Physician/Collector
Centurion, 1893–1926
Born 4 April 1850 in Boston, Massachusetts
Died 5 October 1926 in Boston, Massachusetts
Buried Mount Auburn Cemetery
, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Proposed by Richard Morris Hunt and Richard Watson Gilder
Elected 6 May 1893 at age forty-three
Century Memorial
William Sturgis Bigelow was one of those physicians whose mind ranges widely into other fields of activity. At one time lecturer on surgery at the Harvard Medical School, he was an art collector of rare enthusiasm and success. His Oriental collection, later given to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, was believed to be second only to that of the Japanese government, and his interest in the art of the Far East led him into deep study of Oriental religions. Of Japan and Japanese character he was an ardent admirer, and Japan had reciprocated by decorating him with its highest orders.
Alexander Dana Noyes
1927 Century Association Yearbook
