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Thayer Expedition

{{Short description|Research expedition to Brazil (1865–1866)}}

File:Group portrait of Thayer Expedition assistants and volunteers.jpg

The Thayer Expedition was an American scientific expedition to Brazil, sponsored by Boston businessman Nathaniel Thayer Jr. It was a biological and geological expedition undertaken by multiple scientists, several based at Harvard University, between April 1865 and August 1866. Scientists collected tens of thousands of specimens, some later recognized as new species.{{Cite journal |last=Eigenmann |first=Carl H. |date=December 1908 |title=Zoological Results of the Thayer Brazilian Expedition: Preliminary Descriptions of New Genera and Species of Tetragonopterid Characins |url=https://www.zoobank.org/NomenclaturalActs/f5548489-bcd5-49d7-b928-dc56e559196f/ |journal=Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology |volume=52 |issue=6 |pages=91-106}} Most of the specimens collected during the expedition ended up in the collections of Harvard's Museum of Comparative Zoology, founded by Louis Agassiz, the leader of the expedition.{{Cite journal |last=Dick |first=Myvanwy M. |date=May 27, 1977 |title=Stations of the Thayer Expedition to Brazil 1865–1866 |url=http://archive.org/details/cbarchive_40776_stationsofthethayerexpeditiont1952 |journal=Breviora of the Museum of Comparative Zoology |issue=444 |pages=1–39}}

The Thayer Expedition took place at the end of the American Civil War, with the ocean voyage from New York City to Rio de Janeiro beginning on April 2, just a week prior to Lee's surrender at Appomattox. The expedition sailed on board the S.S. Colorado, owned by the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, and docked in Rio de Janeiro on April 23. They explored Brazil from the coast to the Tocantins River and along its tributaries to the borders of Colombia and Peru.{{Cite book |last=Hartt |first=Charles Frederick |url=http://archive.org/details/geographyofbrazil00hartrich |title=Scientific Results of a Journey in Brazil by Louis Agassiz, and His Travelling Companions - Geology and Physical Geography of Brazil |date=1870 |publisher=Fields, Osgood & Co. |location=Boston |language=en-US}}

Participants

The expedition included the following named participants:

  • Louis Agassiz, Swiss-American zoologist, ichthyologist, geologist, and leader of the expedition. His primary goal for the expedition was the collection of Brazilian freshwater fish specimens.
  • Elizabeth Cabot Agassiz, American naturalist, the expedition's main writer and record-keeper, wife of Agassiz."AGASSIZ, Elizabeth Cabot Cary (Dec. 5, 1822-June 27, 1907)". Notable American Women: 1607–1950. Boston: Harvard University Press, 1971.
  • Joel Asaph Allen, American curator of ornithology at the Museum of Comparative Zoology.
  • John Gould Anthony, American curator of conchology at the Museum of Comparative Zoology.
  • Jacques Burkhardt, Swiss scientific illustrator who painted or drew hundreds of fish specimens during the expedition.
  • Charles Frederick Hartt, Canadian-American geologist, paleontologist and naturalist who studied Brazilian geology.
  • Orestes St. John, American geologist and paleontologist who had been trained by Agassiz.
  • George Sceva, American preparator, mainly of fossils, for the Museum of Comparative Zoology and others.
  • Six American volunteers: William James (famous future philosopher and psychologist), Herbert Edson Copeland, Newton Dexter, Walter Hunnewell, Stephen Van Rensselaer Thayer (son of expedition sponsor Nathaniel Thayer), and Thomas Ward.
  • João Martins da Silva Coutinho, Brazilian army major and attache of the Expedition.
  • D. Bourget, French naturalist residing in Rio de Janeiro.

Species collected (partial list)

{{more citations needed|1=section|date=September 2024}}

References

{{Reflist}}

External links

  • [https://library.mcz.harvard.edu/thayer Archives at Ernst Mayr Library of the Museum of Comparative Zoology]

Category:1865 in science

Category:1866 in science

Category:1860s in South America

Category:Expeditions from the United States

Category:Exploration of South America

Category:Scientific expeditions

Category:Zoological expeditions

Category:South American expeditions