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Term: Peckham, George Williams 1845 - 1914

Definition:

educator, entomologist, librarian, b. Albany, N.Y. He moved to Wisconsin with his parents in 1854, settling in Milwaukee. During the Civil War he served in the 1st Wisconsin Heavy Artillery (1863-1865), rising to the rank of 1st lieutenant. He attended Antioch College (1866), and graduated from the Albany (N.Y.) Law School (LL.B., 1867) and the Univ. of Michigan (M.D., 1881). From 1881 to 1885 he taught biology in the East Side High School, Milwaukee, was principal of the school (1885-1892), and from 1892 to 1896 was superintendent of Milwaukee city schools. In 1880 Peckham married Elizabeth Maria Gifford at Hartland, Wis., and together they carried on scientific investigations in the field of entomology, specializing in the study of spiders and wasps. They published numerous books and articles under joint authorship, many of which appeared in the Bulletin and Occasional Papers of the Wisconsin Natural History Society. Peckham was a member and president (1891-1893) of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters, and also a member and president (1884-1900) of the Wisconsin Natural History Society. He was president (1884-1900) of the board of trustees of the Milwaukee Public Museum (1892-1896). From 1896 until his retirement in 1910 he was librarian of the Milwaukee Public Library. Dict. Amer. Biog.; Bull. Wis. Natural Hist. Soc., n.s., 11 (1913), pp. 109-112; Natl. Cyclopaedia Amer. Biog., 12 (1904); Milwaukee journal, Jan. 11, 1914; WPA field notes.

View newspaper clippings at Wisconsin Local History and Biography Articles.