Archives of the American Academy

The process for the Academy’s nominations and elections were set forth in the 1780 Charter of Incorporation, which founded the Academy. There, it details that a candidate for membership had to be proposed by at least one Member, approved by majority vote of the Council, and then elected by vote of ¾ of Members present at the time of the balloting. This procedure has changed much over the years, but what continues today is a similar peer-elected process recognizing elected Members' contributions to the Arts and Sciences in all fields. 

Between 1853 and 1867 the Academy published Member and naturalist David Humphreys Storer’s “A History of the Fishes of Massachusetts” in Memoirs of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Later published in a book of the same title in 1867, it was called by Academy Member and entomologist Samuel H. Scudder a “land-mark in the ichthyological literature of the country.” Storer’s descriptions included in total 39 plates of figures prepared for engraving, drawn by various draughtsmen including Antoine Sonrel, A.C. Warren, and William Henry Tappan.  In pencil and ink, handwritten notes include captions for the images and instructions, such as: “To the engraver – It will be necessary to stipple this fish as it is covered with fine, sharp scales too small to be outlined.”

The taxonomy, or identification and subsequent name of the fish by Genus and Species, used in labeling the illustrations at the time have been commonly superseded. The taxonomy was often disputed by prior claims of discovery or by more accepted categorization and identification of the fish themselves. 

View the full Finding Aid for this collection here, featuring links to scanned images of the individual illustrations.