Founded on January 29, 1817, the New York Academy of Sciences was originally called the Lyceum of Natural History.[1] Convened by the Academy's founder and first President, Samuel L. Mitchill, the first meeting of the Lyceum took place at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, located on Barclay Street near Broadway in lower Manhattan.[1] The principal activities of the early Lyceum focused on hosting lectures, collecting natural history specimens, and establishing a library.[1] In 1823, the Lyceum began publishing its own scientific journal, then the Annals of the Lyceum of Natural History of New York, now the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. By 1826 the Lyceum owned "the richest collection of reptiles and fish in the country," however a fire in 1866 destroyed the collection completely.[2] Following the fire, the Academy turned its focus away from collecting and instead to research, scientific publishing, and disseminating scientific information.