A. B. Ulrey was Manchester’s first science instructor (1894). Above is a photograph from one of Ulrey’s early biology classes and a portrait of this remarkable teacher, who offered courses in geography, physiology, geology, physics, chemistry, elementary zoology, morphology of vertebrates, histology and microscopical technique, embryology, elementary botany, morphology and classification of phanerograms, plant histology and microscopial technique..
According to research conducted by Professor William Eberly, Albert Ulrey suffered from tuberculosis in his youth. Fresh air was considered a cure for tuberculosis at that time and Albert’s father provided a horse and buggy so that his son could remain out of doors as much as possible. Albert seized the opportunity to explore the wildlife near his family’s farm about a mile north of Liberty Mills, Indiana.
Ulrey later received excellent scientific training at Indiana University and brought the best of the “modern” scientific research and teaching to Manchester. Ulrey left Manchester in 1900 to continue his studies at Rush Medical College in Chicago - and in the fall of 1901 - assumed a position at the University of Southern California where he remained until retirement in 1929. It was in California where he conducted his major work in zoology with special emphasis on ichthyology and marine biology. He founded the Venice Marine Biological Station in 1910 and was its director for an extended period of time. He was a member of the Indiana Academy of Science, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Southern California Academy of Science, American Eugenics Society, Sigma Xi, and Phi Kappa Phi. Albert died in 1932.