The Museum of Comparative Zoology was founded in 1859 through the efforts of zoologist
Louis Agassiz; the museum used to be referred to as "The Agassiz" after its founder. Agassiz designed the collection to illustrate the variety and
comparative relationships of animal life. According to Goodale, "What he had in mind, as indicated by hints in his reports and other communications, was a museum for research and illustration in all departments of what was then called natural history. It was intended to comprise everything from minerals, through the kingdom of plants, to the highest animals. It was to include also man regarded from an archaeological and ethnological point of view."
Alexander Agassiz was his father's assistant until 1875 when Alexander became
curator. Alexander Agassiz served for 23 years as curator, 10 as director of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, and from 1902, until his death, as director of the University Museum, comprising all the sections. His gifts to the museum and to other departments of Harvard University considerably exceeded a million dollars. Many female paleontologists, such as
Elvira Wood, were involved in the early development of the museum. The
Radcliffe Zoological Laboratory was created in 1894 when
Radcliffe College rented a space on the fifth floor of the MCZ to convert into a women's laboratory. Prior to this acquisition, Radcliffe science laboratories were taught using inadequate facilities, converting spaces such as bathrooms in old houses into physics laboratories, in which Harvard professors often refused to teach. The laboratory space was converted from an office or storage closet, and was sandwiched between other invertebrate storage rooms on the fifth floor. ==Departments==