The Hopkins Seaside Laboratory (1892-1917)

CHAPTER 7

INITIAL FUNDING

As previously mentioned, as soon as the intention of establishing a seaside laboratory became known, the city of Pacific Grove contributed $300 to the initiative. To this sum, the Pacific Improvement Company contributed $500 and offered free lease of the land for the use of a seaside laboratory. Besides these contributions, Timothy Hopkins donated $1,000, then through his encouragement, the Pacific Improvement Company increased the amount of land provided and gifted this property to Stanford University in the form of a deed. With the property and funds in hand, the directors constructed the first building, furnished the laboratories, plumbed the structure, built a seawater storage tank, and engineered a gas powered pump to distribute seawater throughout the building. The year following the opening of the laboratory, a severe winter storm damaged the building, to which Mr. Hopkins contributed $255 for its repair. Beyond this amount, Timothy Hopkins contributed $5000 for the construction of a second laboratory building on the property and an additional $5000 for the purchase of books on the subject of biology.(1)

In 1905, a letter written to President David Starr Jordan outlining the activities and accomplishments of the seaside laboratory, from the Directors of the Hopkins Seaside Laboratory, CH Gilbert and OP Jenkins, mentioned the source of financial support beyond the initial funding: The class of investigators [Stanford faculty and visiting scientists] were given the use of the laboratory and its equipment free of all expenses. Of the other two classes [the students of Stanford University, and the schoolteachers and students of the Pacific slope taking summer courses] a corps of instructors was employed.  From these fees the salaries of the instructors, the whole expense of running the laboratory, and the rest of the repairs of the laboratory were paid up to the year 1903, in addition a windmill was purchased .(2)

This communication regarding the financing of the seaside laboratory was also mentioned in a letter written by George C. Price, then Emeritus Professor of Zoology to Walter K. Fisher, then Professor of Zoology, and Director of the Hopkins Marine Station, in which he describes the level of support, or lack there of, from both Timothy Hopkins and Stanford University during these years.(3)

Lafayette, Indiana August 15, 1934 My dear Fisher:

Your letter on July 2nd reached me just as I was on the point of starting for the East. I shall try to find a picture of myself and send you. I may possibly have some group pictures of the people at the laboratory, although I never took any myself. I was at the laboratory in 1893, 1894 and 1895. These years Jenkins and Gilbert were there in charge. As I remember they were never there after the summer of 1895 and did practically nothing for the laboratory though they kept their names as directors.

 I was in charge of the work the following years, 1897, 1898, 1899, 1900, 1901, 1902,

1905, 1906, 1907, 1908, 1914 and 1915. During those years the laboratory did not receive a cent from either Mr. Hopkins or from the University.  The instructors, the tax, the water and the repairs were all paid from tuition money. Investigators did not pay anything yet some people found fault with the institution giving courses to undergraduates and for not doing more for investigation.

 I understand that at first Mr. Hopkins was much interested in the laboratory, and was liberal in supplying money, but stopped when Dr. Jordan spent the money for fish bottles and for law books. I couldn’t prove this.

 Sincerely Yours

 G. C. Price

And so it was that during the first twenty-five years of its existence, the Hopkins Seaside Laboratory, beyond the initial support from Timothy Hopkins, the Pacific Improvement Company and the city of Pacific Grove, was dependent for its upkeep and extension, chiefly upon student fees. It would not be until the year 1917, when the biological laboratory was relocated to China Point, that an increase in the amount of financial support would be provided.

Summer Session 1907. Photograph of the Hopkins Seaside Laboratory, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, California. Photograph Courtesy of Stanford University Archives.

Summer Session 1908. Photograph of the Marine Biological Laboratory (i.e. Hopkins Seaside Laboratory), Stanford University, Pacific Grove, California. Photograph Courtesy of Stanford University Archives.

While researching the history of the Hopkins Seaside Laboratory one comes across the many names bestowed upon the facility during its twenty-five years of existence. In several of the Stanford Registers, the teaching and research facility was referred to as “The Hopkins Laboratory of Natural History” (Stanford Annual Register 1892, 1900,1902-1903, 1903-1904). In the Stanford Bulletin the facility was referred to simply as “The Hopkins Seaside Laboratory” (Stanford Bulletin, 1898, 1899, 1900).

In the Annual Report to the President 1904-1907, we finds no mention of the name “Hopkins Seaside Laboratory” but one does find Charles Henry Gilbert stating the following: The regular session of the Marine Biological Station at Pacific Grove during the summer of 1905 was under the direction of Associate Professor [George C.] Price.

This name, the “Marine Biological Laboratory” would be the official name for the rest of the time (1905-1916) the facility was located at Point Aulon (i.e. Lovers Point) (Annual Stanford Registers, 1907-1917). The reason behind CH Gilbert’s referring to the seaside laboratory as the “Marine Biological Station” becomes apparent in the Leland Stanford Junior University Bulletin of 1918. According to the bulletin: in 1906, at the request of Mr. [Timothy] Hopkins, the name of the station be changed to the Marine Biological Laboratory.(4)

In the historical photographs of the facility taken before 1906, a large wooden sign engraved with the words “Hopkins Seaside Laboratory” was prominently displayed above the main entrance of the second laboratory building. In historical photographs presenting the front entrance of this building after the year 1906, show the structure absent the engraved sign. There appears to have been no effort to replace this sign with one that read “Marine Biological Laboratory”

William Emerson Ritter, founder and Director of the Marine Biological Association of San Diego, (today’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography of the University of California, San Diego) described who, among the early faculty of Stanford University were instructing the summer sessions at Hopkins Seaside Laboratory during those first twenty-five years: Professors C.H. Gilbert and O.P. Jenkins, of the departments of zoology and physiology, respectively, have been from the beginning joint directors of the laboratory, but the courses of instruction have been mostly given in later years by the younger men of the university, Professors Harold Heath, F.M. McFarland and W.B. [GC sic] Price having been especially faithful and efficient in this capacity.(5)

Charles Henry Gilbert and Oliver Peebles Jenkins held the positions of Acting Directors of Hopkins Seaside Laboratory from 1892-1917. A letter written from Professor George C. Price, Professor of Zoology to W. K. Fisher stated the following as to who was in charge of the facility: I was at the laboratory in 1893, 1894 and 1895. These years Jenkins and Gilbert were there in charge. As I remember they were never there after the summer of 1895 and did practically nothing for the laboratory though they kept their names as directors. I was in charge of the work the following years, 1897, 1898, 1899,1900, 1901, 1902, 1905, 1906, 1907, 1908, 1914 and 1915. (6)

The Stanford Annual Reports confirm that Professor Price held the position of “Instructor in Charge” during the years he outlines in the letter to Walter K. Fisher.

A review of the Stanford Annual Registers outlining the sessions at the Laboratory show that, after the summer of 1895, the course instructions for the summer sessions were left to the associate professors and assistant professors from the department of zoology and department of physiology. Also apparent from reviewing the Stanford Annual Registers is that the directors of the department of botany, Dr. Douglas H Campbell and Professor William R. Dudley, only participated during the summer session of 1893. After the summer of 1893, the course instructions for the summer sessions were left to the associate professors and assistant professors from the department of botany.

1914 and 1915. Regular sessions for students were not held in the summer of 1903 or 1904. During these two years there was no need to name a professor to hold the position of “Instructor in Charge” (7)

The regular session during the summer of 1909,Professor Heath held the position of “Instructor in Charge.”(8) For the regular session, during the summers of 1910 through 1913, Frank Mace MacFarland held the position of “Instructor in Charge” and Associate Professor John O. Snyder was “Instructor in Charge” during the summer session of 1916.

William E. Ritter failed to mention one additional Professor who contributed to instruction at the facility, Clara S. Stoltenberg; one of only two women to attain the rank of professor during Stanford University’s first four decades.(9) Miss Stoltenberg participated in seven of the twenty-three years of regular sessions of the Hopkins Seaside Laboratory; attending as a Stanford student in the summer of 1894; in the position of Assistant Instructor during the summer of 1896; occupying an investigators' room during the summer of 1899 and in the position of Instructor during the summers of 1906, 1907 and 1908.

Summer Session 1907. Photograph of the Hopkins Seaside Laboratory, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, California. Photograph Courtesy of Stanford University Archives.

 In the Annual Report of the President for the year 1916, we find the following paragraphs, penned by then President Ray Lyman Wilbur, describing the final years of the Hopkins Seaside Laboratory. From the first sentence one notices the facility has retained the name the Marine Biological Laboratory of Stanford University.

One of the best educational assets of Stanford University its the Marine Biological Laboratory at Pacific Grove, on Monterey Bay. The unusual richness and diversity of the fauna and flora of this particular part of the California coast is well known throughout the scientific world. It is a middle point, combining features of the life of both the Alaskan and Panama coasts. With the change in the point of view of the various industries towards science, with the now insistent demand for biological facts upon which to base new plans for development, a great future is offered our laboratory. The true relationship of the life of the sea to the nourishment of man is beginning to be understood by many. The great variety of food fishes, the crabs, the clams, the seaweeds, that can be used as foods, the kelps of Monterey Bay, need the most painstaking study in order to foster them for the future as well as to make full use of them at the present time. Besides, as a center for pure biological research and a collecting ground for those specimens needed for biological teaching, this bay is unsurpassed. The session of the marine biological laboratory at Pacific Grove for the summer of 1916 has been one of the most successful in its history, only one previous session exceeding it in attendance. Fifty-three students were enrolled.

The work was under the charge of Associate Professor John O. Snyder. The buildings of the laboratory and most of its equipment have been in use practically since the opening of the University twenty-five years ago. They are in bad condition and the present location of the laboratory on Lover's Point has become crowded by various business interests and by certain amusement features of the town to such an extent as to impair the usefulness of the site for instruction purposes. An informal movement is under way looking to the transfer of the laboratory to a new location on China Point where additional room and greater isolation and freedom will be possible. If this plan can be carried through it will give a new impetus to the work. In connection with the four-quarter session plan now under consideration the work of this laboratory ought to become an important adjunct to the biological departments. With the addition of certain general courses it ought to be possible to arrange for at least one-quarter’s work at Pacific Grove. In such case new buildings and renewed equipment will be necessary to effective work.(10)

 And finally published in the Annual Report of the President, Stanford University, Office of the President 1917, was provided a report of the final year of the Hopkins Seaside Laboratory (i.e. Marine Biological Laboratory) and a look to the future.

The session of the Marine Laboratory at Pacific Grove for 1917 showed an attendance of twenty-three students as against 53 for 1916, this decrease being due to a variety of causes. It is the last season in which the old buildings and equipment will be used. By the summer of 1918 the new laboratory at China Point will be in readiness. The plans for the new buildings, which are to cost approximately $25,000, provide working space and facilities of a character, which will insure the development of the biological work on Monterey Bay to the important place it should have in the University’s work of instruction. With the addition of suitable general courses in other departments it will be possible to provide at Pacific Grove for one quarter at least of work under ideal conditions.(11)

 Over the twenty-five years of its being located at Point Aulon, despite various limitations, the Hopkins Seaside Laboratory supported the education of a variety of students, and the research efforts of numerous scientific investigators. In the final years, the two wood framed buildings began to deteriorate to the point that they were inadequate for use.

In 1916, through the efforts of President Ray Lyman Wilbur and the Stanford Board of Trustees, a land exchange was negotiated that secured five acres of land, one- half mile east of the Point Aulon (Fisher, 1918).(12) This location being the former site of the Chinese fishing village and the shoreline property that Quock Tuck Lee once called home.