Frank Nathaniel Whittier collection

Frank Nathaniel Whittier was born in Farmington, Maine, on December 12, 1861. He was graduated from Wilton Academy in 1881, and from Bowdoin College in 1885. After briefly studying law, he returned to Bowdoin in 1886 as director of the gymnasium and continued his studies in the Medical School of Maine at Bowdoin College, receiving his M.D. in 1889. Whittier's service to Bowdoin continued for thirty-eight years as college physician, professor of hygiene and physical training, and as professor of pathology and bacteriology at the Medical School. During World War I he volunteered for medical duty and attained the rank of major. During Whittier's tenure at Bowdoin, college athletics and physical training were promoted, Sargent Gymnasium and Hyde Athletic Building were properly equipped, and Whittier Athletic Field was established and named in his honor. In June 1924, Whittier received an honorary Doctor of Science degree from Bowdoin.

Whittier was also a noted pathologist and criminologist. Two innovations that he helped develop and use for the first time in a court of law were a serology test which distinguished human from animal blood, and a ballistics test which matched shells with the weapons that fired them. Whittier was a member of the American Association of Pathologists and Bacteriologists, the Maine Medical Society, the Society of Gymnasium Directors, and the Society for the Advancement of Physical Training. At the time of his death he was one of the medical examiners in Cumberland County, Maine.

Whittier died on December 23, 1924. He was survived by his wife, Eugenie Harward Skolfield of Brunswick, and two daughters, Isabel and Alice. Isabel Whittier was an author and college history teacher, and Alice Whittier was a pediatrician.