Frederic Augustus Lucas

Frederic A. Lucas in 1911

Frederic Augustus Lucas (March 25, 1852 – February 9, 1929) was a zoologist and taxidermist who served as a curator of the Brooklyn Museum and director of the American Museum of Natural History. He was an expert on the osteology and anatomy of birds.

Biography

The son of Augustus Henry, a merchant seaman who was captain of a sailing vessel, he accompanied his father on two long voyages, the first (1861-1862) at the age of 9 and the second (1869-1870) when he was 17. His mother was Eliza Oliver, and his paternal great-grandmother Ruby Fuller was a descendant of Dr Samuel Fuller on the Mayflower. He became fascinated with sea life, especially the marine birds, many of which he was able to snare, skin and prepare as mounted specimens. From this he developed an ambition to become a taxidermist and entered Ward's Natural Science Establishment at Rochester, New York, to learn the techniques involved.

Perhaps because of the manner of his development he seems to have had little regard for investigative science per se. As a consequence, he had little opportunity for formal education and he never sought any. After the 11 years he spent at Ward's, he bragged that, "during those days he never read through any scientific book, never attended a course of scientific lectures, never did an hour's laboratory work, nor made a microscope slide", his interests being confined to avian osteology and the mounting and tagging of specimens for exhibition. Yet his competency in this area was sufficient to provide him an appointment to mount and prepare avian specimens at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC in 1882, at the age of 21 where he was given the title of curator.

Lucas in 1918

Lucas was prominent figure in the development of American museums, which sought to bring Natural Science to the American public. Lucas served as osteologist and curator for the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. from 1882 to 1904. Lucas served as Curator-in-Chief of the Brooklyn Museum in Brooklyn, New York from 1904 to 1911, and subsequently enjoyed an appointment as director at the American Museum of Natural History in Manhattan from 1911 to 1923 and honorary director from 1924 to his death in 1929.

Career

Lucas came to be recognized by his contemporaries as an authority on ancient animals. His description of himself was that of "all round" naturalist, a specimen he regarded regretfully as fast disappearing. Because of his associations at the National Museum and his past experience at Ward's Establishment, he was able associate and work with many men of this type including William Hornaday, Carl Akeley, Henry B. Ward, Arthur Howell, among others, people whose recognition was based on their writings as explorers rather than as academicians. Lucas never regarded as himself as deficient in that respect.

Marine Animal Advocacy

Great Auk Expedition

In 1885, Lucas proposed a collection expedition to Funk Island to the National Museum, for the purpose of collecting skeletal remains of the great auk, that had been extinct since 1852. The proposal was not carried out due to the expected time and investment required. However, on 2 July 1887, Lucas was detailed to join the USFC Grampus on an expedition north to investigate reports of mackerel. While the ship passed northern islands, he collected biological specimens, aiming primarily to retrieve any remains of the extinct bird. The expedition returned September 2, partially successful in collection efforts. Thousands of bones of varying quality were collected but were able to only form around a dozen complete skeletons of the extinct bird, which were then distributed to various natural history museums. The great auk was later included, among other endangered and extinct animals, in a report by Lucas assessing representation of the animals in the collection of the National Museum. He also decried the mass death of animals from manmade causes and argued for protective measures to prevent extinction within the report.

Fur Seal Commission Member

In 1896, due to his experience in the National Museum, Lucas was appointed by President Grover Cleveland to the Joint High Commission of the Fur Seal, alongside American scientists Charles H. Townsend, Leonhard Stejnege, and David S. Jordan, the leader of the commission, and British scientists D'Arey W. Thompson and James M. Macoun. The commission was tasked with investigating the condition of fur seal herds at the Pribilof Islands in the Bering Sea. In seeing firsthand the decimation of the herds, Lucas began a personal campaign advocating for the animal, interjecting environmentalist themes into the label of a fur seal taxidermy group directed by him and displayed in the Brooklyn Museum. In 1909, Lucas was appointed to the U.S. Department of Commerce and Labor Fur Seal Advisory Board, alongside fellow members from past commissions including Jordan, Townsend, Stejneger, Edward W. Sims, and Clinton H. Merriam. The board advocated for a complete ban on pelagic hunting, but also recommended the continuation of land hunting, as without herd management policies, fighting amongst the surplus male population would endanger the female and young seals. Despite this advocacy, the North Pacific Fur Seal Convention of 1911 was signed into law, that, despite banning pelagic hunting, also enacted a mortarium on fur seal hunting for five years. Further controversy over the issue led to another scientific commission to the Pribilof Islands by the Secretary of Commerce in 1914, whose discoveries led to a conclusion that supported and vindicated the board and its proposed method of herd management.

Scientific Writings

After instruction in the techniques of scientific writing and manuscript preparation by a friend early in his career, he published more than 350 articles, primarily in the area of avian osteology but also relating to natural history and the role of the museum and public education. Lucas also contributed heavily to several encyclopedias, writing descriptions for animals, relying primarily on his own observations rather than other textual sources.

Personal life

Frederic Lucas died on February 9, 1929, at his home in Flushing, New York at the age of 76. He was buried at Plymouth, Massachusetts. He was married to Annie Edgar in 1884 and they had two daughters.

Further reading

• Lucas, F.A., 1897 The Florida monster. Science, vol. V, no. 116 :476 (March 8 ).
• Lucas, Frederic A., Meteorites, Meteors and Shooting Stars, Guide Leaflet Series No. 4, The American Museum of Natural History, New York, 1926.
• Lucas, F. A. 1928. Some mistakes of scientists. Natural History, 28 [2]: 169-174. (March–April).
• Lucas, F. A. 1933. Fifty Years of Museum Work: Autobiography, Unpublished Papers, and Bibliography.
• Verrill A. H. 1916. The ocean and its mysteries. Duffield & Co New York; Verrill AH. 1962 Reprint of the 1948 edition. The strange story of our earth. Duffield & Co New York.

External links

• Frederic Augustus Lucas Papers
• Searchable Ornithological Research Archive
• Works by Frederic Augustus Lucas at Project Gutenberg
• Works by Frederic A. Lucas at Faded Page (Canada)
• Works by or about Frederic Augustus Lucas at the Internet Archive
• Works by Frederic Augustus Lucas at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)