museums because he, more than any other one person, contributed
to their development
Putnam is often spoken of as the father of anthropological
museums because he, more than any other one person, contributed
to their development. He seems to have been a museum man by
birth, for at an early age we find him listed as curator of
ornithology in the Essex Institute of Salem, Mass. The Peabody
Museum of Archeology at Cambridge is largely his work, he
having entered the institution in 1875 and continued as its
head until his death. This institution is in many respects one
of the most typical anthropological museums in America. During
his college career Professor Putnam came under the influence of
Professor Louis Agassiz and was for several years an assistant
in the laboratory of that distinguished scientist. It seems
likely that this was the source of Professor Putnam"s faith and
enthusiasm for the accumulation and preservation of concrete
data. As his interest in anthropology grew, he seems to have
sought to bring together in the Peabody Museum a collection of
scientific material that should have the same relation to the
new and developing science of anthropology as the collections
of Professor Agassiz"s laboratory had to the science of
biology. Professor Putnam"s great skill in developing the
Peabody Museum brought him into public notice and led to his
appointment as director of the anthropological section of the
World Columbian Exposition in Chicago The exhibit he prepared
made an unusual impression and it is said that largely to his
personal influence is due the interest of the late Marshall
Field in developing and providing for the museum which now
bears his name. After this achievement Professor Putnam was
invited by the American Museum of Natural History to organize
the department of anthropology which he proceeded to do upon
broad lines, giving it a status and impetus which is still
manifest. Later on he was invited to the University of
California to organize a department and a museum similar to the
one at Harvard and this also is now one of our leading
institutions. Thus it is clear that the history of American
anthropological museums is to a large extent the life history
of Professor Putnam.
