At its founding in 1830, women were not allowed to become members of the Boston Society of Natural History whose museum was at this site from 1864 to 1951, although they could use its resources. When the Society sought to expand its membership in 1876, a great debate ensued. An opponent believed that “the presence of charming girls among the young students of science would be a great hindrance to any cold consideration of abstruse scientific thought.” A proponent countered that women “would make as good members…and as interested an audience, as 9/10ths of the male members.” Another supported the admission of women because they were “human beings even if they are of one sex.”Although fifteen women were soon admitted, women did not have a major influence until the Society established a Teachers’ School of Science in 1870. When support for the school lagged, Lucretia Crocker (1829-86) , supervisor of science for the Boston Public Schools, and philanthropist Pauline Agassiz Shaw (1841-1917), raised the necessary funds to continue it. Noting the progress women teachers made in the school, the Woman’s Education Association sponsored summer classes for teachers at Annisquam (Gloucester), Massachusetts, in 1881. This led to the establishment of the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole on Cape Cod a few years later. In 1951 the museum, renamed the Museum of Science, moved to Science Park on the Charles River.
