The ‘mandarin-missionary’ strategy: Robert Kennicott, Spencer Fullerton Baird and specimen collection in the Hudson's Bay Territory

In 1859, Robert Kennicott, one of the most promising specimen collectors and young naturalists in the United States, was dispatched to Hudson's Bay Territory by Spencer Fullerton Baird, the Assistant Secretary of the Smithsonian. Kennicott was chosen because of previous experience in Canada, the familiarity with biota of the American Midwest, and because he had a boundless, infectious, enthusiasm for natural history that was typical among Baird's closest protégées. Kennicott was a natural scientific envoy – or missionary – to the officers of the Hudson's Bay Company, and many officers were enthusiastically ‘converted’ to the cause of collecting and/or overseeing the collection of natural history specimens. Due to this collaboration between Baird, Kennicott and the officers of the Hudson's Bay Company, the Smithsonian became a leading center of Canadian natural history in the Western hemisphere.

► Natural history.
► Smithsonian.
► Hudson's Bay Company.
► Specimen collection.
► Expedition.