Natural History Society of New Brunswick

The Natural History Society of New Brunswick was formed in 1862, initiated by a small group of geologists called the Steinhammer Club. The society was particularly interested in the study of natural history and was actively collecting specimens from around the province.

In their efforts to build the collection, the members, as Gesner and the Mechanics’ Institute had done before them, turned to Saint John’s thriving shipping industry. The appeal to that quarter was formalized in 1863 with the printing and distribution of a circular addressed “To The Merchant Ship-Owners and Marine of New Brunswick” announcing that,

The Natural History Society of New Brunswick is desirous of increasing its Museum by collection of objects of Natural History from abroad. The Society feels that it must mainly look to the Merchant Ship-owners and the Marine of the Province to accomplish this object.

It is therefore respectfully requested of gentlemen engaged in foreign trade, that they lend their co-operation by handing this circular to the Masters of their vessels, or by sending copies of it to their agents and friends in foreign parts, and by using their influence to further the wishes of the Society in this direction (NHS Papers).

Though the focus was clearly on natural history, the circular also included the statement that “Antiquities, Curiosities, &c., illustrating the Ancient or Modern Modes of Life, Habits, Customs, and Religions of Foreign Nations, would be much prized.” In addition to this general appeal, individuals traveling abroad were also rallied to the cause. For example, at the meeting of 7 April 1863 it was resolved that Captain Scott of the Royal Navy should be asked to collect specimens in the field of ichthyology during the ensuing summer and that he should be given necessary supplies. In 1866 a grant was provided to the curator to collect “natural curiosities” in Cuba (NHS Papers).

During the first forty years of its existence, the Natural History Society did not have a building of its own in which to house its museum. From 1862 to 1868, they were given display space in the Museum of the Mechanics’ Institute. In 1868 the museum and library were moved to the then new Grammar School Building, a situation that lasted until 1874 when the collections were moved back to the Mechanics’ Institute. There was to be one more move in 1881, to the Market Building, where the Society stayed until moving to their own building on Union Street in 1906. As a result of their close connection, when Mechanics’ Institute closed its doors in 1890 it is not surprising that it left its collection of artefacts and natural history specimens to the Natural History Society.

In the new century, the Museum of the Natural History Society continued to grow in size, scope and importance. An undated brochure, produced some time after the move to the new building in 1906, began with the declaration that “a public museum of Natural History and Arts is a means of instruction that should be found in every city of importance, and is an institution to be placed in the class with a public library,” and that the Natural History Society had it as an aim to provide such a museum in Saint John. Among the museum highlights, “the section of the Museum devoted to man and his works overflows with objects of interest in the sciences of Archaeology and Ethnology. … In this part of the museum may be found objects from India, China, Africa, America and the “Islands of the Sea,” also from Ancient Egypt and Rome” (NHS Papers). More than just a means of instruction, the Museum was also useful in “giving to visitors and tourists a knowledge of objects of interest and value, found in the provinces, and tourists when shut out by unfavorable weather from the enjoyment of the natural beauties around St. John, can have recourse to the public museum”.

By the dawn of the twentieth century, the tradition of collecting internationally was well established and, in the next three decades leading to the foundation of the New Brunswick Museum, accessions expanded exponentially until virtually every continent and region of the world was represented.

With the growth of the collection under its long-time curator Dr. William McIntosh, the society was in need of a new facility by the late 1920s. Funding was offered by the provincial government and the Natural History Society accepted, thereby making the museum a provincial institution. In 1934 the new facility, located on Douglas Avenue, opened its doors to the public.

Investigation of donations of artefacts from abroad to the Natural History Society from 1863 to 1929 has produced such an abundance of stories about such a wide variety of objects that selections had to be made. The selections were made to represent as broadly as possible various regions of the world and the various activities and occupations of New Brunswickers that motivated their acquisitions. Their stories have been grouped by theme, such as immigrants, mariners, institutional exchanges, missionaries, military, connections and working abroad. A final theme, “Can You Tell Us”, presents stories with missing aspects for which we are soliciting information.

Bibliography

Natural History Society of New Brunswick Papers, Archives and Research Library, New Brunswick Museum.

Squires, W. Austin. The History and Development of the New Brunswick Museum, Administrative Series No. 2. Saint John: New Brunswick Museum, 1945.