Life membership certificate containing a montage of plants, animals, minerals and fossils to represent different fields of the natural sciences, i.e., natural history, taught at the institute. Iconography encircles an oval containing the certificate text. Includes a bat for "Mammalia"; a human skull for "Anatomy"; an eagle for "Ornithology" perched on a slab with rocks and minerals for "Mineralogy"; a butterfly for "Entomology"; stems of flowers and plants for "Botany"; a thorny fish for "Ichtheology"; pre-historic crustaceans for "Palaeonotolgy"; the skeleton of an elephant for "Comparative Anatomy"; a shell for "Conchology"; a rattlesnake for "Herpetology"; a horseshoe crab for "Crustacea"; and Fossils - "Botany," Entomology," "Crustacea," and "Zoology" showing a fossilized plant, fish, dragon fly and lobster. Filigree adorns the corners. Wagner Free Institute was founded in 1855 by philanthropist and professor William Wagner to provide free public education in the sciences. Wagner donated his large collection of specimens and his science library in addition to monetary support to establish the institution., Not in Wainwright., Philadelphia on Stone, POSP 266, Historical Society of Pennsylvania: Certificates - Wagner Free, P. S. Duval & Co. operated as a firm 1851-1857., Inscription lower left corner torn: Est. C. J. [ ?].
Date
[ca. 1855]
Location
Historical Society of Pennsylvania | Print Department | HSP at LCP HSP Certificates - Wagner Free
Interior view showing a skeleton of the Negatherium Cavreri dinosaur. Also shows various fossils and tusks on display. Two signs above the display read "Casts of Fossils" by Illinois Industrial University, and Henry A. Ward, Rochester N.Y.
This collection contains the papers of Samuel George Morton of Philadelphia, a physician, ethnologist, and professor of anatomy at Pennsylvania Medical College. The papers date from 1832 to 1851, when Morton devoted his research efforts almost exclusively to ethnology and to the collecting of human skulls for comparative studies. The bulk of the papers consist of incoming correspondence, relating to ethnology and other related interests such as anthropology, craniology, paleontology and Egyptology. His collecting efforts in the field of crania resulted in extensive correspondence on the subject, which is also included here. The collection is particularly valuable in illustrating the publication process of Morton's technical publications, as it includes extensive notes, annotations, sketches, research and reviews of his published work. There is also a small grouping of documents related to Morton's son, James St. Clair Morton. The collection is arranged into six series: “Correspondence,” “Notes,” “Pennsylvania Medical College,” “Writings,” and “James St. Clair Morton.”
