The origins of natural science in America

"George Brown Goode, a nineteenth-century curator and administrator of what would become the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, formulated much of the basis for the science museum system, from broad theoretical issues down to the details of acquisition. This book collects five of Goode's most enduring essays on the history of science and museum practice in America."--BOOK JACKET. "The book opens with a substantive introduction in the form of a biographical essay of Goode by Sally Gregory Kohlstedt, a professor of the history of science. The first of Goode's essays follows: an overview of the development of the natural and, to a lesser extent, physical sciences in America, from colonial times through the late nineteenth century. Through this and the four additional essays, Goode urged the scientific community to preserve a comprehensive and collaborative approach to natural history. He was among the first to establish the concept of a tripartite mission for museums--to act as centers for collection-based research, to educate visitors, and to maintain exhibitions. He believed that in order to understand scientific exhibitions, visitors must be shown historical processe