| Abstract: |
The Kirtland Society of National Science was originally organized in 1845 by Jared P. Kirtland, John Lang Cassels, and Samuel
St. John as the Cleveland Academy of Natural Sciences, Cleveland's first scientific organization. Renamed the Kirtland Society
of Natural Science in 1869, this science society was organized with the aim of establishing a natural history museum. In 1876,
it opened a museum in Case Hall on Cleveland's Public Square which contained the bird and mammal collection of William Case,
the bird collection of R. K. Winslow, the entomology collection of John Fitzpatrick, and fish specimens from the collections
of Jared P. Kirtland and Elisha Sterling. The museum continued to function until 1920, when the Cleveland Museum of Natural
History was established and the various collections were transferred to it. The collection consists of minutes of meetings,
notes on birds, drawings, newspaper clippings, and other papers. Among the early members were Theodatus Garlick, Jared P.
Kirtland, B. A. Stanard, George A. Stanley, Elisha Sterling, and Rufus K. Winslow.
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