Henry Fairfield Osborn

Henry Osborn, Francis Speir, and William Scott (l to r)

Henry Fairfield Osborn, a student at Princeton University, joined the Princeton Expedition of 1877 to collect paleontological and geological information in the West. On July 11, 1877, Professor Brackett, Osborn, and other students arrived at the Florissant fossil beds. They explored and collected fossils, as well as visited Mrs. Charlotte Hill (a local homesteader and avid fossil collector) to acquire fossils. Henry Osborn, William Scott, and Francis Speir Jr. later described several fish speciments collect at Florissant, including the new species Trichophanes copei.

Osborn became a professor of anatomy at Princeton University from 1883 to 1890. Moving to New York City, he taught biology and zoology at Columbia University and worked as a curator at the American Museum of Natural History. Osborn served as President of the Museum for 27 years starting in 1908. His innovations at the museum included introducing dinosaur models, murals, and dioramas, which delighted visitors. During his career, Osborn wrote many books and articles on vertebrate paleontology.

Although Osborn contributed greatly to science and museum education, he also promoted some beliefs that had negative affects on society. Osborn believe in and promoted the eugenics movement. Literally meaning “to be well born,” eugenics is the belief that a society should improve itself by controlling people’s reproduction. Eugenicists believed that some groups of people should be prevented from having children. He was a cofounder of the American Eugenics Society in 1922. He wrote the prefaces to Madison Grant's book, The Passing of the Great Race. In 2021, the American Museum of Natural History published an apology for its role in the eugenics movement, which included hosting the Second International Eugenics Congress in September 1921, which Osborn organized.

Learn more about Madison Grant and his role in environment conservation and eugenics.