Biography

Costa Rican naturalist, Anastásio Alfaro González conceived of and for many years directed the National Museum of Costa Rica, researching all aspects of his country's history. Born in Alajuela he quickly developed a deep curiosity for the natural world which he exercised on excursions in the surrounding foothills of the Volcán Poás. At school in the Institute of Alajuela he showed great promise and the director of the institute wished to send him to Paris to complete his studies. Unfortunately, however, his father refused him and in rebellion Alfaro left Alajuela at the age of 14, without having finished his studies, and travelled to San José to live with the family of his mother who had passed away when he was a child. Entering the National Institute he excelled here too and graduated as a Bachelor of the Arts just two years later (1883).

By this time the young student's success was well known and the government appointed him a member of the project to prepare a geography of Costa Rica, however, the project was interrupted soon afterwards due to the impending conflict with Guatemala and Honduras. Alfaro was made a Captain and despite the tensions dissipating with the death of the Guatemalan leader, General Barrios, he decided to remain with the military for the opportunities it gave him to explore the northern frontier. His old teacher from Alajuela (Enrique Villavicencio) was director of statistics at the time and through this connection he was tasked with making meteorological observations and collecting every kind of natural history specimen while on military duty. The collections he made at this time quickly gained him a reputation and Alfaro and his specimens were sent to Louisiana to represent Costa Rica at the New Orleans exposition. At this time he began to petition the president to create a national museum, his pleas were accepted and at the age of twenty two he was sent to Washington to learn how to found and manage a museum. In 1887 Alfaro returned, founded the National Museum of Costa Rica and began its direction under the title of secretary.

From this year until 1930 Alfaro would run the museum almost without interruption, although he undertook a great many other roles at the same time. The most extensive of these was as a professor of the natural sciences, which he taught in the Higher School for Women (1908-1914) and in the School and Liceo of Heredia. He also participated with the museums collections in the Universal Exposition in Paris (1889), the Exposition Histórico-Americana in Madrid (1891) for which he was highly praised by many scientific journals and organisations (especially for his skilled taxidermy), and the first Central American Exposition in Guatemala in 1897. He was also named Costa Rican delegate for the Pan American Congress in Missouri in 1893. At the same time Alfaro edited and organised the museums publications, including the Anales del Museo Nacional.

For some time in 1888 he was employed as an engineer on the Costa Rican commission to mark out the border with Nicaragua, again giving him an opportunity to explore and collect in remote areas of his country. It was while on this commission that Alfaro met Gordiana Flores and they were married in 1891. Together they would have eight children who accompanied their father on his expeditions and for whom a good education was paramount in the eyes of their parents.

For a time between 1898 and 1904 Alfaro left the museum, first to return to the army under the title Commodore Major, using his skills in engineering and topographic surveying to defend the northern border. The following year he formed part of the team that surveyed the Island of Coco for its suitability for colonisation by Costa Rica. He was then named director general of the National Archives and thus began a period of historic research, publishing several works including "Documents of the Governmental Junta". Alfaro also decided to enter the Law Faculty and by his graduation in 1915 had published one of his most famous works, the Arqueología Criminal Americana. Later in 1918, having succeeded in transferring the funding of the museum to the Department of Public Education, he proceeded to assume the role of secretary of this organisation for the following year.

Alfaro also collected archaeological specimens, making many important excavations and publishing Etnología Centroamericana and Antigüedades de Costa Rica for which he was awarded a 500 peso prize. He published a range of works from his research on other aspects of his collections too, including a Mamíferos de Costa Rica and he also carried out research at the Institute of Physics and Geography and in the herbarium. In 1917 Alfaro also threw himself into a period of intensive research into the genealogy of the major families of Costa Rica. Having retired from the museum in 1930 he continued to teach both entomology and zoology in the School of Sciences and published his final essays under the title "Scientific Investigations" in 1935. Alfaro received a wealth of prizes, awards and recognitions throughout his life and as well as forming part of the group tasked with choosing the national flower of Costa Rica (the orchid Cattleya skinneri) he was also a founding member of the Costa Rican Society of History and Geography. After his death the government announced, a national state of mourning for the first time ever for a scientist, and he was later recognised as a 'Benemérito' of the Country.

Sources:
Stone, D., 1961, "Don Anastasio Alfaro Gonzales. Cientifico y Poeta, Cantor de la Naturaleza":163-189. In: Alfaro Gonzalez, A. Arqueología Criminal Americana. San José.