Tuesday, the Field Book Project welcomed 25 students from the Smithsonian YES! (Youth Engagement through Science) summer program into the National Museum of Natural History Main Library stacks to view field books from the Department of Botany. Students explored nine original field books created between 1897 and 1946, each field book highlighting different aspects of note taking. During their internships, YES students will create their own field notes while working with Smithsonian scientists. Forensic Anthropology Lab Educator Nicole Webster was charged with developing the students’ field book curriculum and the yellow notebooks seen in the photo above. Webster has agreed to blog for the Field Book Project at the end of the summer, so please check back for more about field notes from the YES! students.
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June 2012
Friday, 29 June 2012
Monday, 25 June 2012
Remembering Summers in Maine
By Lesley Parilla, Field Book Project
Friends recently informed me they are going to Maine this June. I have very fond memories of summers there; I hoped to find an excuse to do some reminiscing. Since many of the loveliest destinations in Maine are natural wonders, and I spend most of my time cataloging field work, it seemed appropriate to take a look at what kinds of field work we have documented in the Pine Tree State.
Summer is a prime time of year for tourists in New England as well as for specimen collectors. The states’ woods and coastlines attract many visitors for their natural beauty and have provided “fertile ground” for decades of collecting. We have cataloged 43 field books relating to the state. A substantial amount of that was in the vicinity of popular coastal destinations. So, I thought I would include some details about the field work done along some of my favorite routes in Maine.
Much of the field work I uncovered relates to applied science, completed by the Bureau of Fisheries, to investigate the health of the marine life off the New England coast. Other types included studies of fossils and geological formations (much of the Midcoast region’s terrain is defined by Ice Age glaciers) relating to the US National Museum and in conjunction with the US Geological Survey. Other fieldwork looked in to the flora and fauna towards the interior of the state.
Below is a map indicating some highlights of field work locations.
View Maine fieldwork in a larger map
- April to June 1889 -- Gilbert Van Ingen (under the direction of H. S. Williams) studied paleontology near Moosehead Lake.
- Summer of 1897 -- Frederick True and Daniel Prentiss, Jr., studied in Hancock County -- Brooklin, Walker Pond, and Blue Hill.
- June to August 1899 -- J. B. Henderson studied mollusks in Bar Harbor.
- June 1911 -- Florence Bailey studied birds in Fryeburg Harbor and North Waterford.
- March to May 1913 -- William W. Welsh studied haddock and fish off the coast of Portland.
- May to July 1915 – Welsh studied fishing in Boothbay Harbor and Blue Hill Bay.
- c. 1916 --Isaac Ginsberg studied fishing of the coast of Boothbay Harbor.
- May and December 1955 -- F. R. Fosberg studied plants at Mt. Blue State Park.
- 1943-1947 -- Louis Hutchins studied marine life as part of the United States Navy Buoy Fouling Survey in Portland, Casco Bay, Penobscot, Mt. Desert, and Boone Island.
Hopefully the list above will inspire you to think about your own summer destinations in a new light.
Want to learn more about Maine and the Smithsonian? Check out the Maine Geological Survey page on Maine geology specimens in the Smithsonian.
Also check out Smithsonian Magazine's blog post on oyster middens along the Damariscotta River.
Wednesday, 20 June 2012
André Goeldi Flickr Set: The Journey from 1920 to 2012
By Emily Hunter, Field Book Project
In January, I began cataloging field books in the Department of Botany. In my first week, I came across a box of materials related to the botanist André Goeldi. These materials had a note from our conservator that read “Extremely brittle!” Carefully, I opened the folder and gasped as I saw the contents--black and white photographs of botanical specimens, mostly grasses. Each one was stunning. The photographs themselves were “silvering” (also called silver mirroring)--something that happens to older black and white gelatin prints, in which the silver particles begin to oxidize, producing a blue-ish metallic look. Although a conservation problem, the silver mirroring gave the images an otherworldly glow.
The photographs depicted specimens, set upon a black background, with a tape measure in many of the images to indicate scale. The photographs were clearly taken to document Goeldi’s specimen collection, but it’s hard to deny their aesthetic merit as well. Grass is something usually taken for granted as common, but seeing the variety of grasses depicted in these 36 photographs made me think twice about the familiar plant family. Isolated clumps shown on the dark background gave focus to the form, while highlighting the elegance (and the occasionally tangled chaos) of some of these plants.
I examined the contents of the folder for clues about the materials and their creator. A letter included with the photographs indicated that the images were sent to Albert Spear Hitchcock in 1920. Hitchcock was an expert on grasses, and presumably he and Goeldi corresponded regarding the identification or perhaps the exchange of the specimens. Also included with the photographs were specimen lists, with entries in Portuguese. These lists, handwritten on an extremely acidic paper, were even more brittle than the photographs. Some of the information had even crumbled away from the edges. After consulting with our conservator, I digitized the entire contents of the Goeldi box. This way, the information is captured digitally in case the physical objects wear down and lose additional information. From these images, I selected several of the most interesting to make up the flickr set.
I was interested to find out who André Goeldi was. My initial research returned few results. I knew that André Goeldi was working in Pará, Brazil circa 1913 to 1920, and that he was not the same person as Emílio A. Goeldi, first director of the Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi. I dug into the archives and also reached out to the Museu Goeldi to see if they had additional information. To my delight, Dr. Nelson Sanjad, researcher, History of Science at the Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi, responded to my email and offered additional details on Goeldi’s life. Dr. Sanjad helped to fill in many of the gaps, informing me that Goeldi (name variation Andréas Goeldi) was born in Switzerland in 1872 and immigrated to Brazil in 1893. He worked at the Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi from 1901 to 1906 and then at the experimental farm Estação Agrícola de Peixe Boi. Dr. Sanjad also informed me that Emílio and André were cousins. The correspondence with A. S. Hitchcock dated 1920 may be the last documented mention of André Goeldi’s activities, so perhaps he died shortly after.
This set of field documentation serves as an example of how materials from all over the world end up in the care of the Smithsonian Institution. Curating this set of images sparked an interesting journey for me, and required the collaboration of colleagues across various fields at home at the Smithsonian as well as abroad. The collaborative and interdisciplinary nature of the Field Book Project was something that initially attracted me to apply as an intern over a year ago. I hope that you enjoy learning about the process of bringing these images to the public sphere, and I encourage you to share any comments or additional information on the man behind these photographs.
View the full flickr set here.
Acknowledgements:
Thank you very much to the following people for their assistance with various aspects of this project: Dr. Nelson Sanjad, Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi, Pará, Brazil; Anna Friedman and the conservation staff at Smithsonian Institution Archives; Tad Bennicoff and reference team at Smithsonian Institution Archives; Kira Cherrix and the digitization staff at Smithsonian Institution Archives; and all of my colleagues at the Field Book Project.
Friday, 15 June 2012
Like Son, Like Father; Like Father, Like Son
Edgar A. Mearns: Explorer
Edgar A. Mearns: Naturalist
Edgar A. Mearns: Doctor
Edgar A. Mearns: Daddy
By Sonoe Nakasone, The Field Book Project
Although little is available on the free web on the relationship between Edgar Alexander Mearns and his son, Louis di Zerega Mearns, there is evidence through Mearns’s field notes that the two were close. The small amount of literature I’ve found on the internet seems to confirm this, but you may judge for yourself.
Louis’s name appears many times within the over 200 field books from the Edgar Alexander Mearns Papers, circa 1871-1916, 1934 and undated (Smithsonian Institution Archives Record Unit 7083) housed at SIA and the Division of Birds. It is clear that much of his early years were spent in the company of his father, travelling and collecting as a family. Five of Edgar Mearns’s field books contain notes from Louis. Like his father, Louis’s interests in collecting ranged widely from various zoological disciplines to botany. These field books date from 1891 to 1903, meaning that Louis began collecting with his father as early as 5 years (possibly earlier). These dates, very roughly correspond to the dates of Louis’s publications, the first of which he published in 1897 at the tender age of 11, and the last in 1903, at age 16 or 17. Mearns’s collection also includes eight notebooks belonging to Louis and containing notes that were probably the basis for many of his publications.
Although I cannot read between the lines of the scientific notes in Edgar Mearns’s notebooks, I felt there was an aura of closeness between father and son. Interesting details culled from publications have strengthened this impression.
A memoir written by Charles W. Richmond published in the January 1918 issue of The Auk, reveals that Mearns was a kind, sympathetic, loyal friend with a serene temperament. This promotes my impression of Mearns as a doting father. Richmond exposes other interesting facts. Like his son, Edgar himself was intrigued by natural science from a young age. Alexander Mearns, Edgar’s father, encouraged his son’s interests, purchasing a large illustrated book on native birds when Edgar was three. Furthermore, just as Edgar would one day traverse the familiar east coast and expanding western frontiers with his son close at hand, Alexander enjoyed many a collecting adventure with his son Edgar. Richmond writes, “[Edgar and his father] would shoulder their arms and wander through the fields together, close companions.” It is the similarity between Edgar Mearns and his son as children and Alexander Mearns and his son as fathers that convince me Edgar and Louis were close kin and colleagues in the field.
In the April 1915 issue of The Auk, Edgar eulogized Louis, who had died young of dyptheria in 1912. In the article, Edgar expresses profound respect and admiration for his son’s achievements, praising him in part thusly:
His observations were recorded with fedility [sic] and clearness. In the field he was a delightful companion, an accurate and quick shot with shotgun or rifle, and a clever and successful mammal trapper.
Above, Edgar's reference to his son as a "delightful companion" sums up the kind of bond the two seemed to share.
Speculation alert!
Mearns seems to have proved that “the child is the father of the man,” although that’s perhaps not what Wordsworth meant. I like to think that as an adult, Edgar was still able to relate to his experiences from youth. I like to think that is what made him a great father.
References
Mearns, E. (April, 1915). Notes and news. The Auk, 32(2), 268-269. Retrieved from
http://www.jstor.org/stable/4072474.
Richmond, C. W. (January, 1918). The Auk, 35(1), 1-18. In Memoriam: Edgar Alexander Mearns.
Retrieved from http://elibrary.unm.edu/sora/Auk/v035n01/p0001-p0018.pdf .
Monday, 11 June 2012
Trends in Collecting: Celebrating 5000 Records
by Lesley Parilla, Field Book Project
We have cataloged 5,000 field books, generated by collectors across the National Museum of Natural History and Smithsonian Institution Archives. These include more than 400 collections encompassing botany, entomology, ornithology, ichthyology, herpetology, mammalogy, and invertebrate zoology just to name a few. Collections with confirmed dates range from 1815 to 2008. Cataloged items cover every continent – including Antarctica and northern Polar Regions. They encompass journals, videos, photographs, scrap books, diaries, correspondence, slides (including stereographic), species lists, maps…should I continue?
After cataloging so many field books, some interesting trends emerged. Here are a few highlights of what we have found while cataloging.
A Growing Nation
Early collecting trips were often surveys of newly acquired American territories -- Oregon, Nebraska, and Alaska, for example. Individuals like J. A. Cooper traveled along with military and other participants between forts and new settlements, collecting as much information as possible about vegetation and wildlife. Recorded observations frequently include details about agricultural and commercial possibilities. Often these types of field books are journals with descriptions of communities and inhabitants of these regions.
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September 19, 1940, during Alaska King Crab Investigation with the Fish and Wildlife Service. Smithsonian Institution Archives. SIA2012-0672a. |
Economic Needs
Some collections like those of the Bureau of Fisheries and Bureau of Biological Survey (later to merge and become the Department of Fish and Wildlife) were born out of economic needs. The Bureau of Fisheries came out of a commission established by the US Congress to study the health and locations of fishing grounds. Field books document interviews with local watermen and surveys of locations about the presence and stability of marine life along all major US coastlines.
In a similar vein, the US Biological Survey was created under the US Department of Agriculture, initially studying geographical distributions of flora and fauna and the interplay when relating to control of agricultural pests. The field books of the US Biological Survey often discuss agricultural needs alongside investigations for the creation of nature preserves and refuges, helping to balance economic and conservation needs.
Contemporary Accounts
Journals, correspondence, and diaries can contain fascinating details about contemporary life. Field books at the Smithsonian relate details about interactions with contemporaries, descriptions of communities, and sometimes even food encountered in foreign countries. Some of the most memorable accounts include William and Lucile Mann describing the conditions in European zoos during World War II; Bohumil Shimek’s challenges leaving Europe at the outbreak of World War I; Waldo Schmitt traveling with Franklin D. Roosevelt to the Galapagos in 1938; and William Dall’s interactions with Russians just prior to the purchase of Alaska.
Recording Biodiversity
Field books often include more than one scientific discipline. Many scientists focused on two or three areas of interest, especially those collecting in the nineteenth century. Some, like the field books of Constantine Samuel Rafinesque can include up to five different disciplines.
Relationships between Federal Agencies
Interagency collaboration is not a new concept. Just look through a few NMNH department field book collections. Several departments at Natural History have long-term, deep connections with other agencies. These sometimes remain intact even as federal departments evolve and merge. Smithsonian collections include field books created by military officers (United States Exploring Expedition, also known as the Wilkes Expedition, was headed by US Navy), Bureau of Fisheries, US Department of Agriculture, and Department Fish and Wildlife.
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Page from “Color Notes on Hawaiian Fishes” recorded during Bureau of Fisheries field work at Hawaiian Fish Market. Smithsonian Institution Archives RU 7184, Box 16 Folder 8, 1901. 110726_0708. |
In all, it has been thrilling to see the range of field work documented across the Institution. I think all of us at the Field Book Project will agree it has been a fascinating journey thus far, and look forward to seeing what we find next.
Friday, 08 June 2012
Botany Round-Up
By Emily Hunter and Rusty Russell, Field Book Project
Last summer, Field Book Project staff and interns began to catalog the hundreds of field books that are in the care of the Department of Botany. This summer, the Field Book Project has reached a significant milestone. As of this writing, the final collection of Botany field books is being cataloged -- at least for now. “At least for now” because while the current cache of Botany field books has been documented they, like all of the collections at the National Museum of Natural History, grow and diversify. Field books are still being “found”, and some day current staff will contribute their own field books. For now, the Field Book Project only catalogs the field notes of inactive collectors.
The numbers are far greater than the original estimates. To date the Field Book Project has cataloged 1,018 botanical field books created by 168 field biologists. Many of these field books have received special conservation attention from experts at the SI Archives, and now exist in a more controlled environment. We’ve created consistent records and access points that ultimately make the field books and their content more accessible to researchers. The short version? You will have an easier time finding and using these field books.
In 1980 former Botany Librarian Ruth Schallert prepared an inventory of field books being stored in the Botany Library. For more than two decades, this listing was the only electronically available field book resource on the NMNH website. In the course of cataloging, however, we have found that some of the field books were missing. Their current storage in the Natural History Library improves our ability to maintain and preserve the Botany field books. The task of digitally scanning field books has begun, and soon researchers will be able to locate field book items through the catalog by several access points (dates, creator, locality, and others) and be able to see and read the individual field book pages.
Field books are the original source of information for collecting activities and the resulting collections. They are, therefore, even more important than specimen labels. The impact of reaching this milestone in Botany is significant in terms of improved access to this critical data, all of which bodes well for research and collections programs in the Department.
Tuesday, 05 June 2012
Washington DC: A Different Way of Seeing a Vacation Destination
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Postcard of the United States National Museum Building, now the Arts & Industries Building, c. 1915. Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 95, 2003-19543. |
Summer has announced its presence in the District of Columbia. I know this because the tourists have amassed to summer vacation numbers at the entrances of the museums along the National Mall. As the exhibit halls fill with visitors, the back halls of Natural History begin to empty. For many natural history disciplines, summer is a prime time to head in to the field and collect. In my short time at the Smithsonian I have enjoyed hearing about the many far flung places researchers have traveled during this time of year.
In my experience, it seems that many scientists stay closer to home to collect during the summer, and as Smithsonian scientists often lived in and near the District of Columbia, we’ve cataloged a number of field books documenting DC field work. One of my favorite characteristics of these books has been the specificity of location identification. They frequently indicate not only DC neighborhood but also nearby landmarks (i.e. corner of US Department of Agriculture building).
While passing families peruse maps to determine their next destination on the Mall, I have begun to wonder how many of our popular attractions are documented in the field books. Hopefully my list below will spark some new ways of looking at these familiar locations.
- National Mall, National Museum of Natural History – A.S. Hitchcock, (plants) 1920
- Rock Creek Park – A. S. Hitchcock, 1920
- Soapstone Valley Park near Rock Creek Park -- A. K. Fisher (birds). [This park may not be so well known, but Fisher specifically referred to this as "Picnic woods", so I’m assuming this would be a good place to eat outside this summer.]
- Francis Scott Key Bridge, Georgetown – Alexander Wetmore (birds) for the US Department of Agriculture in 1913
- National Zoological Park – Moynihan (mammals) c. 1960’s and C. L. Wheeler (mammals), 1939
- Ellipse (National Mall) and multiple DC neighborhoods -- Mary Agnes Chase (plants) c. 1905
These are just some of the locations I found in the 110 field books we have cataloged relating to the District of Columbia. For some disciplines, like botany, documentation of DC biodiversity is well established. In fact the Department of Botany at NMNH offers online access to database plant specimens of the Washington DC / Baltimore area. The website also offers maps of what’s currently in bloom.
Whether you are resident heading on your daily commute or a visitor to our fair city, I hope this inspires a new way to look at your surroundings.
Friday, 01 June 2012
Welcome, Field Book Project Interns!
The Field Book Project extends a warm welcome to our two Summer Cataloging Interns Richard Jerome and Alice Doolittle.
Richard Jerome lives in Washington, D.C. where he received his Masters in Library and Information Science (MLIS) in 2012 from the Library and Information Science program at Catholic University. He received his Bachelor's degree in English Literature and Philosophy from Colgate University in Hamilton, NY. In 2011 he completed a practicum in authorities cataloging for the National Archives and Records Administration in College Park, MD. Richard is excited to work for the Smithsonian Institution, an organization he has always admired.
Alice Doolittle lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where she recently completed her Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) degree at the University of Pittsburgh. Alice also holds an M.S. in wildlife conservation from the University of Minnesota and a B.S. in biology from Yale. Having worked as a science teacher, field biologist, and a desk jockey at a conservation organization, Alice looking forward to combining her biology background with her library science training. She views the Smithsonian Field Book Project as a great opportunity for her goals and is excited to be contributing to and learning from the project this summer. She is also excited to be back on her native soil, Washington, D.C.
You will hear more from both Richard and Alice later this summer when they blog about their work, so keep reading.
The Field Book Project is a joint initiative of the Smithsonian Institution Archives and National Museum of Natural History with the goal of creating a Field Book Registry, one online location for field book content.
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