PSPA recently donated the James Mease Chair, owned by PSPA to the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine.

James Mease (1771-1846), a 1792 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Medical School, was instrumental in the revival of the Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agriculture in 1805. He served as its Secretary, Vice-President, and President.  An authority on rabies, he was a member of the Society committee formed in support of veterinary lectures, and along with Benjamin Rush, delivered a series at the University of Pennsylvania Medical School on the importance of studying diseases in animals.

Inscribed plaque on the back of the chair:

Philadelphia, May 17, 1824

Gentlemen:

      I take the liberty, through Dr. Mease, to present to the Society an Ellam Chair made from parts of the elm trees that grew in the State House Yard. Perhaps this may be acceptable to the Society in preserving a remembrance of those trees when they are no longer to be seen. With due respect, I am yours, etc.

Adam Ramage

Elizabeth Mosimann, board member of PSPA wrote the following about the chair and its history:

I come here today as an officer of the Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agriculture to hand over this chair to Allam House at New Bolton Center.

Mark Allam was the energy behind the development of New Bolton Center. He was also one of our Society’s most vigorous leaders and he had a deep commitment to our historical agricultural collections.

PSPA was founded in 1785 before the constitution by men who were involved in the founding of our nation. Their concern was the poor farming practices in America—in 1776 the soil was already worn out, the breeding and care of livestock haphazard. The members of this new Society pledged to investigate the best practices and to spread the knowledge of these practices to the general farmer everywhere. GW, an inventive farmer, was a member, a very active one through his correspondence.

When in 1806 the Society offered a prize for “the best plan for promoting veterinary knowledge and instruction,” member Benjamin Rush stepped forward and the following year gave a lecture series at the Medical School on the diseases of domestic animals..

Several years ago in explaining the vet school’s motto, One medicine, One health, Dean Hendricks harkened back to Rush’s words: [Rush]: “By extending our knowledge of the causes and cure of the diseases of domestic animals, we may add greatly to the certainty and usefulness of the pro of medicine as far as it relates to the human species.” 1807

Rush would not live much longer, but at that time the Secretary of our Society was James Mease , graduate of the Penn medical school and an authority on rabies. Mease was an important figure for the Society, serving for many years as Secretary, making sure that information about the best practices was published and disseminated, overseeing Society publications and through them creating international relationships with scientists abroad and finally as president.

Mease joined Rush in his concern with relation of animal to human disease and served on the Society Committee to investigate the viability of a series of veterinary lectures. Sadly, Mease’s lectures on animal disease did not attract much notice. And it was not until the 1870s that more attention again turned to the need and value of veterinary medicine.

The importance of this early activity is confirmed by Bert Bierer’s American Veterinary History in which he notes “practically all of the earliest pioneers of vet med were in some way associated with PSPA.”

As the Vet School was being established, the Society was almost fading from existence. The books and portraits were given to the University of Pennsylvania, where they ended up in a basement. Thankfully, a few years later Leonard Pearson, third dean of the Vet school came upon this treasure, was fascinated by it and by looking up surviving members worked to restore the Society.

Mark Allam treasured this chair whose history takes up back to the 18th century. It is made of elm wood from trees in the State House Yard (Independence Hall). The trees were donated by Society member George Morgan, an Indian agent during the Revolutionary War. It was constructed by Adam Ramage, a Scottish cabinet maker, who also made the highly desirable Ramage printing press.

Adam’s message to the Society is engraved on a plaque on the back of the chair:
“Philadelphia, May 17, 1824. Gentlemen: I take the liberty, through Dr. Mease, to present to the Society an Ellam Chair made from parts of the elm trees that grew in the State House Yard. Perhaps this may be acceptable to the Society in preserving a remembrance of those trees when they are no longer to be seen.”

The Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agriculture passes on to Allam House this chair in hopes that it will preserve a remembrance of the role of the Society in promoting the establishment of veterinary education.