The Megatherium Club was a group of scientists based in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

as a result of the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

's rapidly growing collection, meeting from 1857 to 1866. It was founded by

William Stimpson William Stimpson (February 14, 1832 – May 26, 1872) was an American scientist. He was interested particularly in marine biology. Stimpson became an important early contributor to the work of the Smithsonian Institution and later, director o ...

. Many of the members had no formal education, but came by their expertise through extensive direct observation. They spent their weekdays in the rigorous and exacting work of describing and classifying species. But their nights were spent in revelry. They particularly enjoyed partaking in ale,

oyster Oyster is the common name for a number of different families of salt-water bivalve molluscs that live in marine or brackish habitats. In some species, the valves are highly calcified, and many are somewhat irregular in shape. Many, but no ...

eggnog Eggnog (), historically also known as a milk punch or an egg milk punch when alcoholic beverages are added, is a rich, chilled, added sugar, sweetened, dairy-based sweetened beverage, beverage traditionally made with milk, cream, sugar, egg yolk ...

, and whatever other fineries their meager budgets could afford. On Sundays, however, they recuperated from the week's stresses and excesses with long nature hikes. The club was named for the ''

Megatherium ''Megatherium'' ( ; from Greek () 'great' + () 'beast') is an extinct genus of ground sloths endemic to South America that lived from the Early Pliocene through the end of the Late Pleistocene. It is best known for the elephant-sized type spe ...

'', an extinct genus of giant ground sloth. The leading spirit of the club was marine biologist William Stimpson, who hosted its earliest meetings in his home. Members dubbed the place "The Stimpsonian." By 1863, though, Stimpson and others had taken up residence in the castle of the actual Smithsonian. Club members were encouraged by

Spencer Fullerton Baird Spencer Fullerton Baird (; February 3, 1823 – August 19, 1887) was an American naturalist, ornithologist, ichthyologist, Herpetology, herpetologist, and museum curator. Baird was the first curator to be named at the Smithsonian Institution. He ...

, the institution's assistant secretary. And they attracted a variety of learned speakers to their meetings, including

Louis Agassiz Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz ( ; ) FRS (For) FRSE (May 28, 1807 – December 14, 1873) was a Swiss-born American biologist and geologist who is recognized as a scholar of Earth's natural history. Spending his early life in Switzerland, he recei ...

John Torrey John Torrey (August 15, 1796 – March 10, 1873) was an American botany, botanist, chemist, and physician. Throughout much of his career, he was a teacher of chemistry, often at multiple universities, while he also pursued botanical work, focus ...

, and

John Cassin John Cassin (September 6, 1813 – January 10, 1869) was an American ornithology, ornithologist from Pennsylvania. He worked as curator and vice president at the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences and focused on the systemic classification ...

. But they were eventually thrown out of their castle suites by the institution's secretary,

Joseph Henry Joseph Henry (December 17, 1797– May 13, 1878) was an American physicist and inventor who served as the first secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. He was the secretary for the National Institute for the Promotion of Science, a precursor ...

, who disapproved of the way members held sack races in the Great Hall and periodically serenaded his daughters. Membership was transitory as individuals undertook independent studies abroad, sometimes for years at a time. Formal meetings ceased about the year 1866 when Stimpson moved to

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

to oversee that city's Academy of Sciences. Several other "Megatherium Clubs" exist; one formed of overseas Smithsonian researchers, yet another only in fiction, supposedly located in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

Members

* Henry Bryant *James E. Cooper, owner and manager of the Adam Forepaugh Circus, donated the elephant named Dunk to the National Zoo in 1891. *

Edward Drinker Cope Edward Drinker Cope (July 28, 1840 – April 12, 1897) was an American zoologist, paleontology, paleontologist, comparative anatomy, comparative anatomist, herpetology, herpetologist, and ichthyology, ichthyologist. Born to a wealthy Quaker fam ...

* Lawrence Humphrey Evers *

Theodore Gill Theodore Nicholas Gill (March 21, 1837 – September 25, 1914) was an American ichthyologist, mammalogist, malacologist, and librarian. Career Born and educated in New York City under private tutors, Gill early showed interest in natural hist ...

* Ferdinand Hayden * Robert Kennicott * Fielding Bradford Meek * John Strong Newberry *

* Henry Ulke

References

;Citations ;Bibliography * * Spencer Fullerton Baird A Biography, Including Selections from His Writings By William Healey Dall, 1915, J.B. Lippincott, pages 231-233 for Megatherium Club {{authority control Scientific societies based in the United States Defunct organizations based in Washington, D.C. Smithsonian Institution Biology societies Scientific organizations established in 1857 1857 establishments in Washington, D.C. Organizations disestablished in 1866 1866 disestablishments in the United States