By Lesley Parilla, Field Book Project
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Cover page of Sir John Kirk’s Butterflies collected in the Shire Valley, East Africa, part of the Russell E. Train Africana Collection at the Joseph F. Cullman 3rd Library of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution. |
I recently had the opportunity to spend a week cataloging items from the Russell E. Train Africana collection housed at the Joseph F. Cullman 3rd Library in the National Museum of Natural History. The collection, which became part of the Library holdings in 2004 (see Smithsonian Library’s blog from 2010), is a unique combination of books, objects, and archival material documenting expeditions and people of note that worked in Africa during the nineteenth and twentieth century. Several of the diaries, maps, photographs, and sketches document the work of big game hunters whose specimen collections were later accessioned by collecting institutions across the United Kingdom. These were the types of materials I cataloged. Among these was a rare find for me: a field book that contains entomological specimens. The book in question was assembled by Sir John Kirk.
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Page from Sir John Kirk’s text. Each butterfly specimen has a protective layer of material between it and the adjacent page. Specimen caption: “Cleopatra very rapid in flight. Caterpillars green, 4 spikes on head like coronet.” |
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Detail of butterfly in page above. Identified as “Charaxes Pollusc [sic]." |
Sir John Kirk, born 1832, explored and worked in East Africa during the latter half of the nineteenth century in a number of capacities. He was trained in the field of medicine, but gained prominence for his work in diplomacy in East Africa and for his work with David Livingstone. He had strong interests in botany and zoology, a fact that is documented in his notes throughout his time on the continent.
His book is unique for a number of reasons. Most of us working on the Field Book Project have come across specimens in field books. These are usually dried, pressed plants, though I have found a molted snake skin. The specimens are sometimes pinned but often left loose in the notebooks. Kirk took extreme care when organizing and adhering these specimens.
Sir John Kirk’s work is also an amalgam of illustration and specimen. He collected butterflies, then removed the wings, pasted them to the book, and drew in the missing anatomy with ink, ameliorating any specimen color loss with paint. This combination of drawing and specimen may seem odd, until you see the result: a book that is far more art book than field book, and yet meets the definitions of both.
As seen below, his specimens look like hand painted illustrations.
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Page of Sir John Kirk’s field book. Text on page states “A large family of these. Exceedingly beautiful. The colour [sic] on the tips should be mauve but no blue will pint(?) so only one of the colours that compose it is represented__blue added wd[sic] make mauve.” |
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Detail images of butterflies from text above. |
The book includes varying levels of information, including binomial and genus names of identified butterflies, as well as descriptions explaining where they were found, population abundance, and information about appearance.
Interested in seeing the book yourself? The Joseph F. Cullman 3rd Library of Natural History is located at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC. For information on hours and access, check out their website at: http://www.sil.si.edu/libraries/cullman/using.cfm.
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