Queer Places:
Harvard University (Ivy League), 2 Kirkland St, Cambridge, MA 02138
149 Brattle St, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA

William McMichael Woodworth (August 1864 - May 28, 1912) was born in San Francisco, California, in August 1864 to Commodore Selim Edward Woodworth and Marie Lisette Flohr. His father was a California pioneer who fought with Admiral Farragut at Mobile and New Orleans, served as president of the famous vigilantes, and retired with the rank of commodore. Through his family lineage, William was the grandson of Samuel Woodworth, the author of "The Old Oaken Bucket." He grew up alongside his siblings—Selim Edwin, Benjamin Russell, Samuel, and Lydia. Following his early schooling in Europe, he entered Harvard College, graduating with the Class of 1888. He later earned his Ph.D. from Harvard in 1891, after which he remained connected to the university faculty for the rest of his life, serving as an instructor in zoology for six years before becoming an assistant at the University Museum of Comparative Zoology in 1897.

Woodworth developed into an eminent zoologist of world-wide reputation and a minor legend at Harvard. He was a lifelong friend and personal assistant to Alexander Agassiz, accompanying him on significant collecting expeditions and research tours to the coral islands in the Pacific Ocean, Samoa, Australia, Africa, the West Indies, and South America. These travels supplied biological specimens for the museum as well as exotic curios for his famous home on Brattle Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which featured a splendid array of furnishings. His residence also became a vibrant salon where he collected a wide variety of disparate people; on Sunday afternoons, guests such as a Charlestown Navy Yard marine colonel and an English army captain rubbed elbows with literary figures like Charles Macomb Flandrau and Pierre La Rose.

Described by Burton Kline as "perverse, exasperating, high tempered and overwhelmingly generous," Woodworth exuded a great personal fascination that allowed him to easily win back friends whenever he offended them. His cultural and social circles intertwined deeply with the era's literary figures. He was famously "fathered" as a young man by Charles Warren Stoddard—a romantic and homoerotic relationship that began when Woodworth was fourteen in 1878 and persisted through his college years and adulthood. After traveling widely, including immigrating to the Kingdom of Hawaii in 1898 and living in Cambridge by 1900, Woodworth passed away on May 28, 1912, at his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts, following a prolonged illness at the age of 47.

References:

The Hub of the Gay Universe: An LGBTQ History of Boston, Provincetown, and Beyond Paperback – April 1, 2019 by Russ López

The Crimson Letter: Harvard, Homosexuality, and the Shaping of American Culture Paperback – Illustrated, June 1, 2004 by Douglass Shand-Tucci

Other references:

• Austen, Roger. Genteel Pagan: The Double Life of Charles Warren Stoddard. (Mentioned via secondary excerpts detailing Charles Warren Stoddard's relationship with William McMichael Woodworth and his Brattle Street salon).
• The Boston Evening Transcript. (Contemporary press reports documenting Woodworth's Brattle Street domicile and Sunday afternoon salon gatherings).
• The Harvard Crimson. (Obituary and university notices, including the May 29, 1912 issue reporting his death following a prolonged illness, his Ph.D. in 1891, and his tenure at the Museum of Comparative Zoology).
• San Francisco Call. (Volume 112, Number 1, June 1, 1912, featuring the obituary "Eminent Zoologist Dies in Cambridge," detailing his parentage, family background, and expeditions with Alexander Agassiz).
• Genealogical and Vital Records. (Historical census, birth, immigration, and death records documenting his birth in San Francisco in August 1864, his immigration to the Kingdom of Hawaii in 1898, residency in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and death on May 28, 1912).
• Newspaper Clipping / Local Obituary Notice. (Provided image excerpt detailing his graduation from Harvard in 1888 [noting alternative reporting], university faculty role starting in 1891, and lifelong friendship with Alexander Agassiz).

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