Chauncey
J. HamlinChauncey
J. HamlinChauncey ("Chan") Jerome Hamlin (1881-1963) received the Pugsley Gold Medal “for his services in the establishment of Allegany State Park in western New York”. He was born in Buffalo in 1881, only child of Harry Hamlin and Grace Enos. Chan attended Nichols School in Buffalo and then entered Yale University, earning his A.B. in 1903. After graduation he returned to Buffalo. He married in 1904 and attended UB Law School, from which he graduated in 1905, and was admitted to the bar in the same year. He and practiced law in Buffalo until he went off to France to fight in the First World War.
He was active in the formation of the Progressive ("Bull Moose") Party, and was Theodore Roosevelt’s campaign manager for Western New York. He was the party’s candidate for lieutenant governor of New York in 1914, but the Progressive Party never established itself, and he was badly defeated.
His children were in the habit of bringing home plants, fossils, and other unusual objects of nature which they found in the neighborhood. As a result of these activities they formed the "Snyder Natural History Society," setting up a small museum in the old stone house. Hamlin himself was interested in geology and paleontology, and naturally encouraged his children’s interests. One day he visited the rooms of the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences (BSNS) in the old public library to see if a few duplicate fossils, shells or other natural history objects could be spared to augment his children’s materials. His interest was aroused, and he was soon asked to join the Board of Managers, to which he was elected in 1915. After the war he returned to the BSNS, and during 1919 and early 1920 entered into its activities with characteristic zeal. He was elected president of BSNS in 1920.
After his return from the war, Hamlin decided not to continue the practice of law but to devote his time to civic and public service activities. These included membership in the National Conference of State Parks from 1931 to 1938; many years as a director of the Federated Society of State Parks and Planning; chairman of the National Conference on Outdoor Recreation from 1924 to 1930; and member of the advisory committee of the National Recreation Association in 1936. As an active conservationist, he was a member of the honorary advisory council of the Roosevelt Wild Life Station of the New York State College of Forestry, a life member of the American Forestry Association, a member of the committee on conservation appointed in 1930-31 by the New York Statewide Economic Congress, a trustee of the Izaak Walton Conservation Foundation, and a member of the Save-the-Redwoods League. A redwoods grove was later named in his honor. He performed a critical role in creating Allegany State Park, long intimately associated with the BSNS, and donated funds for the purchase of land in the park area. In 1921 he was appointed to the Allegany State Park Commission, serving as vice chairman from 1931 to 1943 and chairman from 1943 to 1946.
He was responsible for the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences and the Buffalo Museum of Science becoming major institutions. He was president of the BSNS for twenty-eight years. It was largely due to his energy, initiative, dedication and enthusiasm that this result was accomplished. Buffalo Museum of Science on Humboldt Parkway was conceived, designed, built, and occupied.
From his association with the BSNS, his interest spread to other museum activities. He was vice president of the American Association of Museums from 1921 to 1923, president from 1923 to 1929, and received its distinguished service award in 1947. One of his accomplishments as president was to preside over the establishment of a training school for museum workers operated at the association's headquarters which was designed to prepare directors and curators for museum service. This was followed by the establishment of a school for the outdoors study of natural history which was located in Allegany State Park, about 75 miles south of Buffalo, and was operated for two months in the summer. It hosed 50 individuals and intended "to supplement ordinary school work and give practical field instruction to teachers and leaders of young people's organizations in appreciation of outdoor life."
Hamlin was principal founder of the International Council of Museums (ICOM) in London, England, in 1946, serving as president from then until 1953. During this period he made annual trips to Europe furthering the interests of the council, spending six months each year in Paris. As a result of his activities, national committees on international cooperation among museums were established in many countries. He was a member of the U.S. delegation to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO); ICOM was later operated under UNESCO’s aegis. Other related associations were: honorary vice president of the Museum of the City of New York; trustee of the William T. Hornaday Memorial Foundation and the Laboratory of Anthropology (Santa Fe, New Mexico); advisory council member of the Chinese Art Society of America, China Institute of America, and the Yosemite Museum Association. He collected artifacts from all over the world, and often presented them to the BSNS. He traveled extensively, often on behalf of his museum interests, particularly in Europe, China and South America.
Hamlin was awarded many honors. In 1931 he received the University of Buffalo's Chancellor’s Medal, the highest honor in the city. He was appointed an officer of the Legion of Honor by the French Government in 1947, "in recognition for the initiative Mr. Hamlin has shown in creating the International Council of Museums." He was awarded the medal of the Museums Association of Sweden in 1948. In 1950, in gratitude for his services to the Museum of the Haitian people, he was awarded the medal of an officer on the Legion of Honor and Merit of Haiti, its highest civilian award. He received the honorary degree of LL.D. from Alfred University in 1954.
He was president of the BSNS from 1920 to 1948. The idea or dream, of a much larger and more adequate building in which to display the vast quantity of the BSNS’s natural history material, was actively discussed early in his term. He embraced the idea with enthusiasm, and with his customary energy and drive, proceeded to realize it. Following his retirement from the BSNS presidency he moved to Carmel, California, where he died on September 23, 1963, at age 82.
Source:
Bulletin of the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences, 1994, 34:51-56.
Photo courtesy of Buffalo Museum of Science.