Could a closet hold the secrets of a forgotten world? At the University of Rochester, within the walls of Hutchinson Hall, such a secret lay dormant for decades. Hutchinson Hall, a seemingly ordinary university building, housed a treasure trove of natural history specimens, remnants of a once-renowned museum. In the 19th century, the University of Rochester boasted one of the nation’s most significant natural history museums. Its benefactor, Professor Henry A. Ward, of Ward’s Natural Science Establishment, was a local Rochester figure and the leading provider of specimens to museums worldwide. Ward’s expertise extended beyond individual specimens. He curated entire museum collections, known as “cabinets,” for universities and educational institutions across the country. These cabinets, filled with Ward’s meticulously preserved specimens, found their way into prestigious institutions like Vassar College, Wesleyan University, and the University of Virginia. By 1879, the University of Rochester’s collection was surpassed in size only by Harvard and the Smithsonian.
However, the rise of laboratory-based scientific investigation in the mid-20th century led to the decline of these natural history museums. Their collections, deemed obsolete, were relegated to storage. At the University of Rochester, the fate of the once-great museum was a closet in Hutchinson Hall. About five years before the rediscovery, when faculty sought additional office space, a forgotten closet in Hutchinson Hall was opened. Inside were not cleaning supplies, but a gorilla skeleton, a narwhal tusk, a poorly preserved beaver, a rare tuatara in alcohol, and over 300 other skeletons. These were the remnants of the university’s forgotten natural history museum. Thanks to the efforts of individuals like Bob Minckley and Melissa Mead, this hidden collection was resurrected. A portion of the collection, once hidden within Hutchinson Hall, is now on display on the building’s second floor. The specimens have been cataloged. Some have even been 3D scanned. More research opportunities await within the Ward archives housed in the university’s Rush Rhees Library. So, the next time you pass Hutchinson Hall, remember the hidden world waiting to be rediscovered. It’s a testament to a time when the wonders of the natural world were showcased not in labs, but in grand museum halls.