William Wagner: Free Science for All

BBB:LHWS #025   William Wagner...

...was a self-taught naturalist and a very rich man who believed in giving free education to anyone who wanted it.  He opened his Wagner Free Institute of Science in 1855 and used his own collection as teaching aids.  When Wagner died in 1885, his museum was improved by Joseph Leidy, “the last man who knew everything,” and further expanded.