Archives of the American Academy

The Emerson-Thoreau Medal was established in 1958 to give special recognition to distinguished achievement in the broad field of literature. The prize is awarded for a lifetime of literary achievement rather than for a specific work. It is named for Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau.  It was first given to Robert Frost in 1958, and has since been presented to other notable authors such as T.S. Eliot, Hannah Arendt, Saul Bellow, Norman Mailer, and Toni Morrison. Most recently it has been awarded to Margaret Atwood in 2020.

Between 1853 and 1867 the Academy published Member and naturalist David Humphreys Storer’s “A History of the Fishes of Massachusetts” in Memoirs of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Later published in a book of the same title in 1867, it was called by Academy Member and entomologist Samuel H. Scudder a “land-mark in the ichthyological literature of the country.” Storer’s descriptions included in total 39 plates of figures prepared for engraving, drawn by various draughtsmen including Antoine Sonrel, A.C. Warren, and William Henry Tappan.  In pencil and ink, handwritten notes include captions for the images and instructions, such as: “To the engraver – It will be necessary to stipple this fish as it is covered with fine, sharp scales too small to be outlined.”

The taxonomy, or identification and subsequent name of the fish by Genus and Species, used in labeling the illustrations at the time have been commonly superseded. The taxonomy was often disputed by prior claims of discovery or by more accepted categorization and identification of the fish themselves. 

View the full Finding Aid for this collection here, featuring links to scanned images of the individual illustrations.