Spencer Fullerton Baird

Biography

Spencer Fullerton Baird, born in 1823, became one of America’s foremost naturalists and a tireless administrator dedicated to preserving knowledge of the nation’s flora and fauna. As an early curator of the Smithsonian Institution and later its assistant secretary, he oversaw surveys, catalogs, and collections that formed the backbone of American natural science.

Baird passed in 1887 and is interred at Oak Hill Cemetery, leaving a legacy of disciplined inquiry and public devotion to the natural world.