National Museum of Natural History Unearthed

Behind the Scenes: Mystery of the Hope Diamond

It’s a story that spans four countries, over a billion years of geologic time and 350 years of human history. Fascinating science. A legendary curse. But probably the most memorable moment in the making of Smithsonian Channel’s “Mystery of the Hope Diamond” was the Great Dane.

In real life his name was Mike, and he belonged to the dazzling Washington socialite Evalyn Walsh McLean. In the Roaring Twenties, Evalyn was renowned for staging elaborate parties in her mansion, and occasionally even President Warren G. Harding would attend. For kicks – and no doubt to make an impression -- she had a special collar designed for Mike so he could wear the Hope Diamond. Escorting Evalyn with imperial grace, he’d strut through the crowd wearing the world’s most famous gemstone as if it were a mere dogtag.

To recreate the scene, our production team took over a mansion in the business district of London. After scouring through dozens of head shots and enduring a few eventful screen tests (“Action!” is not a command most dogs understand, and explaining their motivation proved a challenge), we finally settled on a handsome brute named Travis. He had already appeared in several commercials and television shows in the United Kingdom, so he knew the drill. He showed no interest at all in gobbling up our Hope Diamond replica, and once the cameras were rolling he hit his marks like a pro. We never told him about the mythic curse (didn’t want to make him nervous), but by all accounts he remains a very happy and healthy canine thespian. You can watch his performance in the full program at www.smithsonianchannel.com/hope or in this behind-the-scenes clip.

 

Charles Poe, Vice President Production, Smithsonian Channel

Insect Collecting - Bowls, Fogging, and More!

Back in June, Dr. Matt Buffington told you how to photograph parasitic wasps. How have these nearly four million wasps gotten and continue to get into our collections? Dr. Michael Gates has the story.

Veterans' Day at the NMNH

As Veterans’ Day approaches, most visitors to the Smithsonian think of the military artifacts in the National Museum of American History, but few are probably aware of the role that scientists in the National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) have played in wartime.   When the United States entered World War II on December 8, 1941, Museum scientists immediately sprang into action to support the war effort.   The Smithsonian formed a War Committee and the Ethnogeographic Board was established at the Smithsonian to compile cultural and geographic information on combat areas.  Curators began to compile information on all the resources the Museum had in its collections.

Henry B. Collins (1899-1987) at his campsite at Cape Kialegak, St. Lawrence Island, Alaska. SI negative # SIA2009-2048. Image courtesy of Smithsonian Archives.

Prior to the war, many Museum anthropologists and naturalists traveled to remote parts of the Pacific that soon became the sites of combat, areas that the U.S. government and military knew little about.  Curators compiled maps, language information, photographs, and other resources.  For example, in June of 1942, the Japanese invaded the Aleutian Islands off Alaska.  The U.S. military had limited intelligence about this remote region, but NMNH anthropologist Henry B. Collins (pictured above) had done extensive field work in Alaska and the Aleutians.  He was able to provide maps and photographs that the military used to locate landing sites for the Aleutian Campaign.

Museum scientists also compiled the first military survival manual, Survival on Land and Sea. Distributed to millions of soldiers and sailors, the manual gave simple lessons on navigating by the stars, starting a fire, locating safe sources of water and food, avoiding poisonous animals and plants, and surviving in island, desert, tropical and Arctic environments.

(From left to right) Survival on Land and Sea, Ethnogeographic Board, Smithsonian Institution, 1944, cover, image courtesy of Smithsonian Archives;“Making fire with a bow drill,” Survival on Land and Sea, Ethnogeographic Board, Smithsonian Institution, 1944. SI negative # 92-7179, image courtesty of Smithsonian Archives; “Estimating latitude by Polaris,” Survival on Land and Sea, Ethnogeographic Board, Smithsonian Institution, 1944. SI negative # 92-7176.  Images courtesy of Smithsonian Archives.

Equally important to the military was the control of disease – and disease-carrying insects and animals.   In 1942, for every soldier felled in combat, eight soldiers were incapacitated by insect borne diseases.  Entomologists in the Museum worked with the military medical units, training sanitary officers to identify which insects carried malaria, which mammals carried which ticks, and which Crustacea carried the parasitic disease schistosomiasis.   The military sent a steady flow of specimens from war zones back to the Museum to identify and ensure that the correct organisms were eliminated; the Museums received over 10,000 mosquitoes alone in 1944.

Rattus tanezumi mansorius specimens collected during World War II and sent to the National Museum. Image courtesy of Smithsonian Archives.

Other curators enlisted in the military or Office of Strategic Services to share their expertise.  Curator of malacology Ted Bayer became an Army Corporal and used his knowledge about mollusks while stationed on islands such as Biak in the Pacific.  Lt. David H. Johnson, curator of mammals, was stationed at Naval Medical Research Unit 2 in the Pacific and studied the mammal and bird hosts of disease-carrying insects.  In his free moments, he also collected shells and other natural history specimens for the Museum (see rats collected during WWII pictured at right).

A Field Collector’s Manual in Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, 1944, cover. SI negative # SIA2009-2528. Image courtesy of Smithsonian Archives.

As the war moved from combat to occupation phase, the Smithsonian also prepared and distributed A Field Collector’s Guide to Natural History, another pocket sized book that encouraged soldiers to observe the natural world around them and send interesting natural history specimens to the Museum.  Museum curators carried on extensive correspondence with soldiers in the field, sending them natural history information and supplies, to provide diversion from the stress of combat and monotony of occupation.  Museum director Alexander Wetmore carried on an extensive correspondence with many young soldiers, such as U.S. Navy Pharmacists Mate Sammy Ray, who went on to become an oyster specialist.   After the battle of Palau, Ray wrote to Secretary Wetmore (see letter pictured below) that during the heat of battle at Palau, “I thought that I had made my last bird skin.” He found relief from combat in bird watching and shell collecting, when time and duty permitted.

As the war wound down, Natural History Museum curators had contributed to the war effort but also learned a great deal about the natural history of the Pacific.  They continue their studies of that region today.

Pamela Henson, Historian, Smithsonian Institution Archives

 

U.S. Navy Pharmacists Mate First Class Sammy L. Ray letter to Alexander Wetmore, October 29, 1944, SI negative # SIA2010-0630. Image courtesy of Smithsonian Archives.

Itching to Experience Real Museum Objects and Specimens?

Measuring a femur to determine the height of an individual in the Forensic Anthropology Lab. Image courtesy of James Di Loreto and Leah L. Jones.

Have you ever wanted to examine one of the thousands of objects on display at the National Museum of Natural History just a little more closely?  Maybe touch it, turn it over, feel its weight, or smell it?  The hands-on learning spaces in the museum give you a chance to try your hand at the work that our scientists and researchers do by getting a feel – literally – for what it’s like to be behind the scenes at the Museum.

Through the Office of Education and Outreach, the Museum offers many opportunities for you to get your hands on objects and specimens from Museum collections.  Is Phoenix the North Atlantic Right Whale’s lofty perch in the Sant Ocean Hall just a little too high to see her physical details?  You can catch one of our Ocean Hall Navigators walking around with baleen similar to what Phoenix would have in her mouth and you can touch and examine it up close.  Programs such as The Scientist is In and Forensic Friday allow you to talk one-on-one with museum scientists and specialists about their research while allowing you to try your hand studying objects with the equipment they use for their work.  Discovery Carts pepper several exhibitions such as Geology, Gems and Minerals, the Korea Gallery, and the Hall of Human Origins with activities and objects that let you to delve further into the exhibitions’ themes and topics.  Almost daily, the Insect Zoo brings out live insects such as grasshoppers, stick insects and hissing cockroaches that you can handle and let crawl over you as you wish.  The Naturalist Center, in Leesburg, VA, provides you with a space to use Museum collections to identify unknown specimens that you have collected yourself.

One of the main goals of the museum’s public programming is to provide activities and experiences that immerse you in the science that happens behind-the-scenes and get you actively using the collections that our Museum houses to do real and authentic science.  The Discovery Room, which was one of the first of its kind when it opened its doors in 1974, is a dedicated space for the exploration of natural history specimens and the research being conducted at the museum through hands-on activities.  Drawers fashioned to represent how collections are used in our science divisions feature specimens that you can use to answer research questions similar to the ones our research and collections staff encounter.  Cubbies filled with rocks, skull casts, ocean fossils and anthropological objects invite you to use your scientific skills to compare, contrast and classify objects.  You can use microscopes to look more closely at a butterfly’s scaly wings or the different layers that a rock is composed of.  The Discovery Room uses collections shared by our research divisions. Each experience is designed on the work of our scientists.  Educators and scientists work together to provide the most realistic and authentic experience possible.

Studying teeth to determine the age of an individual in the Forensic Anthropology Lab. Image courtesy of James Di Loreto and Leah L. Jones.

The Forensic Anthropology Lab is another hands-on space that delves into the popular topic of physical and forensic anthropology and offers you a unique chance to study real human skeletal remains and work to solve a realistic forensic case.  You can engage in the work of a forensic anthropologist by learning and applying techniques to determine things like whether a person is male or female from a real hip bone or how old someone is from studying their teeth.  One of our most popular objects is a femur that had broken during someone’s lifetime but healed crooked and displaced.  We’ve found that visitors are drawn to those things that they can relate to in their everyday lives.  Have they ever broken a bone before?  Has anyone in their family ever suffered from back problems or osteoporosis?  The Forensic Anthropology Lab allows you to make personal connections and experience authentic specimens that show the effects of these types of trauma and disease on bones. 

So, if during your next visit to the museum you get an itching to touch, feel and experience real museum objects and specimens, come get your fix in one of our learning spaces.  Also stay tuned for new programs and spaces designed to invite and engage the world in the work of the National Museum of Natural History! 

Gale Robertson, Education Specialist, Office of Education and Outreach