Anderson School of Natural History

In 1872, Nathaniel Southgate Shaler, Professor of Paleontology, suggested to Louis Agassiz that a summer camp or school be established on Nantucket Island to facilitate the study of natural history by teachers. Both men were interested in furthering the use of methods of observation in the teaching of science in the schools. At that time text books and recitations were the primary instructional tools for natural science. Agassiz issued a circular in December 1872 announcing a “Programme of a Course of Instruction in Natural History, to be delivered, by the Seaside in Nantucket…for Teachers…and for Students preparing to become Teachers.”

John Anderson, a cigar manufacturer from New York, read newspaper accounts of the plan. He contacted Agassiz with an offer of Penikese Island, one of the Elizabeth Islands in Buzzards Bay, and an endowment of $50,000 for the establishment of the school. The offer was accepted and the school was named for him. Fifty students, including several women, were admitted to the first session.

The school opened in July 1873. Among those assisting Agassiz with teaching were present and former assistants at Harvard’s Museum of Comparative Zoology, including Frederic Ward Putnam. Agassiz and the other instructors lectured and guided students with collecting, preserving and dissecting specimens. Participants gathered marine life from shallow tide-pools and deeper water specimens were obtained from dredging expeditions of the Sprite, a yacht donated to the school. The first session ended in August and plans were made to continue the program the following summer.

Louis Agassiz died in December 1873. The following summer the school at Penikese was conducted by his son Alexander Agassiz who was also associated with the Museum of Comparative Zoology and would later be named its Director and Curator. After the second session, the school was disbanded. Among the reasons cited for the closing were difficulties with its location.

Although it was short-lived, much has been written about the impact of the Anderson School. It was the first seaside marine laboratory in the nation. It embodied Agassiz’s philosophy that knowledge of the natural world was acquired by the direct study of nature. Women, who at that time had little opportunity for higher education and the pursuit of scientific study, participated. Lydia Shattuck and Cornelia Clapp from the faculty of Mt. Holyoke Seminary were among the students. Shattuck's assistant, Susan Bowen, met her husband, David Starr Jordan, a naturalist and future president of Stanford University, there. Charles O. Whitman, who became director of the Marine Biological Laboratory, also studied at Penikese. The Anderson School is considered a forerunner to the Marine Biological Laboratory in nearby Woods Hole, Massachusetts.

Louis Agassiz, ca. 1850 HUP Agassiz, Louis (16a)

Circular for the "Programme of A Course of Instruction" with note from Agassiz in upper right. From the Papers of Frederick Ward Putnam, General Correspondence, 1851-1947: 1871-1880, Folder A. HUG 1717.2.1 Click on image for a larger view.

Map Showing Location of Penikese Island in Buzzards Bay from Organization and Progress of the Anderson School of Natural History at Penikese Island Report of the Trustees, Boston, 1874. HUF 298.73.67 Click on image for a larger view.