[Note #8] The Names on the Wall

Eighteen names appear in stone relief on the Brooks Hall façade. They are all natural historians. The names and their arrangement tell many stories and prompt conversations old and new.

One story is a history of natural history, rooted in Classical Greek and Roman thought (link Aristotle and Pliny). The other names on the east-west (short) walls prompt the post-Enlightenment concern and tension over imposing structure (Linnaeus, Werner) on a changing world (Humboldt, Cuvier).

A second story is nationalism. All six names on the south wall are Europeans; the six on the north wall are Americans. They do not mix. Buffon, an important French naturalist, is conspicuously missing. He had tangled with Jefferson in the 1780s over which continent’s potential was greatest based on the size of their fauna, alive or extinct. Buffon thought America had limited prospects. Au revoir, Buffon.

All of the names on Brooks were white males. Seven were alive and active in debate when their names were enshrined, including Darwin. Five were geologists and only two were botanists, the rest ‘generalists.’ There are important insights/discussions/controversies enmeshed in the above. To be continued.

From Professor Hantman