Letter from SPENCER FULLERTON BAIRD to GEORGE PERKINS MARSH, dated January 29, 1867.
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My Dear Mr Marsh
I duly received today the note and accompanying article on the new bird, and am much obliged for the same. I find that the supposed new "Dendroica" is quite another species.
We have just had a meeting of the National Academy of Sciences at which a resolution
was passed excusing you from attendance on the Academy, while abroad in the service of the U.S. and excusing also from an excuse. By the present law, as you will have been absent from four consecutive meetings, on the next session (Hartford. Aug. 13) your name would be stricken from the rolls of the Academy, unless you send satisfactory excuse. We had a pleasant meeting and adjourned to Hartford Aug. 13. The American Association for Advancement of Science meets at Burlington, Vt. Aug. 21.
Since I wrote about the Peabody Institute-ship, I find that, with the usual short sightedness of people who manage such concerns, they only propose to pay a salary of $3000.00. so that I have told Prof Marsh that it is entirely out of the question to have your name mentioned in connection with the matter
I hope Mrs. Marsh is in comfortable health. Mary and Lucy are reasonably well, and have been doing something in the way of participating in the gentler gaieties of the city, these weeks. They send much love
Rebecca Gilliss is married and gone to NY: Larry is in ill health as usual, Mrs. Gilliss well, the boys are all away. James and Jack on the West Coast; Jay in Nebraska.
Ever truly yoursS. F. BairdHon Geo P MarshFlorence
References in this letter:
Established by Congress in 1863, the National Academy of Science, was to advise the federal government in the areas of science and technology. It is a private institution and membership is an honor.
The first national scientific body in the United States, the American Association for the Advancement of Science was founded in 1848.
Founded in 1857 with the financial backing of George Peabody (d. 1869), a self-made investment banker, this Baltimore institution originally served as an lyceum of all the arts, featuring lectures and a library.
James Melville Gilliss (1811-1865) was both a naval officer and astronomer. He was responsible for proposing and supervising the building of Naval Observatory in Washington, DC (1842-1844). In 1846 he was assigned to the U.S. Coast Survey and spent several years in Chile conducting astronomical observations. The Gilliss family, based in Washington, became close friends of the Marshes and the Bairds.