2.69 cu. ft. (2 record storage boxes) (1 16x20 box)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Manuscripts
Black-and-white photographs
Audiotapes
Nitrate materials
Date:
circa 1910-1950
Descriptive Entry:
This accession consists mostly of Knight's correspondence, and includes photographs, diaries, diplomas, and an audiotape.
Historical Note:
Harry Hazelton Knight (1889-1976) was a well-known teacher of entomology and was recognized world-wide as a leading taxonomist. He amassed a large collection of insects,
mostly from North America. His primary area of research was the North American plant bugs (order Hemiptera, family Miridae).
3.01 cu. ft. (3 record storage boxes) (1 oversize folder)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Manuscripts
Clippings
Brochures
Newsletters
Black-and-white photographs
Color photographs
Black-and-white negatives
Nitrate materials
Date:
1921-1972
Descriptive Entry:
Watson Davis was Editor and later Director of Science Service. These papers consist of correspondence, transcripts of addresses by Davis, notes, miscellaneous press
releases and publications, photographs, and other materials relating to Davis' personal life and career at Science Service.
This accession consists of Science Service subject files pertaining primarily to agriculture, farming, plants, animals, forest and forestry, fishes, mining, chemical
technology, manufacturing, the National Park Service, and food. The subject files are arranged according to the Library of Congress classification system.
E - America
HV - Poverty
JV - Emigration and immigration
NC - Posters
QC - Physics
RA - Environmental Health
S - Agriculture (General)
SB - Plant Culture
SD - Forestry
SF - Animal culture
SH - Aquaculture, Fisheries, Angling
SK - Hunting Sports
TA - Civil engineering (General)
TJ - Mechanical engineering and machinery
TN - Mining engineering
TP - Chemical technology
TS - Manufactures
TX - Home economics
VM - Naval architecture. Shipbuilding. Marine engineering
Some of the images were taken by Science Service staff, while others came from manufacturers and governmental agencies such as the National Park Service, the U.S. Department
of the Interior, the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Materials include correspondence and memoranda, photographs and negatives, news releases, and clippings.
Sabrosky, Curtis W. (Curtis Williams), 1910- Search this
Extent:
9 cu. ft. (9 record storage boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Clippings
Manuscripts
Color photographs
Motion pictures (visual works)
Nitrate materials
Date:
1928-1997
Descriptive Entry:
This accession consists of records taken from Curtis Sabrosky's home after his death and given to the Department of Entomology. Materials include personal correspondence,
family photographs, photographs and documents of Sabrosky's extensive travels (both holidays and trips to professional meetings), photographs of specimens, professional correspondence,
lecture slides, travel slides, journals, award certificates and diplomas, and scrapbooks. The majority of the personal letters and travel writing in this accession were written
by Laurel Kingsley Sabrosky. Ms. Sabrosky was employed by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and served with the Red Cross in India during World War II. There
is also genealogical material on the Curtis, Sabrosky and Kingsley families.
Historical Note:
Curtis Williams Sabrosky (1910-1997) was an entomologist who specialized in Diptera, especially Chloropidae. In 1946, Sabrosky joined the staff of the United States
Department of Agriculture, first with the Bureau of Entomology and later with its Systematic Entomology Laboratory (SEL) as a Research Entomologist, and served as Research
Director from 1967 to 1973. From 1980 to 1988, he was a Cooperating Scientist at SEL, as well as a Research Associate of the Department of Entomology, National Museum of Natural
History (NMNH).
Paul Bartsch Papers [Glass Plate Negatives, Photographs, and Negatives]
Extent:
13.38 cu. ft. (82 3x5 boxes) (3 5x8 boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Black-and-white photographs
Glass negatives
Lantern slides
Nitrate materials
Picture postcards
Date:
undated
Descriptive Entry:
This accession consists of lantern slides, primarily of birds, bird eggs, and nests; ferns and wild flowers; miscellaneous subjects such as people, boats and places;
negatives and transparencies; and postcards.
Walcott, Charles D. (Charles Doolittle), 1850-1927 Search this
Extent:
108.59 cu. ft. (16 record storage boxes) (84 document boxes) (1 half document box) (1 12x17 box) (2 16x20 boxes) (8 5x8 boxes) (oversized materials and framed panoramas)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Scientific illustrations
Diaries
Field notes
Black-and-white negatives
Black-and-white photographs
Glass negatives
Nitrate materials
Date:
1851-1940 and undated
Introduction:
The Charles D. Walcott Collection Papers (Record Unit 7004) were given to the Smithsonian Institution by his wife, Mary Vaux Walcott, with certain more recent additions.
The Archives would like to thank Dr. Ellis L. Yochelson, United States Geological Survey, and Frederick J. Collier, Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural
History, for their assistance in transferring items from the Walcott family and the Department for inclusion in this collection.
Descriptive Entry:
The Charles D. Walcott Collection documents his personal, professional, and official life as well as activities of his family. Included are papers from his scientific
and educational activities at the local and national levels, his career as a paleontologist, his administrative career with the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and
to a lesser extent with the Smithsonian, and material on one of his sons' participation in World War I. Some of the collection postdates Walcott's life, including condolences
to his family, an unpublished biography, correspondence between the biographer and Mrs. Walcott, and paleontological field notes by some of his colleagues.
For records relating to Walcott's family there are diaries; photographs; and correspondence with his children, his last two wives, and other family members. There is a
considerable amount of material consisting of correspondence, photographs, memorabilia, publications, and official documents from the French and German governments concerning
Benjamin Stuart Walcott's involvement with the Lafayette Flying Corps in France during World War I and efforts to establish a memorial in France for the Corps. Other personal
records include legal documents; personal financial records; and family correspondence concerning financial investments in power companies, the prolonged illness and death
of his son Charles, the death of his wife, Helena, and his daughter's travels through Europe.
Walcott's professional life is divided between his service with the USGS and the Smithsonian. Documenting his USGS years are photographs; speeches; scrapbooks; reports
and correspondence from his work on forest reserves, the investigation of scientific work conducted by the federal government, and land reclamation; and annual reports. Walcott's
Smithsonian career is documented primarily by correspondence written while serving as honorary curator of paleontology and Acting Assistant Secretary in charge of the United
States National Museum. One scrapbook includes extensive correspondence from scientists, government officials, and friends upon the occasion of Walcott's appointment as Secretary
of the Smithsonian. For a more complete record of Walcott's association with the Smithsonian, the records of the Office of the Secretary (Record Units 45 and 46), records
of the Assistant Secretary, Acting (Record Unit 56), and two special series relating to the budget (Record Unit 49) and to the Research Corporation (Record Unit 51) should
be consulted.
For Walcott's career as a paleontologist, there is documentation in his field notes; publications of his as well as those of others in related areas; manuscripts; diaries;
and photographs, including panoramic views of the Rockies in Alberta, British Columbia, and Montana. In addition, there are paleontological field notes by Ray T. Bassler,
Charles Elmer Resser, and Edward Oscar Ulrich.
Walcott's role in promoting and developing national science policy is partially covered in the records relating to his involvement in the National Academy of Sciences,
National Research Council, Washington Academy of Sciences, and the Carnegie Institution of Washington. Included are legal documents, correspondence, committee minutes, reports,
proceedings, financial statements, membership lists, and related materials. Additional material on the Washington Academy of Sciences can be found in Record Unit 7099. Records
documenting Walcott's involvement in the administration and development of the other organizations exist at those institutions. His affiliation with the George Washington
Memorial Association is documented with correspondence, trustees' minutes, histories of the Association, and drawings and plans for a building. For other national developments
there is correspondence covering Walcott's participation on the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics.
Other types of materials in this collection include certificates, diplomas, awards, and occasionally correspondence concerning his election to honorary and professional
societies and the receipt of honorary degrees, and scrapbooks and diaries which touch on events throughout his life.
See also the online exhibition "Beauty in Service to Science: The Panoramas of Charles D. Walcott."
Historical Note:
Charles D. Walcott (1850-1927) was born in New York Mills, New York, and attended the Utica public schools and Utica Academy, but never graduated. He demonstrated an
early interest in natural history by collecting birds' eggs and minerals; and, while employed as a farm hand, he began collecting trilobites. These he later sold to Louis
Agassiz at Harvard's Museum of Comparative Zoology. Walcott began his professional scientific career in November 1876 when he was appointed as an assistant to James Hall,
New York's state geologist. On July 21, 1879, Walcott joined the United States Geological Survey (USGS) as an assistant geologist. Shortly after arriving in Washington, D.
C., he was sent to southwestern Utah to make stratigraphic sections. His later field work with the Survey included expeditions to the Appalachians, New England, New York,
eastern Canada, and several Middle Atlantic states, as well as other parts of southwestern and western United States. From 1882 to 1893 he worked with the Survey's invertebrate
Paleozoic paleontological collections, and in 1893 he was appointed Geologist in charge of Geology and Paleontology. He also served as an honorary curator of invertebrate
Paleozoic fossils at the United States National Museum (USNM) from 1892 to 1907, and as Acting Assistant Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution in charge of the USNM from
1897 to 1898. His fieldwork from this period resulted in several major publications, including The Paleontology of the Eureka District (1884), a study of fossils in
Nevada; The Fauna of the Olenellus Zone (1888) concerning early North American Cambrian fossils; Correlation Papers on the Cambrian (1890); and Fossil Medusae
(1898). In 1894 Walcott was appointed Director of the USGS. Serving until 1907, he greatly expanded the functions of the agency and was successful in increasing federal appropriations.
In 1891 Congress had given the President the authority to establish public forests, but it was not until 1897 that the administration of the forest reserves was placed under
the USGS. Walcott was instrumental in having legislation passed to enforce the preservation of forest reserves and to add additional land to the reserve program. His predecessor
at the USGS initiated an arid land reclamation program in 1888 which Walcott continued as part of his forest reserve program. In 1902 he established the Hydrographic Branch
to administer the program; but four years later the Branch, since renamed the Reclamation Service, became a separate federal agency. He also created the Division of Mineral
Resources to experiment with coal combustion. In 1907 it was renamed the Bureau of Mines. At the request of President Theodore Roosevelt in 1903, Walcott served as chairman
of a committee to study the scientific work being conducted by the federal government.
Walcott was appointed Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution on January 31, 1907, and resigned from the USGS in April 1907. His administration at the Smithsonian was
marked by numerous accomplishments, including the completion of the National Museum Building (now the National Museum of Natural History) in 1911. He was also successful in
convincing Detroit industrialist Charles Lang Freer to donate his extensive Oriental art collection and money for a building during his lifetime rather than after Freer's
death, as was originally intended. Walcott also set up the National Gallery of Art (predecessor to the National Museum of American Art) as a separate administrative entity
in 1920. To administer Frederick G. Cottrell's gift of patent rights to his electrical precipitator, the Research Corporation was formed in 1912, with revenue from this patent,
as well as future ones, to be used to advance scientific research at the Smithsonian and other educational institutions. Walcott served on the Corporation's Board of Directors
for several years. To further increase the Smithsonian's endowment, Walcott was planning a major fundraising effort; but this was not pursued following his death an February
9, 1927. In 1922, he and his wife established a fund in their names at the Smithsonian to support paleontological research.
Despite his many administrative responsibilities as Secretary, Walcott was able to find time to continue his research and collecting of fossils from the Cambrian and Ordovician
periods, with primary focus on the Canadian Rockies. In 1909 he located Cambrian fossils near Burgess Pass above Field, British Columbia. The following season he discovered
the Burgess shale fauna, which proved to be his greatest paleontological discovery. Most of this research was published in various volumes of the Smithsonian Miscellaneous
Collections from 1908-1931. His one major publication during this period was Cambrian Brachiopoda, published in 1912. Walcott continued to return to the Canadian
Rockies for most seasons through 1925, when he made his last field expedition. As one of the foremost scientific figures in Washington, Walcott helped to establish several
organizations with international renown and restructure existing national organizations. In 1902, Walcott, along with several other prominent individuals, met with Andrew
Carnegie to establish the Carnegie Institution of Washington as a center for advanced research and training in the sciences. Walcott served the Institution in several administrative
capacities. He was also instrumental in convincing Carnegie that the Institution should have laboratories built for scientists rather than use his gift solely for research
grants.
Elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1896, Walcott played a role in having the Academy become more actively involved in national science policy by serving in
many official capacities. In addition to serving on innumerable committees, he held the offices of treasurer, vice president, president, and council member. He was also appointed
to two presidential committees--Timber Utilization and Outdoor Recreation--in 1924 and was reappointed to both in 1926. He was the Academy's first recipient of the Mary Clark
Thompson Medal. Following his death, his wife established the Charles Doolittle Walcott Fund for achievements in Cambrian research.
In 1916 the Academy, at the request of President Woodrow Wilson, created the National Research Council within the Academy to assist the federal government in the interest
of national preparedness. Walcott, as one who met with Wilson, became actively involved in the organization of the Council by sitting on many of its committees, including
one which planned for the present headquarters of the Council and the Academy. Walcott contributed significantly to the development of American aviation. He pressed for the
establishment of the National Advisory Committee for Aviation, which was a predecessor of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. He was instrumental in establishing
air mail service, organizing the Committee on Aerial Photographic Surveying and Mapping, and writing the Air Commerce Act of 1926. Besides his scientific activities, Walcott
lent his influence to other groups, such as the George Washington Memorial Association. That group attempted to create a memorial to Washington by forming an institution to
promote science, literature, and the arts, just as Washington had proposed should be done.
Walcott was married three times - to Lura Ann Rust (d. 1876), to Helena Breese Stevens (d. 1911), and to Mary Morris Vaux (d. 1940). By his second wife he had four children:
Charles Doolittle, Sidney Stevens, Helen Breese, and Benjamin Stuart. Charles died while a student at Yale, and Benjamin was killed in action in France while flying for the
Lafayette Flying Corps. In 1914 Walcott married Mary Morris Vaux, who, while accompanying him on his field trips, studied and painted North American wildflowers. Her work
was published in five volumes by the Smithsonian in 1925.
Although Walcott never received an academic degree, he was the recipient of numerous honorary degrees from colleges and universities in the United States and Europe. His
colleagues recognized his contribution to paleontology by awarding him the Bigsby and Wollaston Medals from the Geological Society of London; the Gaudry Medal of the Geological
Society of France; and the Hayden Medal from the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. He also served as a founder and president, 1899-1910, of the Washington Academy
of Sciences; president of the Cosmos Club, 1898; president, 1915-1917, of the Washington Branch of the Archeological Institute of America; and president, 1925-1927, of the
American Philosophical Society.
Chronology:
March 31, 1850 -- Born in New York Mills, New York
1858-1868 -- Attended public schools in Utica, New York, and Utica Academy
1863 -- Began collecting natural history specimens
1871 -- Moved to Trenton Falls, New York, to work on William P. Rust's farm and began collecting trilobites
January 9, 1872 -- Married Lura Am Rust
1873 -- Sold collection of fossils to Louis Agassiz at Harvard's Museum of Comparative Zoology
January 23,1876 -- Lura Ann Walcott died
November 1876 -- Appointed assistant to Janes Hall, state geologist of New York
1876 -- Joined American Association for the Advancement of Science
July 21, 1879 -- Appointed Assistant Geologist, United States Geological Survey (USGS)
1879 -- Assisted Clarence Edward Dutton in Grand Canyon region in south-central Utah and the Eureka district in Nevada
July 1, 1882 -- Placed in charge of Division of Invertebrate Paleozoic Paleontology at USGS
1882 -- Elected Fellow of American Association for the Advancement of Science
-- Field work in Nevada and Grand Canyon
1883 -- Promoted to Paleontologist, USGS
-- Field work in Grand Canyon and Cambrian studies in Adirondacks and northwestern Vermont
1884 -- Field work in Cambrian fossils in western Vermont; coal deposits in central Arizona; and Lower Paleozoic of Texas' central mineral region; Published first major paper The Paleontology of the Eureka District (USGS Monograph 8)
1885 -- Field work on Cambrians in Highland Range of central Nevada; Permian fossils of southwestern Utah; and Cambrian fossils in Wasatch Mountains near Salt Lake City
1886 -- Published "Classification of the Cambrian System in North America"
-- Cambrian field work in northern New York and western Vermont
1887 -- Cambrian field work in New York, western Massachusetts, and southwestern Vermont
1888 -- Married Helena Breese Stevens; Attended International Geological Congress in London; Placed in charge of all invertebrate paleontology at USGS; Published The Fauna of the Olenellus Zone which discusses Cambrian fossils in North America; Field work in Wales and on Canadian-Vermont border
May 17, 1889 -- Son Charles Doolittle born
1889 -- Cambrian field work in North Carolina, Tennessee, Mohawk Valley of New York, Vermont, and Quebec
1890 -- Published Correlation Papers on the Cambrian; Cambrian strata field work in New York and Vermont and Ordovician strata field work in Colorado Springs, Colorado
1891 -- Field work in New York, Colorado, and Appalachians from Virginia to Alabama
October 2, 1892 -- Son Sidney Stevens born
1892 -- Placed in charge of all paleontological work at USGS; Field work in southern Pennsylvania and western Maryland
1892-1907 -- Honorary curator of invertebrate Paleozoic fossils at United States National Museum (USNM)
January 1, 1893 -- Appointed Geologist in charge of Geology and Paleontology, USGS
1893 -- Vice President, Section E (Geology and Geography), American Association for the Advancement of Science; Examined Lower Paleozoic rocks in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee; Prepared paleontological exhibition for Chicago's Columbian Exposition
August 20, 1894 -- Daughter Helen Breese born
1894 -- Placed in charge of all paleontological collections at USNM; Appointed Director, USGS; Field work in central Colorado and White Mountain Range in California and Nevada
1895 -- Cambrian field work in Montana, Idaho, and Massachusetts
July 8, 1896 -- Son Benjamin Stuart born
1896 -- Joined National Academy of Sciences (NAS); Field work in eastern California and western Nevada and Franklin Mountains near El Paso, Texas
January 27, 1897 -- Appointed Acting Secretary in Charge of the USNM
1897 -- Conducted examination of forest reserves and national parks in Black Hills, Big Horn Mountains, and Inyo Mountains
June 30, 1898 -- Resigned as Acting Assistant Secretary in Charge of the USNM
1898 -- Field work in Lexington, Virginia; Teton Forest Reserve, Wyoming; Belt Mountains near Helena, Montana; and Idaho; President of the Cosmos Club, Washington, D.C.; Published Fossil Medusae (USGS Monograph 30)
1899 -- Field work in Newfoundland, New Brunswick, and Quebec; One of the founders of the Washington Academy of Sciences
1899-1911 -- President of the Washington Academy of Sciences
1900 -- Field work in Montana and Rhode Island
1901 -- Field work in Pennsylvania
January 4, 1902 -- One of the founders of the Carnegie Institution of Washington (CIW) and Secretary of the Board of Incorporators
1902 -- Member of the Advisory Committee on Geology and Advisory Committee on Geophysics of CIW
1902-1905 -- Secretary of Board of Trustees and of Executive Committee of CIW
1902-1922 -- Member, Executive Committee of Board of Trustees of CTW
1902-1923 -- Member of Council of NAS
1902-1927 -- Member, Board of Trustees, CIW
1903 -- Head of Board of Scientific Surveys, CIW; Field work in Uinta Mountains, Utah; House Range of western Utah; Snake River Range of eastern Nevada; Chairman of committee to study scientific work conducted by federal government
1904-1913 -- Honorary Curator, Department of Mineral Technology, USNM
1905 -- Field work in Montana's Rocky Mountains and Cambrian fossils of Utah's House Range
January 31, 1907 -- Appointed Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution
April 1907 -- Resigned as Director of the USGS
1907 -- Field work at Mount Stephen, Castle Mountains, Lake Louise, and Mount Bosworth in British Columbia
1907-1917 -- Vice President of NAS
1908 -- Field work in Montana, British Columbia, and Alberta
1909 -- Found Cambrian fossils near Burgess Pass above Field, British Columbia
1910 -- Found Burgess shale fauna
June 20, 1911 -- National Museum Building (now the National Museum of Natural History) completed
July 11, 1911 -- Wife Helena died in train accident in Bridgeport, Connecticut
1911 -- Field work in British Columbia
1912 -- Field work in Alberta and British Columbia; Published Cambrian Brachiopoda (USGS Monograph 51)
April 7, 1913 -- Son Charles Doolittle died
1913 -- Burgess shale work in Robson Park district, British Columbia, and in Jasper Park, Alberta
June 30, 1914 -- Married Mary Morris Vaux
1914 -- Field work in Glacier, British Columbia, and White Sulphur Springs and Deep Creek Canyon, Montana
1914-1927 -- Vice Chairman, Board of Trustees, CIW
1915 -- Living algae field work in Yellowstone National Park and West Gallatin River; fossil field work in Arizona 1915-1917; President, Washington Branch of the Archeological Institute of America
1915-1919 -- Chairman, Executive Committee of National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics
June 30, 1916 -- Elected member of National Research Council (NRC)
October 1916 -- Freer Gallery of Art building construction begun
1916 -- Field work in British Columbia and Alberta
1916-1923 -- First Vice Chairman, NRC
December 12, 1917 -- Son Benjamin Stuart died in military action in France
1917 -- Appointed member of NRC's Executive Committee, Aeronautics Committee, and Geology and Paleontology Committee; Chairman, NRC's Military Committee; Burgess shale field work around Lake MacArthur and in Vermilion River Valley
1917-1922 -- Chairman, Executive Committee, CIW
1917-1923 -- President, NAS
June 1918 -- Helped organize National Parks Educational Committee (became National Parks Association in 1919)
1918 -- Field work in Alberta; Member, NRC's Interim Committee; Chairman, NRC's Military Division and Section on Aeronautics
1918-1919 -- Chairman, National Parks Educational Committee
1919 -- Field work in Alberta; Chairman, NRC's Committee on Scientific Men as Reserve officers in Reorganized Army; Chairman, NRC's Committee on Removal of Offices of National Research Council; Chairman, NRC's Committee on Representation of United States at International Meetings to be held at Brussels
1919-1920 -- Member, NRC's Committee on General Policy and Solicitation of Funds; Chairman, NRC's Government Division
1919-1922 -- Member, NRC's Committee on Federal Grants for Research; Chairman, NRC's Committee on Publication of "The Inquiry" Results
1919-1924 -- Member, NRC's Research Information Service
1919-1925 -- Member, NRC's Executive Board
1919-1926 -- Member, National Parks Association's Executive Committee
1919-1927 -- Chairman, National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics
-- Chairman, NRC's Division of Federal Relations; Member, NRC's Executive Committee of Division of Federal Relations
1920 -- Field work in Alberta
1920-1921 -- Member, NAS's Federal Relations Committee
1920-1922 -- Chairman, Committee on Budget (jointly with NAS and NRC); Member, NRC's Committee on Building Stone and Committee on Building Plans
1921 -- Field work in Alberta
1921 -- Freer Gallery of Art building completed; Received first Mary Clark Thompson Medal from NAS
1921-1924 -- President, National Parks Association
1921-1927 -- Chairman, NRC's Executive Committee of Division of Federal Regulations
1922 -- Field work in Alberta and British Columbia; Established Charles D. and Mary Vaux Walcott Fund at Smithsonian
1922-1923 -- Member, NRC's Committee on Stabilization of Permanent Foundations; Chairman, Committee on Finance (jointly with NAS and NRC)
1922-1925 -- Member, NRC's Committee on Building; Member, NRC's Committee on Policies
1923 -- Field work in Alberta and British Columbia; President, American Association for the Advancement of Science; Freer Gallery of Art opened
1923-1924 -- Chairman, Committee on Dedication of the New Building (jointly with NAS and NRC)
1923-1925 -- Member, NRC's Interim Committee; Member, Executive Committee, Committee on Exhibits in the New Building (jointly with NAS and NRC)
1923-1927 -- Second Vice Chairman, NRC
1924 -- Field work in Alberta and British Columbia
1924-1925 -- Member, Committee on Exhibits (jointly with NAS and NRC)
1925 -- Field work in Alberta; Life Member, American Association for the Advancement of Science
1925-1927 -- President, American Philosophical Society
1926 -- Helped draft Air Commerce Act of 1926
1926-1927 -- Board of Trustees, National Parks Association
9.35 cu. ft. (7 record storage boxes) (1 half document box) (3 16x20 boxes) (1 oversize folder)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Diaries
Field notes
Scrapbooks
Art objects
Manuscripts
Black-and-white negatives
Nitrate materials
Glass negatives
Black-and-white photographs
Date:
circa 1903-1969, with related papers to 1982
Introduction:
This finding aid was digitized with funds generously provided by the Smithsonian Institution Women's Committee.
Descriptive Entry:
These papers document the professional career of A. Remington Kellogg, and to a lesser extent, his personal life. A small amount of material, which mostly post-dates
Kellogg's death in 1969, was created by his wife, Marguerite H. Kellogg. The papers include incoming and outgoing correspondence concerning his research on recent and fossil
marine mammals, circa 1921-1969; personal correspondence, especially with his wife, circa 1932-1963; photographs of Kellogg, colleagues, fossil whales, and American Society
of Mammalogists meetings; reports and miscellaneous materials regarding the International Whaling Commission, 1956, 1964-1965; files documenting his work on the National Geographic
Society's Committee for Research and Exploration, 1969; field notes, diaries, journals, account books, passports, address books, and expense accounts, circa 1903-1958; biographical
information on Kellogg; a scrapbook containing personal photographs and memorabilia, circa 1930-1960; diplomas, certificates, and awards; class notes and papers from Kellogg's
college days at the University of Kansas and University of California; official documents concerning appointments and ratings from his career in the federal government; files
regarding the International Congress of Zoology, 1963; an oil painting of Kellogg; an information file on mammals which includes extensive correspondence and other records
documenting Philip Hershkovitz's collecting work in South America, circa 1941-1943; and notes, lists, manuscripts, publications, newspaper clippings and related materials
concerning Kellogg's research.
Historical Note:
A. Remington Kellogg (1892-1969) was born in Davenport, Iowa. Kellogg studied mammalogy at the University of Kansas and later at the University of California, where
he concentrated on the evolution of marine mammals. At California, Kellogg met John Campbell Merriam, later President of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, who was instrumental
in supporting Kellogg's studies in cetology. In 1920, Kellogg joined the Bureau of Biological Survey of the United States Department of Agriculture as an Assistant Biologist.
Kellogg also held a research appointment at the Carnegie from 1921 to 1943. He transferred from the Biological Survey to the United States National Museum in 1928 to become
Assistant Curator of Mammals, and became Curator in 1941 on Gerrit Smith Miller, Jr.'s, retirement. In 1948, Kellogg was named Director of the United States National Museum
and held that post until his retirement in 1962. He was also an Assistant Secretary of the Smithsonian from 1958 to 1962. After his retirement, the Smithsonian appointed Kellogg
to an honorary position in the Division of Vertebrate Paleontology where he continued his studies in evolutionary marine mammalogy until his death in 1969.
Kellogg was also extensively involved with the international regulation of whaling from 1930 to 1967. During this period, he served as delegate to the League of Nations
whaling conference, 1930; State Department representative to the International Conference on Whaling at London, 1937; Chairman of the Washington Conference, 1946; United States
Commissioner on the International Whaling Commission, 1947-1967; and Chairman of the International Whaling Commission, 1952-1954.
This collection is comprised of consecutively numbered glass plate negatives, film, and lantern slides of Colorado plants and animals (1882-1915), associated logbooks,
and miscellaneous papers. The logbooks for plate numbers 1-2342, created between 1882 and 1905, provide the plate number, the date of exposure, and notations regarding subject
matter, copyright, sales, and occasional scientific classifications for the subject. While there are no log books for plates created 1906-1915, most are numbered and/or grouped
according to subject.
Historical Note:
Edward Royal Warren (1860-1942) was born in Waltham, Massachusetts and attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (BS, 1881) and Colorado College (1883). Although
originally trained as an engineer, spending his early professional career conducting surveys and assaying mining claims throughout Colorado, by 1902 he was a full-time naturalist,
documenting the state's flora and fauna. It is his work as a naturalist and ornithologist that is represented in this collection, but the photographs also document ranch life
in the American West c. 1890s: cowboys, cattle, ranch architecture, western towns, and Colorado landscapes, mostly in the vicinity of Crested Butte.
Warren used photography and detailed observations to document Colorado's plants and animals. In addition to papers published in "The Auk," "Bird Lore," and "Condor," he
also produced two major works on Colorado wildlife, Mammals of Colorado (1910) and The Beaver - Its Work and Its Ways. In 1909, in recognition of his contributions
to Colorado natural history, he was made honorary director of the Colorado College Museum.
This accession consists of field notes, research notes, correspondence, photographs and negatives (including cellulose nitrate negatives) documenting Lawrence H. Walkinshaw's
research on cranes.
Historical Note:
Lawrence H. Walkinshaw (1904-1993) graduated from the University of Michigan School of Dentistry in 1929. Though a dentist by training, he was a leading authority on
cranes on which he published 61 articles and two books: The Sandhill Cranes (1948) and Cranes of the World (1973). He described the Canadian Sandhill crane (Grus
Canadensis rowani) in 1965. He published on other species as well, most notably Kirtland's warbler.
Smithsonian Institution. Assistant Secretary in charge of the United States National Museum Search this
Extent:
11.00 cu. ft. (22 document boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Manuscripts
Black-and-white negatives
Nitrate materials
Date:
1897-1918
Descriptive Entry:
This record unit consists of incoming and outgoing correspondence and various other records compiled during Richard Rathbun's career as Assistant Secretary. Descriptions
of the records are included as part of the series descriptions.
For other records of Richard Rathbun see Record Units 79, 80, 189, 192, 201, and 7078.
Historical Note:
The history of the office of Assistant Secretary can be traced to January 26, 1847 when the Smithsonian Board of Regents approved the nomination of Charles C. Jewett,
of Brown University, for the position of Assistant Secretary, acting as Librarian. On July 5, 1850 the Board resolved ". . . that the Secretary be authorized to appoint an assistant
secretary in the department of natural history, to take charge of the museum, and to render such other assistance as the Secretary may require . . ." Shortly thereafter, Spencer
F. Baird was appointed to the position. During various periods of time, the Assistant Secretary was also in charge of publications, exchanges, and other areas. Incumbents
included: (1) Spencer F. Baird, 1850-1878; (2) George Brown Goode, 1881-1896, including the years 1881-1887 when he served as assistant director of the museum without the
title of Assistant Secretary; (3) Charles D. Walcott, Acting Assistant Secretary, 1897-1898; (4) Richard Rathbun, 1897-1918. During certain periods of time, the business of
the office was administered by the Executive Curator, Frederick William True.
Richard Rathbun's (1852-1918) association with the Smithsonian Institution began in 1873 when Spencer F. Baird appointed him volunteer assistant in the United States Commission
of Fish and Fisheries (USCFF). In 1878, Rathbun was appointed scientific assistant in the USCFF and detailed to New Haven, Connecticut to work on the collection of marine
invertebrates in the custody of Addison Emery Verrill. He was transferred to Washington in 1880 and the following year was appointed honorary curator of the Department of
Marine Invertebrates in the U. S. National Museum (USNM), a position he continued to hold until 1914. He continued his concurrent duties with the USCFF and USNM until 1896,
when he accepted appointment to the position of Assistant Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, in charge of Office and Exchanges. After the resignation of Charles D.
Walcott as Assistant Secretary, in charge of the National Museum in 1898, Rathbun's duties were revised to include certain aspects of museum administration. During this time
the Executive Curator, Frederick William True was the officer in immediate charge of the museum. In January, 1901, Rathbun was made Assistant Secretary, in charge of the National
Museum, in which capacity he remained until his death in 1918. On the death of Secretary Samuel P. Langley in February, 1906, Rathbun assumed the duties of Acting Secretary
until the election of Charles D. Walcott in 1907. Major accomplishments of Rathbun's Assistant Secretarial years included the completion of the Children's Room of the Smithsonian
Institution, 1901; the development of the National Gallery of Art, 1904-1910 (after 1937 known as the National Collection of Fine Arts); and the construction of the new National
Museum building completed in 1911.
7.48 cu. ft. (1 record storage box) (1 document box) (1 12x17 box) (1 3x5 box) (15 5x8 boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Manuscripts
Clippings
Black-and-white negatives
Black-and-white photographs
Nitrate materials
Date:
1926-1966
Introduction:
This finding aid was digitized with funds generously provided by the Smithsonian Institution Women's Committee.
Descriptive Entry:
These papers were created by both Paul S. Conger and Albert Mann and document their research on diatoms. They include correspondence with colleagues concerning the
identification of specimens, publications, and professional matters, circa 1929-1966; correspondence, notes, publications, newspaper clippings, and related materials regarding
Conger's investigation of several Synura epidemics in the Washington, D.C., water system during the 1940s and 1950s; correspondence concerning a conference of cooperating
microbiologists on fish food problems which was organized by Mann in 1926; correspondence concerning Conger's article on Wisconsin peat deposits, 1939-1941; photographs of
Mann, circa 1920s-1930s; and glass plate negatives of diatoms, diatom habitats, collecting trips, collecting equipment, and general botanical subjects.
Historical Note:
Paul S. Conger (1897-1979) was a botanist who specialized in the study of diatoms, microscopic components of plankton. He was the protege of Albert Mann (1853-1935),
Diatomist of the Carnegie Institution of Washington (CIW). Mann was employed by the CIW but maintained his office and laboratory at the United States National Museum (USNM)
where he also held the title of Honorary Custodian of Diatoms, 1913-1935. In 1922 Conger joined the staff of the Carnegie Institution and worked as Mann's assistant in the
lab at the USNM. After Mann's death, Conger retained his affiliation with the CIW, serving as Research Associate, 1935-1943. Concurrently he was named Honorary Custodian of
Diatoms at the USNM, 1935-1943; then Associate Curator, 1944-1966; and Botanist Emeritus of Cryptogams, 1967-1979.
These papers primarily contain photographs, journals, maps, manuscripts, postcards, and related materials concerning Heller's collecting activities from 1908 to 1917.
There are also some personal photographs and material as well as photographs taken by Heller at the National Zoological Park of personnel and animals.
Historical Note:
Edmund Heller was born in Freeport, Illinois on May 21, 1875. When he was thirteen, he moved with his parents to Riverside, California, which he thereafter considered
his home. As a boy, he spent much time collecting birds and their eggs in the area near Riverside. He was joined in this collecting by Harvey M. Hall, later a noted botanist.
Heller entered Stanford University in 1896 and received his A.B. in 1901. An opportunity arose for Heller to collect on the Galapagos Islands during the Hopkins-Stanford
Expedition in 1898, and together with Robert E. Snodgrass, Heller spent 7 months on the islands. In 1900, the United States Biological Survey employed Heller as assistant
to Wilfred Hudson Osgood in his Alaskan investigations.
Following his graduation, Heller joined the Field Columbian Museum as western field collector and worked in California, Oregon, Lower California, Mexico and Guatemala.
In 1907, Heller accompanied Carl Ethan Akeley on the Field Museum's African expedition.
Upon his return, Heller was appointed curator of mammals at the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology (MVZ) of the University of California. While with the MVZ, Heller participated
in the 1908 Alexander Alaskan expedition and made the report on the mammals collected.
Heller spent the years 1909-1912 with the Smithsonian-Roosevelt and the Rainey African Expeditions. A more detailed account of these expeditions can be found in the introduction
to Series 3 and 4.
In 1914, the United States Biological Survey conducted field investigations in Canada to secure information concerning the habits and distribution of large game mammals.
Heller accompanied the Lincoln Ellsworth expedition to the Dease River-Telegraph Creek area of British Columbia and later to Alberta.
The National Geographic Society and Yale University jointly sponsored an expedition to Peru in 1915 to explore newly discovered ruins of an Incan civilization at Machu
Picchu, northwest of Cuzco. Specialists in various fields were chosen to accompany the party. Heller, as expedition naturalist, supervised the collecting of 891 mammal specimens,
695 birds, about 200 fishes and several tanks of reptiles and amphibians.
In 1916, Heller joined Roy Chapman Andrews and Yvette Borup Andrews on the American Museum of Natural History Expedition to China. A more detailed summary of this expedition
can be found in the introduction to Series 7.
When Paul J. Rainey, with whom Heller had traveled to Africa, was appointed official photographer for the Czech army in Siberia, he invited Heller to accompany him to Russia.
From the summer of 1918 until the end of World War I, they traveled by rail across Siberia to the Ural Mountains and back to their starting point.
In 1919, Heller took charge of the Smithsonian Cape-to-Cairo Expedition. Upon his return, he worked briefly for the Roosevelt Wild Life Experiment Station making a field
study of large game animals in Yellowstone National Park. He was then appointed assistant curator of mammals at the Field Museum under Wilfred Hudson Osgood. During his six
years in that position, Heller made trips to Peru in 1922-1923 and to Africa from 1923-1926.
Heller's trip to Africa was his last collecting effort. After his return, he resigned his position at the Field Museum and became director of the Milwaukee Zoological Garden,
a position that he held from 1928 to 1935. From 1935 until his death in 1939, Heller was director of the Fleishhacker Zoo in San Francisco.
This accession consists of correspondence, field notes, photographs, negatives, clippings, and slides relating to Lawrence H. Walkinshaw's ornithological research,
especially on cranes. Also included are copies of his dissertation, as well as his books Kirkland's Warbler: The Natural History of an Endangered Species, 1983 and
Cranes of the World, 1973.
Historical Note:
Lawrence H. Walkinshaw (1904-1993) graduated from the University of Michigan School of Dentistry in 1929. Though a dentist by training, he was a leading authority on
cranes on which he published 61 articles and two books: The Sandhill Cranes (1949) and Cranes of the World (1973). He described the Canadian sandhill crane (Grus
canadensis rowani) in 1965. He published on other species as well, most notably Kirtland's warbler.
This accession consists of images of cacti maintained by curator Joseph Nelson Rose. Most images were taken in Ecuador, Brazil, Argentina, the Dominican Republic, the
British West Indies, and the Danish West Indies. Some images of people, buildings, and landscapes are also present.
Materials are mostly glass plate negatives and nitrate negatives. There is also a small amount of black and white photographs, illustrations, sketches, and notes.
The bulk of this collection was processed by Jane Livermore, a devoted and tireless volunteer in the Smithsonian Institution Archives between 1995 and 2004. Livermore
is a former Science Service employee. She worked in the organization's library, oversaw the educational project "THINGS of Science," and served as Assistant to the Director.
The Archives wishes to thank Ms. Livermore for her excellent work on this collection.
Many others have assisted on this project. SIA also thanks Helen Shade, Program Assistant in the Archives Division, who helped create folder listings for many of the later
series in this record unit. SIA is especially indebted to historian Marcel C. LaFollette, who has conducted extensive research in this collection, written a historical summary
for this guide, and whose findings in these records have generated excitement both within the Archives and among professional colleagues. SIA could not have created this finding
aid without Dr. LaFollette's contributions, annotations, and insights.
Descriptive Entry:
Record Unit 7091 contains: correspondence and telegrams; drafts and final versions of articles, books, and radio scripts; staff notes and interoffice correspondence;
published material such as pamphlets and news clippings; photographs and drawings; advertisements and trade literature; and other ephemera related to science news coverage
and publishing.
This record unit is one of the largest single collections in the Smithsonian Institution Archives (SIA). There are several related collections in SIA (see Accessions 01-122,
01-243, 04-042, 90-068, 90-105, 93-019, and 97-020 (see also the National Air and Space Museum; the National Museum of American History, including the Archives Center and
collections in agriculture and mining, chemistry, costume, engineering, electricity, medical sciences, military history, modern physics, and photographic history; the National
Museum of Natural History; and the National Portrait Gallery).
The arrangement of RU 7091 reflects the eclectic nature of an active news organization that was reactive to current events and discoveries, in touch with a worldwide network
of researchers, and concerned about accuracy. In 1960, the organization's educational director described their records in this way: "... Science Service has been distributing
science news for 40 years. During that time we have been in touch with practically all the major scientists and the developments which were taking place. Since all of our
material has to have full authentification, we have built up a mass of files" (Letter from Frederick A. Indorf to Joseph C. Shipman, October 24, 1960, Box 350, Folder 13).
This "mass of files" also included two extensive "morgues" that contained back-up material, information, and photographs that could be used in future stories. The informational
"morgue" files were organized according to the Library of Congress classification scheme. A few of these files are in RU 7091 (see Series 7); more extensive collections are
located in SIA Accessions 01-122, 01-243, 90-068, 90-105, and 93-019 and in curatorial collections in Smithsonian Institution museums. A major portion of the biographical
"morgue," containing photographs and information about scientists, engineers, and other public figures, is in SIA Accession 90-105.
Editorial correspondence with news sources was usually filed in the general correspondence files of Series 1 - 5. Some was also filed with the resulting story for the Daily
Mail Report (see Series 8) or with other back-up in a morgue file. Correspondence with scientists and engineers who appeared on the Science Service radio programs may
also be found in the radio program files (see Series 10). Audiotapes of some broadcasts are in Series 20, SIA Accession 04-042, and in the NMAH Archives Center collection
(Call # ACNNMAH0223).
Most folders in RU 7091 retain the original folder's title. This finding aid uses edited descriptions and additional notes to assist researchers in navigating through the
record unit. Most correspondence was filed by the date and the last name of correspondent, but documents were sometimes filed alphabetically according to a topic or by the
name of an individual's affiliation.
The topics covered in RU 7091 include all fields of science and engineering, theoretical physics to bridge construction techniques, wildlife conservation to plastics and
paints. There is considerable attention to social and economic issues and to military research and censorship during World War II. The staff visited museums, observatories,
industrial test facilities, and military installations; they reported on most of the major scientific events of the time, including the Scopes trial. During the 1930s and
1940s, Science Service purchased news and photographs from official U.S.S.R. news offices and also supported efforts to interact with Soviet scientists. There were attempts
to establish branch operations in England and France and to encourage science popularization and education in Mexico.
Correspondents include trustees, news sources, publishers, writers, and business clients. Most inquiries from readers or listeners were answered and filed with regular
editorial correspondence. "Taffy" is the term Science Service used for complimentary correspondence; it is often filed separately. Series 5 also contains manuscripts and letters
from scientists and non-scientists who were convinced they had discovered, proved, or understood a new scientific principle or insight - or else could save humanity from foreseeable
destruction.
Frequent correspondents among the trustees included: C. G. Abbot, Edward U. Condon, Rene J. Dubos, Frank R. Ford, George Ellery Hale, Ross G. Harrison, Harrison E. Howe,
W. H. Howell, Vernon Kellogg, Karl Lark-Horovitz, D. T. MacDougal, Kirtley F. Mather, John C. Merriam, Robert A. Millikan, Raymond Pearl, Marlen E. Pew, Michael I. Pupin, I. I.
Rabi, Charles Edward Scripps, Robert P. Scripps, Paul B. Sears, Thomas L. Sidlo, Harry L. Smithton, Mark Sullivan, Warren S. Thompson, Henry B. Ward, Alexander Wetmore, David
White, William Allen White, and Robert M. Yerkes.
Other notable writers, scientists, and public figures include: William Beebe, Hans A. Bethe, Charles Bittinger, Howard W. Blakeslee, Edwin G. Boring, Bart J. Bok, Gregory
and Marjorie Breit, P. W. Bridgman, Wilfred Swancourt Bronson, Rachel Carson, George Washington Carver, Morris L. Cooke, Clarence Darrow, Frances Densmore, Thomas A. Edison,
Enrico Fermi, Henry Field, George Gamow, Eugene Garfield, Robert H. Goddard, Peter C. Goldmark, Hamilton Holt, J. Edgar Hoover, Julian S. Huxley, Louis M. Lyons, Margaret
Mead, Merrill Moore, Edward R. Murrow, H. H. Nininger, Henry Fairfield Osborn, Gifford Pinchot, James A. Reyniers, J. B. Rhine, Walter Orr Roberts, M. Lincoln Schuster, John
T. Scopes, Glenn T. Seaborg, Gilbert Seldes, Elizabeth Sidney Semmens, Upton Sinclair, Otto Struve, Elihu Thomson, Harold C. Urey, Mark Van Doren, Selman A. Waksman, Henry
A. Wallace, Warren Weaver, H. G. Wells, and Gaylord Wilshire.
RU 7091 contains extensive records of the transactions with temporary correspondents and photographers, notes on the article titles and amounts paid, as well as correspondence
discussing particular scientific events and, during the 1930s and 1940s, the situation in Europe. Among the active European correspondents were Maxim Bing in Switzerland,
Victor Cofman in England, and Theodor G. Ahrens, Hans F. Kutschbach, and Gabrielle Rabel in Germany.
Researchers interested in the history of American publishing, journalism, advertising, and public relations will find extensive correspondence with professionals in those
fields. Newspaper Enterprise Association, or "NEA Service," was a news syndicate established by the Scripps organization in 1909, to which Science Service sold articles and
feature series. They also marketed articles and photographs to publications like Life and Reader's Digest. There is considerable correspondence with the editors
about topic selection and why particular stories were rejected.
Science Service staff used special abbreviations in their interoffice correspondence. Starting in the 1930s, small name and date stamps were also used to record or acknowledge
all correspondence and notes. Abbreviations were written in all capital letters as well as in initial cap form (e.g., Watson Davis was "WD" as well as Wd"). Here is a partial
list of abbreviations that appear frequently in RU 7091:
ACM = A. C. Monahan
An = Anne Shiveley, secretary to Watson Davis
Ba = Howard Bandy, treasurer
Be = Miriam Bender, office staff
DGL = Donald G. Loomis, assistant treasurer
Do = Dorothy Reynolds, secretary to Watson Davis
Ed = Emily C. Davis (sometimes written as "ECD")
En = Leonard Engel
Ew = Ann Ewing
Fa = Bob Farr
FD = Fremont Davis
Fl = Margaret Fleming
Fr = Violet Frye
Gi = Minna Gill, librarian
Hd = Helen Miles Davis
Hj = Hallie Jenkins, sales manager
Ho = Janet Howard
HW = Howard Wheeler, business manager
JWY = J. W. Young
Js = James Stokley
Kl = Fred Kline, list room
Kr = Joseph Kraus, science youth programs
Md = Marjorie MacDill (Breit); in 1928, Jane Stafford became the medical editor and used these initials from 1928-1936
Mg = Mary McGrath, secretary to Watson Davis
Ml = Bernice Maldondo
Mm = Martha G. Morrow
Mn = Minna Hewes
Mo = Morton Mott-Smith
Ot = Frances Ottemiller
Pd = Phillippa Duckworth, secretary to E. E. Slosson
Ps = Page Secrest
Pt = Robert Potter
Ri = William E. Ritter
RLI = Ronald L. Ives, photograph editor
RNF = Robert N. Farr
Ro = Ron Ross
Sl = E. E. Slosson
St = Jane Stafford, after 1936
Th = Frank Thone
Vn = Marjorie Van de Water
Wd = Watson Davis
We = Margaret Weil
Wi = Austin Winant
Interoffice correspondence in the 1920s also used these abbreviations: Bk = bookkeeper; Cr = circulation; Fl = File; Lb = library or library files; Mr = mailroom; Rt =
retail files; Sa = sales department; Tp = typing department; Wb = wastebasket.
Historical Note:
Science Service, a not-for-profit institution founded to increase and improve the public dissemination of scientific and technical information, began its work in 1921.
Although initially intended as a news service, Science Service produced an extensive array of news features, radio programs, motion pictures, phonograph records, and demonstration
kits and it also engaged in various educational, translation, and research activities. It later became Science Service, Inc., an organization that publishes Science News
and promotes science education. On January 10, 2008 Science Service was renamed Society for Science & the Public (SSP).
Record Unit 7091 contains correspondence and other material related to Science Service, from just before its establishment through 1963, including the editorial correspondence
of the first two directors and senior staff.
The inspiration for such an organization developed during conversations between newspaper publisher E.W. Scripps (1854-1926) and zoologist William E. Ritter (1856-1944),
who headed the Scripps-funded oceanographic institute in California. "Document A - The American Society for the Dissemination of Science," dictated by E. W. Scripps on March
5, 1919 (see Box 1, Folder 1), declared that the "first aim of this [proposed] institution should be just the reverse of what is called propaganda." Scripps believed that
it should not support partisan causes, including those of any particular scientific group or discipline, but should instead develop ways to "present facts in readable and
interesting form..." (p. 3). Scripps and Ritter held meetings throughout the United States to solicit ideas and support from scientists. By 1920, they had concluded that the
best way to improve the popularization of science would be to create an independent, non-commercial news service with close ties to, but not operated by, the scientific community.
The scientists would lend credibility to the organization's work, help to ensure accuracy, and project an image of authority.
Scripps supplied an initial donation of $30,000 per year from 1921 until his death in 1926. His will placed $500,000 in trust for Science Service and provided a continuing
endowment until the trust was dissolved in 1956.
Science Service did not provide all its services for free. Scripps believed that the news service would be more valued by its clients - and would better reflect their needs
and professional standards - if it charged a fair price for its products. As a result, the history of the organization is one of continual innovation, as the staff developed
and marketed new syndicated features, wrote articles and books for other publishers on commission, and re-wrote each basic news story for multiple markets.
From the beginning, Science Service was guided by a 15-member board of trustees composed of two groups: prominent scientists nominated by the National Academy of Sciences,
American Association for the Advancement of Science, and Smithsonian Institution, and newspaper editors or executives nominated by the Scripps-Howard organization or the Scripps
family trust. William E. Ritter served as the first president of the board of trustees. Such scientists as J. McKeen Cattell, Edwin G. Conklin, Harlow Shapley, and Leonard
Carmichael (the seventh Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution) succeeded him over the next four decades.
During the summer of 1920, Ritter began negotiations with Edwin E. Slosson (1865-1929), a well-known chemist and popularizer. Slosson had taught at the University of Wyoming
for thirteen years until moving to New York to become the literary editor of The Independent. He began work as the head of Science Service in January 1921.
The first public announcement of the creation of Science Service appeared in Science, April 8, 1921, pp. 321-323. The first meeting of the trustees was held on May
20, 1921; the Science Service trust was set up July 22, 1921; and the not-for-profit organization was incorporated in the state of Delaware on November 1, 1921.
In 1921, Howard Wheeler, former editor of the San Francisco Daily News, was hired as the business manager. Watson Davis (1896-1967), a civil engineer who had been
working at the National Bureau of Standards and writing science features for a Washington, D.C., newspaper, was hired as principal writer. In 1923, Wheeler was fired; Slosson
(whose title had been "Editor") was named Director; and Davis was promoted to managing editor.
Throughout the 1920s, Davis built the news service through the "Daily Science News Bulletin," which later became the syndicated "Daily Mail Report" sold to newspapers around
the country. He developed a local radio program and script service ("Science News of the Week"), coordinated a project to produce phonograph records, and assembled a skilled
staff to handle reporting, circulation, production, sales, advertising, and accounting. Davis also edited the organization's most successful product, Science News Letter
(titled Science News Bulletin, April 2, 1921-March 1922, and Science News-Letter, March 1922-October 1930).
After Slosson's death on October 15, 1929, the trustees favored replacing him with another scientist. Davis lobbied for the position but remained as managing editor until
he was finally appointed director in 1933. He guided the organization until his retirement in 1966.
From 1921-1924, the editorial offices were located in offices rented by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) in Washington. When the NAS moved to its own building at
2101 Constitution Avenue, N.W., in April 1924, Science Service acquired space there. As World War II began, space became precious at the NAS headquarters. In spring 1941,
Science Service purchased its own building at 1719 N Street, N.W., to house its expanding operations and staff.
Between 1921-1963, Davis and senior writers such as Frank Thone, James Stokley, Jane Stafford, and Marjorie Van de Water interviewed hundreds of scientists and engineers,
and wrote thousands of articles, often maintaining a lively correspondence with their sources. Thone, a botanist with a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, worked for the
organization from 1924 until his death in 1949, covering both the Scopes trial and the atomic tests at Bikini Atoll; astronomer Stokley joined the group in 1925 and continued
to write the "Star Map" feature even after he went to work for the Franklin Institute and for General Electric. Stafford, one of the founding members of the National Association
of Science Writers, covered medicine and biology for Science Service from 1928 to 1956. Van de Water covered psychology and related topics from 1929 through the 1960s. Other
members of the Davis family also assisted in the operations, including Watson's wife, the chemist Helen Miles Davis (1896-1957), who edited Chemistry from 1944, when
it was acquired by Science Service, until shortly before her death. Watson's brother Fremont Davis served as the organization's photographer.
Science Service also depended on an extensive network of part-time correspondents, or "stringers," in the United States, Europe, and Asia, to provide information and photographs.
Most of these contributors were graduate students, young professors, or schoolteachers. By the mid-1930s, Science Service was dispensing small fees (under $10.00) for over
500 short news items and illustrations annually. The staff was also answering hundreds of letters each year from readers of all age who were curious about science in general
or had specific questions about a subject mentioned in the news. The correspondence with these people afford a rich resource for social and cultural historians.
In addition to sending its writers to participate in expeditions, Science Service established projects to collect scientific data, such as seismological information and
ursigrams, and to compile weekly astronomical and meteorological charts. They also initiated a "Scientific Minute Men" project in which a network of archeologists and other
scientists were authorized to wire Science Service at no charge.
The activities of the staff and organization were wide-ranging and reflect the breadth of science and scientific concerns during the twentieth century. Slosson and Davis
were involved extensively with groups like the American Association for the Advancement of Science, British Association for the Advancement of Science, Sigma Xi, and American
Eugenics Society, and the staff writers covered dozens of scientific meetings every year, sometimes serving as officers of those associations. Davis was a major participant
in the National Inventors Council and served on dozens of advisory committees for scientific laboratories and universities, and national and international government agencies.
With Alexander Gode, Davis worked to promote acceptance of Interlingua, an international scientific language. One of the organization's most lasting contributions was to science
education, through its sponsorship of Science Clubs of America, National Science Fairs, the Science Talent Search, and informal teaching units called "THINGS of Science."
Science Service also sponsored early innovation in microphotography, established a Documentation Division and a Bibliofilm Service, and helped to found the American Documentation
Institute.
For the first four decades of its existence, however, the central mission remained science journalism. As Davis wrote in 1960, Science Service strived from the beginning
to convince both publishers and scientists that "science is news, good news, news that can compete, from a circulation standpoint, with crime, politics, human comedy and pathos,
and the conventional array of news and features" and that science "could be written popularly so as to be accurate in fact and implication and yet be good reading in newspaper
columns" (Watson Davis, "The Rise of Science Understanding," 1960, Box 368, Folder 2). These records will help historians to understand better the processes of negotiation,
adjustment, and innovation which created that news. - Marcel C. LaFollette
Collected Notes, Photographs, and Graphic Illustrations on Turtles, Division of Reptiles and Amphibians
Creator::
United States National Museum. Division of Reptiles and Amphibians Search this
Extent:
1 cu. ft. (1 record storage box)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Scientific illustrations
Black-and-white photographs
Black-and-white negatives
Nitrate materials
Manuscripts
Date:
1853-1953
Descriptive Entry:
This collection, which probably began to be assembled in the 1930s, comprises an information file on turtles, containing a high proportion of visual material: chiefly
photographs (often only negatives) and graphic illustrations, many in watercolor. Several of these are by illustrator Antonio Zeno Shindler, and one is by Spencer F. Baird.
Working notes and correspondence pertaining to turtles make up the balance of the collection. Leonhard Stejneger appears initially to have collected the material, and Doris
Mable Cochran continued the task.
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 7445, United States National Museum, Division of Reptiles and Amphibians, Collected Notes, Photographs, and Graphic Illustrations on Turtles, Division of Reptiles and Amphibians
This collection consists of photographs and negatives created by Lawrence H. Walkinshaw.
Historical Note:
Lawrence H. Walkinshaw (1904-1993) graduated from the University of Michigan School of Dentistry in 1929. Though a dentist by training, he was a leading authority on
cranes on which he published 61 articles and two books: The Sandhill Cranes (1949) and Cranes of the World (1973). He described the Canadian sandhill crane (Grus
canadensis rowani) in 1965. He published on other species as well, most notably Kirtland's warbler.