Origins of the American Museum of Natural History meteorite collection
By: Arnaud Mignan
Tags: Jp Morgan, Museums, Meteorites, Collecting, Planetarium

1874–1911 (Hovey era)

Early acquisitions

The foundation of the mineralogical department of the AMNH was laid in I874 by the purchase of the collection of New York lawyer Stratford C. Harvey Bailey (1822–1910), in which there were a few meteorites (representing eight falls). Twenty one more were acquired with the portion of the Norman Spang (1843–1922) collection of minerals purchased in I89I. The two mineral collections had cost $5000 and $8000, respectively (Ebel, 2006). By 1896, 55 specimens were present at the AMNH, representing 26 individual falls and finds (Hovey, 1896).

Edmund Otis Hovey (1862–1924), who became Curator in 1910, having been Assistant Curator (1894–1900) and Associate Curator (1901–1909), appears to be the earliest curator with a great interest in meteorites. Although Louis Pope Gratacap (1851–1917), first Curator of the Department of Mineralogy created in 1900, had cared for shells, minerals, and meteorites as Assistant Curator (1880–1900) under the first AMNH Curator Robert Parr Whitfield, it was Hovey who separated the cataloguing of meteorites from the one of minerals (Hovey, 1896). While Gratacap would publish notices on the mineral gallery (Gratacap, 1904), Hovey would write about the meteorite section (Hovey, 1907).

Acquisition of the Bement collection

A mineral specimen from the Bement collection at the AMNH, subject of a future article in the History of Collecting publication. Source: The Tricottet Collection.

In 1900, the Clarence S. Bement (1843–1923) collection of minerals was purchased, and presented to the AMNH by the philanthropist and trustee John Pierpont Morgan (1837–1913). This mineral collection, considered the finest ever assembled by an individual, included 580 meteorites from nearly 500 localities. This immediately catapulted the AMNH collection into the forefront of both mineral and meteorite collections. It led to the fine Norman Spang (1843–1922) collection being reassembled, as Bement had substantially improved his collection by selecting the best of the Spang specimens in 1882 before the AMNH purchased what remained of that impressive collection in 1891 (for $8,000; Ebel, 2006). A dedicated article to the Bement mineral collection will be published soon.

The Ward-Coonley collection deposit (1901)

Pultusk stones from the Ward-Coonley collection, displayed at the AMNH in 1901–1911 — Those specimens will be described in detail in a future post on the making of the Field Natural History museum. Source: The Tricottet Collection.

In 1901, the Ward-Coonley collection of meteorites was deposited with AMNH, in seven cases in the Geology Hall (Gratacap, 1906). With about 1600 specimens, it consisted of 603 of the 677 meteorites then known, according to Brezina, whose collection at the Vienna Museum held only 557! Henry Augustus Ward (1834-1906) was the founder of Ward's Natural Science Establishment in Rochester, New York, and was known as the “Museum Builder”. After selling his great mineral collection in 1893, he became consumed by meteorites and, with his wealthy wife Lydia Avery Coonley's assistance, assembled what is still the largest meteorite collection ever assembled by a single person. In the early 1900s he prepared to sell the collection and Gratacap wished to obtain it for the AMNH. Ward was however killed by an automobile in 1906 and the Ward-Coonley collection remained at the museum through 1911. After the AMNH failed to exercise its option to purchase it, and the Smithsonian failed to raise the necessary funds, Mrs Coonley sold it for $80,000 in 1912 to the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, where it remains to this day (Ebel, 2006:278). This will be the subject matter of yet another future post.

Acquisition of the Kunz collection (1905)

The Forest City meteorites on display in the Foyer of the AMNH (photographic paper, stamped “Please credit photograph to the AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY New York”, penned note “1781 | The “Forest City” Meteorite | Winnebago County, Iowa | Nov. 1923”, with sticker from Culver Service Photos Research of New York City). A cropped version of this photograph was published in Hovey (1907:34). Source: The Tricottet Collection.

If the meteorite study collection (consisting of six cases) was originally housed in the 77th Street main entrance (the Foyer), it moved in 1902 to the fourth floor mineralogy hall and in 1906 to the adjacent Geology Hall (although conflicting dates are given between Ebel (2006) and Reeds (1937), the latter stating that the six cases of the study collection moved from the Foyer to the Geology Hall in 1913). Only the largest specimens remained in the Foyer until the 1935 move to the new Hayden Planetarium: Those included the three Cape York irons of Peary’s Greenland expeditions (deposited in 1904 and purchased in 1909 for $40,000 through the generosity of Mrs M.K. Jesup), the Willamette iron (obtained in 1906 for $20,600 via a donation of Mrs W.E. Dodge), and a Forest City stone of 34 kg, among a few other specimens (Hovey, 1907; see figure on the left). Many of the Forest City stones at the AMNH originated from the Kunz collection, purchased in 1905 and presented to the museum, once again, by J.P. Morgan. This gift augmented the AMNH collection by 186 specimens.

George Frederick Kunz (1856–1932), instrumental in the purchase of the Bement mineral collection for the AMNH by J.P. Morgan, had already sold some specimens of the Glorieta Mountain iron to the AMNH in the late 19th century (Hovey, 1896:151). As one of the main investigators of the Forest City fall, his collection included arguably the best available suite of stones, likely including the mass of 34 kg (Kunz, 1890; AMNH #655). As noted by Hovey (1907:35), if a selection of relatively large Forest City stones were displayed with the large mass in the Foyer, some of the smaller individuals were displayed in the general Museum collection on display in the Morgan Hall of mineralogy (fourth floor).