About Milestones Of Science

Assembled in an incredibly short span of time, the 196 titles of the Milestones of Science Collection were brought together by Chauncey Hamlin of Buffalo’s Museum of Science. Remarkably, Hamlin was assisted with the financial and moral support of several ethnic groups in Buffalo who paid for the acquisition of many of the items written by their fellow countrymen. A comparable collection would be all but impossible to assemble today without vast financial resources and a great deal of time. The books were acquired quite cheaply, as the rare book market had suffered severely during the era of the Depression when the collection was assembled.

Two documents, both addresses to the members of The Buffalo Museum of Science’s Thursday Club, are wonderfully descriptive accounts of how the Milestones came to be. Chauncey Hamlin's speech is a lyrical account of how the collection was conceived and its volumes collected during those troubled times in the 1930's. Almost forty-six years later, Albert R. Mugel, another member of the club and expert on the collection, recounts Hamlin's address. Mugel’s paper highlights the collection's early history, but then adds to it the more contemporary drama of how its proprietorship changed hands from The Museum of Science to its current home, The Buffalo and Erie County Public Library.

• Milestones of Science Collection at the Buffalo Museum of Science, by Chauncey Hamlin, read before the Thursday Club, March 12, 1942.
• The History of the Collection, by Albert R. Mugel, read before the Thursday Club, May 14, 1998.

Ruth A. Sparrow, librarian of Buffalo's Museum of Science during the early years of the collection, wrote a series of articles for Hobbies, a museum publication, giving insight into various groupings of the collection's volumes. Those articles can be accessed from the links below.

• “17th Century Map-making: Blaeu’s Atlas Proves Masterpiece,” vol. 18 no. 1 (October 1937)
• “Milestones in Astronomy: Science Succeeds Superstition,” vol. 18 no. 2 (December 1937)
• “Milestones in Medicine: From the Medicine Man to the X-ray,” vol. 18 no. 3 (February 1938)
• “Milestones in Geology: Earth Science Since the Greeks,” vol. 18 no. 4 (April 1938)
• “Milestones in Physics: Electricity Began with Magnets,” vol. 18 no. 5 (June 1938)
• “Milestones in Botany: Botany Begins with Aristotle,” vol. 19 no. 1 (October 1938)
• “Milestones in Chemistry I: Egyptians Developed Early Ideas,” vol. 19 no. 2 (December 1938)
• “Milestones in Chemistry II: Boyle Began Modern Chemistry,” vol. 19 no. 3 (February 1939)
• “Milestones in Atlases: Early Maps Recorded Travel,” vol. 19 no. 4 (April 1939)
• “Milestones in Evolution: De Buffon Laid Modern Basis,” vol. 19 no. 5 (June 1939)

For more information about the Buffalo Museum of Science please visit their website at www.sciencebuff.org.