William Tufts Brigham, ethnologist, botanist and geologist, was the first director of the Bernice P. Bishop Museum in Honolulu. A graduate of Harvard University, he began his career as a teacher at O'ahu College, Hawaii, and accompanied Horace Mann Jr on botanical surveys of the islands in 1864-1865.

Brigham went on to undertake explorations in India and China, returning to the United States in 1867, and spent a period as an instructor in botany at Harvard (1868-1869). He moved back to Hawaii in 1888, taking charge of the collections at what would become known as the Bishop Museum, where he was appointed director in 1898. He remained in charge of the museum until his retirement in 1918.

Brigham completed many works on Hawaiian culture and natural history. He was a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the California Academy of Sciences and the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences. The genus Brighamia A.Gray commemorates him.

Sources:
Anon., 1926, Kew Bulletin of Miscellaneous Information, 6(1926): 251
R.G. Rose, 1982, A museum to instruct and delight: William T. Brigham and the founding of Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum.