Maine's Portland Society of Natural History

Abstract

During the first half of the nineteenth century, there were established in the United States four museums of natural history which published serious scientific journals. The Academy of Natural Sciences of Phila? delphia was founded in 1812; the first number of its Journal appeared in 1817. The New York Lyceum of Natural History, organized in 1817, was publishing its Annals by 1824. The Boston Society of Natural History was instituted in 1830, and its Journal began in 1834 (only seven volumes were published), followed by its Proceedings in 1841. The Portland Society of Natural History, founded in 1843, introduced its Proceedings in 1862. Among these institutions, only the Philadelphia Academy persists today essentially in its original form. It houses the oldest extant natural history museum in the Western Hemisphere. In 1866, a fire destroyed the collections of the New York Lyceum. Fortunately, its library survived, having been housed elsewhere. In 1876, the Lyceum was transformed into the New York Academy of Sciences and assumed a broadened focus. In addition to biology, coverage in its Annals eventually included such diverse disciplines as agriculture, chemistry, geology, mathematics, medicine, physics, and psychology. The Annals are still being published today.