Harlow N. Higinbotham

Harlow Niles Higinbotham (October 10, 1838 – April 18, 1919) was an American businessman who became a president of Marshall Field & Co. and President of the Board of Directors of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois.

Early life and education Harlow Niles Higinbotham was born in Joliet, Illinois, on October 10, 1838, to Henry Dumont Higinbotham and Rebecca Wheeler Higinbotham. The Higinbothams had come to the United States originally from Holland, by way of England and Barbados. Harlow was raised with two brothers and three sisters. His father Henry operated water-powered sawmills, and kept cattle and hogs.

At age 20, he started his own crockery line. He also worked as a clerk and cashier in a bank. He attended Universalist Lombard College at Galesburg, Illinois. In 1860 he moved to Chicago, Illinois, where he took business classes. During the American Civil War, he served in West Virginia as captain of the 'Kelley Guards,' and fought in Virginia and Tennessee.

Career In Chicago, Higinbotham worked as bookkeeper for the firm Cooley & Leiter (later Field, Leiter & Co.) In 1897, United States President William McKinley offered to make him United States Ambassador to France, but Higinbotham declined. In 1898, he became the second President of the Field Museum of Natural History, a position that he held until 1908. He purchased collections from the Exposition to give to the Field Museum, including the George Frederick Kunz Gemology and Mineralogy Library and Tiffany gems. He had retired from Marshall Field & Co. in 1902, and busied himself leading philanthropy efforts for Hahnemann Hospital, the Newsboys' and Bootblacks' Association, the Home for Incurables (affiliated with the University of Chicago since 1958), and the Municipal Tuberculosis Sanitarium.