Statewide County HI Archives Biographies.....Brigham, William Tufts May 24, 1841 - 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Jessica Orr orr@hawaii.com January 27, 2010, 3:18 pm

Source: The Story of Hawaii and Its Builders. Published by the Honolulu Star Bulletin, 1925
Author: Edited by George F. Nellist

WILLIAM TUFTS BRIGHAM, Scientist. Dr. William T. Brigham, Hon. Sc. D., retired 
as curator of the Bishop Museum in 1920, at the age of 79. Working with 
untiring zeal to place the museum, endowed by his friend, the late Bernice 
Pauahi Bishop, on a place with other museums throughout the world, Dr. Brigham 
dedicated more than thirty years of his life to this work. During the latter 
years of his administration, directors of the British Museum, London, England, 
pronounced the Bishop Museum the finest of its kind in the world.
  Born in Boston, May 24, 1841, Dr. Brigham is the son of William and Margaret 
(Brooks) Brigham. He received an A. M. degree at Harvard University in 1862 
and an A. M. degree in 1865. Coming to Hawaii in 1864, Dr. Brigham and Horace 
Mann, his companion, at the request of Harvard University, spent a year in 
exploring the Islands in the interests of botany and geology, discovering 
forty new varieties of flora.
  Leaving Hawaii after his first visit, Dr. Brigham returned to New England 
and for more than twenty years was a lawyer and educator, being admitted to 
the bar of Massachusetts in 1867. He was an instructor in botany at Harvard 
University from 1868 to 1869. He made a study of volcanic manifestations in 
New England, writing a book on the subject, and in 1874 published his Cast 
Catalogue of Antique Sculpture, a work requiring deep knowledge of ancient art.
  Appointed curator of the Bishop Museum in 1890, Dr. Brigham, during the many 
years of his active affiliation with the museum, collected materials for its 
cases, not only in Hawaii but tapping all available sources throughout the 
world. As a result of his researches in Hawaii, Dr. Brigham has compiled a 
voluminous work on the subject of ancient Hawaiian worship, preparing the 
material for the Carnegie Institute and which is awaiting publication in 1925. 
Besides this and other works, including “Guatemala, the Land of 
Quetzal,” “Volcanic Manifestations in New England,” “Hawaiian Feather 
Work,” “Index to the Islands of the Pacific Ocean,” “Stone Implements of 
Ancient Hawaiians,” “Ancient Hawaiian Houses,” “History of Kilauea and Mauna 
Loa,” “Hawaiian Volcanoes,” “Ka Hana Kapa” (Bark Cloth Making). In connection 
with his book on volcanic action in these islands Dr. Brigham made the first 
recorded measurements and a complete survey of Kilauea.
  In recognition of his contributions to science, Dr. Brigham was tendered an 
honorary degree of doctor of science by Columbia University in 1905. He is a 
Fellow, Royal Anthropology Institute of Great Britain and Ireland; Fellow 
Imperial Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, and a member of the American 
Academy Arts and Sciences. He has been a director of the Bishop Museum since 
1888.


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