Henry Augustus Ward, scientist, explorer, museum builder, founder of Ward’s Natural Science Establishment and one of the most important meteorite collectors of the 19th century, was born in Rochester, New York in 1834. He studied at Middlebury Academy, Williams College, Temple Hill Academy and Paris School of Mines. In 1860 Ward returned to Rochester after many years of collecting geological specimens in Europe and Africa. From 1860 to 1865 he taught natural science at the University of Rochester, and began to supply colleges and universities with geological cabinets. This work was the beginning of the Science Establishment.
At Age 23, Henry Ward (left, with “Buffallo Bill”) was in Moscow, where he saw the remains of the great Siberian Mammoth and a collection of meteorites, both of which influenced his later collecting. From then on Ward never missed an opportunity on his various travels to chase meteorite falls and finds and to discuss the subject with curators and collectors. Back in the US Ward began to build up his own meteorite collection. The Ward-Coonley Meteorite Collection became the largest in the world. It was later purchased by the Chicago Natural History Museum where it remains until present.
Henry Ward was a distinguished, colorful and globe-trotting citizen and well acquainted with a number of contemporary Rochester citizens. The photo above shows Ward (left) together with William Cody, later known as “Bufallo Bill”, with whom Ward went on hunting expeditions and for whom he prepared a number of Bufallo skulls. Bufallo Bill spent a good deal of time discussing his plans with Professor Ward, and “it is possible,” writes Ward’s biographer, “that many features, if not the original conception of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show may have originated in the big book-lined second floor of Ward’s new house in Rochester.
Dr. Emil Cohen (1842-1905) was a German mineralogist and meteorite expert, born in Jutland. Cohen studied in the universities of Berlin and Heidelberg and from 1867 to 1872 was assistant in mineralogy in the latter university. He then went for a year and a half to South Africa where he conducted field work and began to build up an extensive collection of minerals and fossils. After devoting the following years to mineralogical studies and to the preparation of works descriptive of his African explorations, Cohen became professor of petrography in Strassburg in 1878 where he contributed to the growth of the famous meteorite collection of the Strassbourg University. In 1885 he was made professor of mineralogy in Greifswald.
Cohen specialized on meteorites and became famous as the author of the three volume work “Meteoritenkunde” (1894-1905). For the first time in history, this work compiled the complete knowledge of the time on cosmic rocks and irons that fell to Earth.
During his time in Strassburg Cohem catalogued the Strassbourg meteorite collection. Later in Greifswald, Cohen published numerous articles on meteorites including his “Verzeichnis der Meteoriten in der Greifswalder Sammlung”, to which Henry Ward refers to in his letter. In 1889 E. Weinschenk named the iron nickel carbide mineral “Cohenite” [(Fe,Ni)3C] after Cohen to honour his achievements in the field of meteorites.
Ward’s letter to Emil Cohen like no other contempory documemt reveals the psychology and tactis of 19th century meteorite trades between US and European collectors (right image shows side 2 of the letter). Ward writes to Cohen in fluent German which he may have learnt during his 24 visits of the country. He thanks Cohen for the sending of the catalogue of the Greifswald University meteorite collection and in turn includes a copy of “The Ward Collection of Meteorites” together with a price list in his letter. Amongst others, the Ward-Cohen correspondence prooves that the meteorite catalogues which were published in high cadence by Museums and curators in the 19th century had a major importance as trade catalogues.
The letter itself was purchased by A. Gren on the Hamburg Mineral Fair 2007 from a book antiquarian together with a number of 19th century publications all bearing the stamp of the “Königlich Mineralogisches Instutut zu Greifswald”. These books obviously had been sorted out when the library of the institute was transferred into the main library of the Greifswald University. We can assume that the inventory at this time included a number of, if not all, books from Cohen’s personal library and that these ended up with the antiquarian.
In order to give the English reader an authentic impression we have decided not to correct misspelling and false grammar but to translate Ward’s letter according to its original wording. This is the translation of the original German text in excerpts:
“Rochester, N.Y., 12th December 1895
Dr. E. Cohen. Greifswald.
I must thank you for the “Verzeichniss der Meteoriten in der Greifswalder Sammlung” that you have sent me. Today I send to you my Meteorite Catalogue. By this you shall see that I am quite occupied with meteorites as well. Of US meteorites I currently have about 100 sorts with a weight of 5 to 400,000 gramms. This I have gotten since 20 years, at prices which are considerably lower than your prices in old Europe. About this I had during my (24) visits in Germany many discussions with dealers and aficionados with whom I wanted to trade for European meteorites. […]
I see in your catalogue that you own some meteorites personally. May I ask if you want from these ones trade with me for US meteorites. I would like to get from you the following No. from your catalogue [list of catalogue numbers] Is there something in my catalogue that you want to get in order to to increase the number of your collection?
In such case I ask you kindly to write me on this, and indeed to make me any proposition. I expect with delight your valued letter
Henry A. Ward