collection currently contains more than 3.5 million specimens and includes the Titian Peale Moth and Butterfly Collection, the oldest entomology collection in the United States. Curator Emeritus, Daniel Otte, an expert on Orthoptera is a pioneer of presenting biological data on the internet through the creation of the . Curator and Entomology Department Chair, Jon Gelhaus is a leading expert on crane flies and manages the [|Mongolian Aquatic Insect Survey].

Ichthyology

has also been a part of Academy collections and research since its beginnings, but the size of the collection was relatively modest until acquisition of Edward Drinker Cope's personal collections in 1898. A few years later, Henry Weed Fowler began his tenure at the Academy, during which he systematized the collections and described 1,408 species. James E. Böhlke, William Saul, and William Smith-Vaniz are among the scientists who followed Fowler. Curator Emeritus, John Lundberg, an expert in catfishes, pioneered deep channel collecting in large tropical rivers and is the lead author of a seminal scientific paper on the biological and geographic history of the Amazon River Basin. The Ichthyology collection, which currently houses nearly 1.2 million specimens and nearly 3,000 types, is one of the most important such collections in the United States. The department also hosts the and , and is a participant in .

Malacology

Two of the early members of the Academy, Thomas Say and Isaac Lea, were malacologists. R. Tucker Abbott, Samuel Stehman Haldeman, Henry A. Pilsbry, and George W. Tryon, Jr. were other noted malacologists who worked at the Academy. The Academy's malacology collection is the oldest such collection in the United States and is the 3rd largest in the world. It currently contains over 10 million specimens, including types erected by more than 400 authors. Curator Gary Rosenberg, an expert on Jamaican land snails, is a leader in digitised museum collections and research data. Research websites include the an online database of , and the database. Research associate and former curator Danielle Graf, an expert on Unionidae, maintains the web site.

Ornithology

The majority of ornithologists active in the United States during the first half of the 19th century, including Charles Lucien Bonaparte, George Ord, Titian Ramsay Peale, John James Audubon, John Cassin, Thomas Nuttall, and John Kirk Townsend, were active members of the Academy. Later notable Academy ornithologists include James Bond, Frank Gill, Rodolphe Meyer de Schauensee, Pete Myers, Fred Sheldon, and Witmer Stone. With nearly 200,000 specimens representing over 9,000 species, the Ornithology collection is one of the largest and most taxonomically complete bird collections in the world. The Delaware Valley Ornithological Club has held regular meetings at the Academy since 1890.