{{short description|American philanthropist, benefactor, and collector}} {{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}} {{Infobox person/Wikidata|fetchwikidata=ALL|dateformat=mdy|honorific_suffix=FAAAS FRSA|birth_place=Lincoln, Massachusetts, US|occupation=biologist, philanthropist, and collector|suppressfields=awards|burial_place=Mount Auburn Cemetery}}
'''Susan Minns''' (born '''Susanna Minns''', August 21, 1839 – August 2, 1938) was an American biologist, philanthropist, and collector. She was one of the first women to study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She created a notable and extensive collection of art and literature relating Danse Macabre, a portion of which is now held by the University of Louvain. Minns helped establish the Marine Biological Laboratory and donated generously to numerous scientists, institutions and to her home state of Massachusetts.
== Early life == Minns was born to Frances Ann Parker and her husband Constant Freeman Minns on August 21, 1839 in Lincoln, Massachusetts.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |title=Minns, Susanna |url=http://www.numismaticmall.com/numismaticmall-com/minns-susan |access-date=2020-07-22 |website=www.numismaticmall.com}}</ref> She began her education at private schools including the Cambridge School for Girls run by the naturalist Louis Agassiz.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Susan Minns |url=https://sites.google.com/a/princetonmahistory.org/phs/places/tablets-and-markers/susan-minns |access-date=2020-07-22 |website=Princeton Historical Society}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Kamen-Kaye |first=Dorothy |url=https://archive.org/details/biostor-160999?q=%22Susan+Minns%22 |title=Studies In Bark Cloth: I. Polynesia |publisher=Harvard University |year=1984 |location=Boston |pages=54–55}}</ref> She also attended the Anderson School of Natural History set up by Agassiz on Penikese Island.<ref name=":1" /> She went on to graduate from Wellesley College.<ref name=":4" /> Minns was one of the first women to study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 3, 1938 |title=Miss Susan Minns, 98, dies in Boston. |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1938/08/03/archives/miss-susan-minns-98-dies-in-boston-philanthropist-and-collector-of.html |url-access=subscription |access-date=2020-07-22 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Sharpe |first=Lollie |date=2010 |title=Susan Minns |url=http://minnslectures.org/LSharpeRemarks2010.php |access-date=2020-07-22 |website=minnslectures.org}}</ref> She was a graduate of the class of 1881.<ref>{{Cite web |date=July 1, 2019 |title=Collection on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Women's Laboratory |url=https://libraries.mit.edu/archives/research/collections/collections-ac/ac298.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190701164929/https://libraries.mit.edu/archives/research/collections/collections-ac/ac298.html#toc |archive-date=July 1, 2019 |access-date=July 23, 2020 |website=Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Institute Archives and Special Collections}}</ref><ref name=":5" />
==Collecting== Minns created several collections over her lifetime. Her most notable was the collection she created from the age of 14 of art and literature relating to death and the Danse Macabre.<ref>{{Cite book |last=American Art Association |url=https://archive.org/details/notablecollectio00amer_3 |title=A notable collection of coins and medals bearing emblems illustrative of "the dance of death" : collected by Miss Susan Minns |publisher=American Art Association |year=1922 |location=New York City |pages=1}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Towner |first1=Wesley |url=https://archive.org/details/elegantauctionee00town/page/316/mode/2up?q=%22Susan+Minns%22 |title=The elegant auctioneers |last2=Varble |first2=Stephen |publisher=Hill & Wang |year=1970 |isbn=978-0809041718 |location=New York |pages=316–318}}</ref> Much of this collection was purchased by the University of Louvain through the generosity of Minns.<ref>{{Cite news |date=May 11, 1922 |title=Museum of Death for Louvain |work=The Wellesley College News |url=https://archive.org/details/wellesleynews3027well?q=%22Susan+Minns%22 |access-date=July 22, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last= |title=Collection Susan Minns |url=https://kuleuven.limo.libis.be/discovery/search?query=any,contains,Herkomstcollectie%20Susan%20Minns&tab=all_content_tab&vid=32KUL_KUL:KULeuven&offset=0 |website=KU Leuven Libraries}}</ref> Minns also created a collection of juvenile texts that she bequeathed to the Clapp Library of Wellesley College.<ref name=":5">{{cite thesis |last=Boles |first=Alexandra |date=2019 |title=To Teach and Entertain: An Exploration of Overlapped Trends in 19th Century Children's Literature through the Eyes of the Minns Collection |url=https://repository.wellesley.edu/islandora/object/ir%3A1018/datastream/PDF/download |access-date=July 22, 2020}}</ref> She was a botanical collector, collecting botany specimens herself as well as obtaining specimens from other collectors.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Robinson |first=B. L. |date=1905 |title=The Gray Herbarium |url=https://archive.org/details/annualreportpre03offigoog/page/n244/mode/2up?q=%22Susan+Minns%22 |journal=Reports of the President and the Treasurer of Harvard College |volume=2 |issue=4 |pages=236 |via=Internet Archive}}</ref> Her specimens can be found in the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, the Harvard University Herbaria, the New York Botanical Garden Herbarium, the University of Vermont Pringle Herbarium and University of Minnesota Bell Museum.<ref name=":6">{{Cite web |last=Shorthouse |first=David P. |title=Susan Minns |url=https://bionomia.net/Q97586047 |access-date=2020-07-22 |website=bionomia.net |language=en}}</ref> These specimens continue to be used to further scientific research.<ref name=":6" />
== Public service and philanthropy == Minns helped establish the Marine Biological Laboratory.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Lillie |first=Frank R. |date=July 1944 |title=The Origin of Marine Laboratories in Europe and America |url=https://archive.org/details/biologicalbullet1988mari?q=%22Susan+Minns%22 |journal=The Biological Bulletin (Supplement) |volume=174 |issue=1 |pages=28 |via=Internet Archive}}</ref> In 1888 She was appointed a member of the inaugural board of trustees and was a signatory of the Laboratory's Act of Incorporation.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=1910 |title=Twelfth Annual Report of the Marine Biological Laboratory |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/1536059 |journal=Biological Bulletin |volume=18 |issue=5 |pages=213–244 |doi= |jstor=1536059 |issn=0006-3185 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200801215637/https://www.jstor.org/stable/1536059 |archive-date=2020-08-01 |access-date=2020-07-22 |url-status=bot: unknown}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |date=April 19, 1889 |title=The Marine Biological Laboratory |url=https://archive.org/details/jstor-1764855?q=%22Susan+Minns%22 |journal=Science |volume=8 |issue=324 |pages=303–304 |jstor=1764855 |via=Internet Archive}}</ref> She also served for several years on the Harvard University Committee of the Gray Herbarium.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1864 |others=Harvard University Botany Libraries |title=George Golding Kennedy correspondence. |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/173266 |access-date=2020-07-22 |website=Biodiversity Heritage Library}}</ref>
Her donations of money and artifacts to individuals and institutions were substantial during her lifetime. She donated to land to MIT to be used for a river flow hydraulics laboratory.<ref name=":0" /> She donated $50,000 to Wellesley College as a memorial to Professor Susan Maria Hallowell in 1914.<ref name=":4" /> In 1917 Minns donated land to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, including 127 acres on the Little Wachusett mountain, which was subsequently used to create the Minns Wildlife Sanctuary.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":0" /> In that year Minns also donated funds to the Arnold Arboretum.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=May 1917 |title=List of Subscribers to the Arnold Arboretum |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/50355634 |journal=Bulletin of the Garden Club of America. |volume=20 |pages=350 |via=Biodiversity Heritage Library}}</ref>
In 1924 Minns made a substantial donation of $50,000 in honour of Mary Hancock, her great grandmother, to the Harvard Botanical Museum.<ref name=":2" /> Minns, when initially proposing this donation, explained to Oakes Ames that she was donating her great grandmother's twenty dollar gold piece. Ames' disappointment was allayed when Minns explained that this gold piece had been carefully invested and had transformed into a sizeable gift.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Ames |first1=Oakes |url=https://archive.org/details/oakesamesjotting00ames/page/92/mode/2up?q=%22Susan+Minns%22 |title=Oakes Ames, jottings of a Harvard botanist, 1874-1950 |last2=Plimpton |first2=Pauline Ames |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=1979 |location=Cambridge, Mass. |pages=91–92}}</ref> In 1925 Minns made a donation to the Wellesley College Library of a collection of books illustrated by Kate Greenway.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=May 1925 |title=Report of the Librarian |url=https://archive.org/details/reportofpresiden19211924well/page/62/mode/2up?q=%22Susan+Minns%22 |journal=Wellesley College Bulletin |volume=14 |issue=5 |pages=62 |via=Internet Archive}}</ref> Also in the 1920s she made significant monetary donations aiding the construction of the botany section of Sage Hall at Wellesley College as well as ensuring improvements were made to the college library.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite journal |date=December 1939 |title=Unusual gifts |url=https://archive.org/details/reportofpresiden19381939awell/page/22/mode/2up?q=%22Susan+Minns%22 |journal=Report of the President |publisher=Wellesley College |via=Internet Archive}}</ref>
In June 1930 Minns donated funds to assist Professor Margaret Clay Ferguson of Wellesley College with her botanical research.<ref>{{Cite news |date=June 22, 1931 |title=Bequests and Gifts |work=Wellesley College News |url=https://archive.org/details/wellesleynews3931well/page/8/mode/2up?q=%22Susan+Minns%22 |access-date=July 22, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |date=February 1931 |title=Presidents report |url=https://archive.org/details/reportofpresiden19291930well/page/10/ |journal=Wellesley College Bulletin |volume=20 |issue=4 |pages=11 |via=Internet Archive}}</ref><ref name=":7" /> In her will Minns established the Thomas Minns Fund in memory of her brother and enabling the creation of the Minns Lectures.<ref>{{Cite web |title=History |url=http://minnslectures.org/history.php |access-date=2020-07-22 |website=minnslectures.org}}</ref> In the 1940s the Susan Minns estate gifted portions of her art and literature collections to Wellesley College.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=October 1940 |title=Gifts |url=https://archive.org/details/reportofpresiden3001well/page/66/mode/2up?q=%22Susan+Minns%22 |journal=Report of the President |pages=66 |via=Internet Archive}}</ref><ref name=":7">{{Cite journal |date=October 1941 |title=Gifts |url=https://archive.org/details/reportofpresiden3101well?q=%22Susan+Minns%22 |journal=Report of the President |pages=62 |via=Internet Archive}}</ref>
== Books and art == During the later part of her life Minns studied silkworms. In 1928 she authored a book entitled "Book of the silkworm", illustrating the book herself.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=Susan Minns watercolors of Bahamas plants and scenery |url=https://hollisarchives.lib.harvard.edu/repositories/22/resources/7562 |access-date=2020-07-22 |website=hollisarchives.lib.harvard.edu}}</ref> She also wrote a book about her genealogy entitled "Minns and allied families in the line of descent of Miss Susan Minns".<ref>{{Cite journal |date=1908 |title=Gifts of books, letters, manuscripts, pictures etc., to the Illinois State Historical Library and Society |url=https://archive.org/details/illinoisstatehis182illi?q=%22Susan+Minns%22 |journal=Illinois State Historical Society Journal |volume=18 |issue=4 |pages=1080 |via=Internet Archive}}</ref> Minns was also a painter of watercolors and a creator of woodblock prints.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":4" /> == Institution memberships and awards == Minns was a member of several institutions or societies. She was a member of Phi Beta Kappa.<ref name=":4" /> Minns was also a member of the Boston Society of Natural History from 1877 and remained a member for over 50 years.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Creed |first=Percy R. |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/4922042 |title=The Boston Society of Natural History, 1830-1930. |publisher=Boston Society of Natural History |year=1930 |location=Boston |pages=56 |doi=10.5962/bhl.title.5846}}</ref> She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts as well as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Rowlands |first=John J. |date=May 1932 |title=M.I.T. News Bulletin |url=https://archive.org/details/MIT-Technology-Review-1932-05?q=%22Susan+Minns%22 |journal=The Technology Review |volume=34 |pages=iii |via=Internet Archive}}</ref> Minns also had various scholarly works dedicated to her in appreciation and acknowledgement of her support.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cushman |first=Joseph A. |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/10754258 |title=Foraminifera; their classification and economic use. |publisher=Cushman Laboratory for Foraminiferal Research. |year=1928 |location=Sharon, Mass. |doi=10.5962/bhl.title.10175}}</ref>
== Death == Minns died on August 2, 1938 and was buried at Mount Auburn Cemetery.<ref name=":1" />
==References== {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Minns, Susan}} Category:1839 births Category:1938 deaths Category:20th-century American philanthropists Category:American botanists Category:Burials at Mount Auburn Cemetery Category:Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni Category:Philanthropists from Massachusetts Category:American women botanists