Trailblazers, Yesterday and Today: Ezra Cresson and Timshel Purdum

 We're excited to introduce a new element that will be featured in our e-newsletters and blog: Trailblazers, Yesterday and Today! Each month, we'll profile a different "resident" of The Woodlands along with their contemporary counterpart.

For our inaugural edition, we're featuring Ezra Cresson and Timshel Purdum!

Ezra Townsend Cresson (1838-1926), who is buried in the Cresson Family Lot at The Woodlands (Section D, Lot 193), founded the American Entomological Society in 1860 and was involved in the Society for 65 years after its founding.

Cresson dedicated his life to entomology, or the study of insects--specifically that of Hymenoptera, which include ants, wasps, sawflies and horntails. He discovered hundreds of new species of hymenoptera, and published numerous articles on the subject throughout his life. In 1860, Cresson gave his entire collection of more than 60,000 beetles and wasps to the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University. The American Entomological Society, the oldest entomological society in the Americas, still holds meetings at the Academy today. 

The Cresson family has been referred to as "The First Family of the American Entomological Society," as Cresson's two sons George Bringhurst Cresson and Ezra Townsend Cresson, Jr. followed in their father's footsteps, contributing greatly to the AES in their lifetimes.

In honor of the upcoming Firefly Night and The Woodlands' very own Ezra Cresson, we had a few questions for Ms. Timshel Purdum, the Director of Education and Lifelong Learning at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, about how Cresson and his founding of the American Entomological Society over 150 years ago has impacted the Academy.

What is your background, or, how did get to where you are today?
It was a circuitous route, but I hold a B.S. in Biology and M.A. in Environmental Education, with many years volunteering at museums. And as far as bugs go, I'm not an entomologist—but my father was an amateur Lepidopterist and he raised giant silkworm moths in our house such as Luna and Cecropia moths.

How has the American Entomological Society (AES) and Cresson's collection positively impacted what the Academy does today?
The AES still holds its regular meetings at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University!

The department's collections currently contains more than 3,500,000 specimens--of which more than 11,000 are types. A type specimen is THE example that serves to anchor or centralize the defining features of that particular species! Some of the types are from Cresson’s collection.

And we love bugs so much that our entomologists and education staff host a Bug Fest every year in August (this year our Bug Fest is August 10 and 11), where we do all things buggy--including opportunities to see specimens from our collections that are not usually on display.

What is your favorite part about or piece in the collection?
My favorite part of our entomology collection are not Cresson’s but the butterflies of  Titian Ramsey Peale. Some of these butterflies he put together in glass bound “books” called Peale Boxes. They look like a regular book until you open the cover. Inside is a glass box with mounted butterflies that you can see from the front and back. They are beautiful.

If you could ask Cresson one question, what would it be?
I am fascinated by the hymenoptera too (bees, wasps, ants). Social insects amaze me. I'd ask Cresson what fascinated him about these insects.

Thanks for talking with us, Timshel! 

If you have an idea for a Trailblazer feature, send us an email! 

Welcome to The Woodlands!

When William Hamilton began to make The Woodlands his home in 1766, Philadelphia was a very different place than it is today. Botanical discoveries and cultural change were thriving, even amid political tension. Philadelphia was the most important city in the New World at a time when America was desperately trying to develop its own tastes and traditions, independent of England. The city was bustling with important people: scientist, politicians, and the very, very rich.

William Hamilton was one of the latter. Having been born into a wealthy and well known family, William inherited 356 acres of prime real estate--hill and dale farmland and forest abutting the Schuylkill River--at the age of two. When he came of age and began construction of his mansion, Hamilton envisioned a country estate much like the ones held by Washington and Jefferson in Virginia. He sought to join the ranks of wealthy botanists and plant collectors, as was popular at the time. Hamilton’s house remained an example of a pre-revolutionary war estate until 1785, when Hamilton returned from a trip to England, inspired to renovate his house, and entirely redesign the surrounding gardens.

From that point to Hamilton’s death in 1813, The Woodlands was an extravagant place. Hamilton went to great ends to procure exotic plants with which he filled an enormous greenhouse. The gardens were planted with oval-shaped flowerbeds full of exotic specimens, and foreign trees lined the walks. Parties were often held at the mansion, and Hamilton became one of Philadelphia’s most notable socialites.

After 1813, The Woodlands changed hands within the Hamilton family up until 1827, at which point the property was sold. Certain parcels were divided and split off until Eli K. Price and a few others took control of the estate in 1840, and decided to use the land as a cemetery. This decision was part of a larger movement to encourage a cultural transition from the overcrowded and unsanitary churchyards of the eighteenth century to green, park-like cemeteries. Price began The Woodlands Cemetery Company that year and designed a new landscape plan to accommodate the latest purpose of the land.

Today, The Woodlands stands much as it did in the mid nineteenth century. The original mansion is intact, and Victorian era mausoleums, monuments and headstones pepper the grounds, next to dozens of trees, some of which William Hamilton saw planted. Perhaps most unique about The Woodlands is that it now stands in the middle of West Philadelphia. So if you’re in the area of 39th Street and Woodland Avenue--stop by! The beautiful grounds hold centuries of Philadelphia history.

by Rive Cadwallader