1.25 cu. ft. (1 record storage box) (1 half document box)
Type:
Manuscripts
Collection descriptions
Brochures
Date:
1993
1993-2000
Topic:
Museums--Administration
Local number:
SIA Acc. 03-115
Summary:
This accession includes correspondence documenting administrative decision-making, development and execution of Lemelson Center activities, events, exhibitions, and programs. Materials primarily include the incoming and outgoing correspondence of Arthur P. Molella, Director, 1995- ; and, Claudine Klose, Program Manager, 1995-
These records consist of copies of outgoing administrative and curatorial correspondence and internal memoranda dating from July 1968, when the Museum was transferred to the Smithsonian Institution
These records consist of correspondence related to 1893-1899 submissions for the Hodgkins Prize, a competition aimed at explicating the connections between atmospheric air and human welfare
Smithsonian Institution Bureau of American Ethnology
United States National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics
Smithsonian Institution Administration
United States Interstate Commerce Commission
Physical description:
1.5 cu. ft. (3 document boxes)
Type:
Manuscripts
Collection descriptions
Date:
1903
1903-1925
Topic:
Museums--Administration
Local number:
SIA Acc. 05-162
Summary:
These records consist of correspondence and related materials dealing with the function and administration of the Office of the Secretary during the tenures of Samuel P. Langley and Charles Doolittle Walcott.. Correspondents include Alexander Graham Bell, the Bureau of American Ethnology, the Interstate Commerce Commission, the Library of Congress, and the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics. Materials include correspondence, tables, reports, and proposals. See Record Unit 45 for related materials
United States National Herbarium Department of Botany (USNM)
Division of Botany (USDA)
United States National Herbarium
Herbarium, United States National
Physical description:
0.7 linear meter
Type:
Mixed archival materials
Collection descriptions
Date:
1894
1894-1903
Topic:
Botany
Local number:
SIA RU000222
Summary:
These records are the official files of Charles Louis Pollard (1872-1945) as Assistant Curator of the Division of Botany, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), 1894-1895, and the Division of Plants, United States National Museum (USNM), 1895-1903. Pollard also edited Plant World from 1899 to 1907
These records document the activities of both divisions, as well as Pollard's scientific and administrative activities from 1894 to 1903. The records of both divisions have been maintained together and contain incoming and outgoing correspondence with botanists, entomologists, horticulturists, USDA and USNM administrative staff; foresters and colleagues; seed laboratories; and natural history and scientific societies. The correspondence chiefly concerns the examination, identification, collection, and exchange of botanical specimens, especially violets, mosses, grasses, ferns, fern-like plants, food plants, herbs, shrubs, and trees
The correspondence also includes accession lists, annual reports, requests and approvals for field work, nomenclatorial work, and routine correspondence in reference to the publication of Plant World and other publications concerning botanical specimens. Also included are some of Pollard's manuscripts: NEW AMERICAN SPECIES OF CHAMAECRISTA; A NEW VIOLET FROM NEW JERSEY; THE GENUS OXYTRIA OF RAFINESQUE; and THE TWO VIOLETS
Joseph Hannum Painter was an Aid in the Division of Plants, United States National Museum, 1904-1908. These records contain Painter's incoming and outgoing correspondence with botanists and Smithsonian staff concerning the shipment of specimen collections; identification of specimens; mounting of collections; and Painter's work on the yellow pond lily, Nymphaea. Also included are copies of outgoing payments made by Joseph Nelson Rose for specimen collections, equipment, staff salaries, and labor, circa 1908-1911
Freer Gallery of Art Superintendent of Construction
Subject:
Bundy, John
Freer Gallery of Art
Freer Gallery of Art Building
Physical description:
2 cu. ft. (2 record storage boxes)
Type:
Manuscripts
Collection descriptions
Drawings
Date:
1913
1913-1936
Topic:
Building--Estimates
Building--Fittings
Museum buildings
Local number:
SIA Acc. 02-027
Summary:
This accession consists of records created and maintained by John Bundy, Superintendent, 1921-1939, documenting the construction and design of the Freer Gallery of Art building as well as materials needed for the building and costs incurred. Materials include incoming and outgoing correspondence, telegrams, account statements, agreements, and sketches
Smithsonian Institution Advisory Committee on Printing and Publication
Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
National Zoological Park (U.S.)
Physical description:
5.7 linear meters
Type:
Mixed archival materials
Collection descriptions
Date:
1887
1887-1907
Topic:
Museums--Administration
Local number:
SIA RU000034
Restrictions:
(1) Deteriorating letterpress affects legibility; (2) record unit partially microfilmed; (3) use of this record unit requires prior arrangement with the Archives staff
Notes:
Shortly after Samuel P. Langley became Secretary, a new system of organizing outgoing correspondence was devised. Some of the records have not survived to the present; hence, there are gaps in series numbers
Use of this record unit requires prior arrangement with the Archives staff
Notes:
The Department of Biology was formed during the reorganization of the United States National Museum in 1897. At that time, the various departments in the biological sciences became divisions and the department was set up as the organizational unit controlling those divisions. The first Head Curator was Frederick William True who served from 1897 to 1911. In 1911, Leonhard Stejneger became Head Curator and held that position until his death in 1943. Waldo LaSalle Schmitt was the last Head Curator of the Department and served until its separation in 1947 into the Departments of Zoology and Botany. Schmitt continued as Head Curator of Zoology and Ellsworth Paine Killip was appointed Head Curator of Botany
Summary:
The correspondence in this record unit contains only a portion of the correspondence of the two Departments. Other material relating to the Department of Biology can be found in the Frederick William True Papers, record unit 7181, and the Leonhard Stejneger Papers, record unit 7074
The history of taxidermy in the Smithsonian Institution closely parallels the development of the public exhibition role of the United States National Museum. Prior to 1858, specimens in the possession of the Museum were made up chiefly for purposes of scientific study, and the art of the taxidermist was not in great demand. The transfer of the national collections from the Patent Office to the Smithsonian in 1858 provided the initial impetus for the development of the United States National Museum's exhibition series and of the skills needed to properly prepare and maintain it
Between 1858 and 1872, the Museum used both outside contractors and some staff members to do necessary mounting work. Increased appropriations from Congress in 1872 allowed the hiring of a permanent taxidermist, Joseph Palmer. In 1874, his son William also joined the taxidermic staff. Both Palmers continued their association with the Smithsonian until their deaths, Joseph's in 1913 and William's in 1921. In his later years, Joseph Palmer worked chiefly with the Department of Anthropology, modeling figures for exhibit
William Temple Hornaday became Taxidermist in 1882 and remained with the Museum until 1889. In the course of his taxidermic work at the Museum, Hornaday began to collect live animals to serve as models for his mountings. The public interest that these animals generated led to the creation of the Department of Living Animals in 1888 with Hornaday as its first Curator. This eventually became the nucleus of the National Zoological Park, which was started in 1890. Hornaday was named the first Superintendent, but policy differences arose which eventually led to his resignation in 1890. In 1896, he became Director of the New York Zoological Park and held that position for thirty years. On Hornaday's resignation, William Palmer was appointed chief Taxidermist
Summary:
This record unit includes an alphabetical file of correspondence of William Temple Hornaday as Taxidermist and Curator of Living Animals. The correspondence deals mainly with the collecting and shipping of specimens and live animals, Hornaday's trip to Montana in 1886, taxidermy, and the operations of Hornaday's departments. Correspondents include museum officials, collectors, shippers, and taxidermists
Use of this record unit requires prior arrangement with the Archives staff
Notes:
The Smithsonian Institution, prior to 1882, confined its activities in entomology to the distribution of specimens to workers in the field and the publication of their research. Many of the specimens eventually were deposited with the United States Department of Agriculture which the Smithsonian had designated as repository for the collections in 1874. The need for better curation of the collection led to the appointment of the Department of Agriculture Entomologist, Charles Valentine Riley, as Honorary Curator of Insects and to the transfer of the collection to the United States National Museum in 1882. Riley's successor at the Agriculture Department, Leland Ossian Howard, became Honorary Curator on Riley's death in 1895 and held the post until his own death in 1950. Other entomologists from Agriculture also served frequently as custodians of various parts of the collection
In addition to the Department of Agriculture staff, the Museum also appointed a number of curators in the Division of Insects. For the time period covered by these records, those curators included John Bernhard Smith, Assistant Curator, 1886-1889, and William Harris Ashmead, Assistant Curator, 1897-1908
Summary:
These records are the official incoming correspondence for the Division of Insects regarding determination, acquisition and loan of specimens, and other scientific matters
United States Experimental Grass and Forage Station (Garden City, Kansas)
United States National Herbarium Department of Botany (USNM)
Division of Botany (USDA)
Physical description:
2.9 linear meters
Type:
Letterpress copybooks
Collection descriptions
Date:
1870
1870-1893
Topic:
Botany
Local number:
SIA RU000220
Notes:
The foundations of the present Department of Botany of the National Museum of Natural History are the extensive collections of plants gathered by the government exploring expeditions of the 1800s and those assembled by the United States Department of Agriculture in connection with its investigations. The Smithsonian had original control of the specimens collected by the expeditions, and these were forwarded to John Torrey at Columbia College in New York, who had offered to house and prepare the collections without remuneration. When Torrey returned the specimens in 1868, lack of facilities and manpower led Joseph Henry to arrange for the Department of Agriculture to act as repository for the collections. There it was merged with the existing collections of the Department. Charles Christopher Parry was named Botanist of the Department of Agriculture in 1868 to care for the collection and served until 1871. George Vasey was appointed Botanist and Curator of the National Herbarium in 1872
Lester Frank Ward, who had been appointed Honorary Curator of Fossil Plants in the United States National Museum in 1881, put together another collection of plants for comparison with his fossil specimens. This collection grew to the point where Ward was also named Honorary Curator of the Department of Recent Plants in 1885. In 1889, Vasey was given charge of the collection and appointed Honorary Curator of the Department of Botany. He retained this title until his death in 1893
In 1894, arrangements were made by Frederick Vernon Coville, Vasey's successor, to have the collections housed at Agriculture moved to the Museum. There they were merged with Ward's collection although transfer of appropriations and personnel did not occur until 1896. Since that time, administration of the United States National Herbarium has come from the United States National Museum's Division of Plants and its successors
Summary:
Most of these records are the official files of George Vasey as Botanist of the United States Department of Agriculture and Curator of the United States National Herbarium from 1872 to 1893. They include incoming and occasional outgoing correspondence, mostly to Vasey, but sometimes to Jeremiah M. Rusk, Secretary of Agriculture; Edwin Willits, Assistant Secretary of Agriculture; Frederick Watts and George B. Loring, Commissioners of the Department of Agriculture; and C. A. Cammon, Assistant Commissioner of the Department. All correspondence was referred to Vasey for response; and he either answered it himself or referred it to one of the Assistant Botanists, Joseph Nelson Rose, Frederick Vernon Coville, or Lyster Hoxie Dewey. Correspondents include leading United States and foreign botanists; colleagues; directors and curators of United States and foreign herbaria; custodians of botanical nurseries; naturalists; plant collectors; dealers in patent medicines; feed companies; seed growers; ranchers; farmers; geological surveys of the United States and Canada; Department of Agriculture staff members and administrative officers; Smithsonian Institution administrators; newspaper publishers and editors; scientific societies; the United States Experimental Grass and Forage Station at Garden City, Kansas; and in particular, botanists from the agricultural and mining colleges and their agricultural experiment stations
This record unit contains requests for botanical specimens and seeds; determination, identification, and description of plants, grasses, and seeds, requests for plants to protect embankments; purchase of specimens; transfer of specimens to the National Herbarium; exchange of plant collections; lists of specimens in herbaria; information on plant collection methods; collecting in the field; botanical experiments; publishing taxonomies and other articles on botanical collections; requests for Department of Agriculture publications on American grasses; requests for Smithsonian publications; requests by Vasey for botanical publications; Smithsonian requests for material regarding the National Herbarium for its Annual Report; requests for jobs with the Department of Agriculture; staff salary increases and transfers of staff members; activities of colleagues and their collections; personal matters; and drafts of manuscripts
Also included are outgoing letterpress correspondence from Vasey, administrative officers of the Department of Agriculture, and Assistant Botanists regarding the above subjects
General Montgomery Cunningham Meigs was Quartermaster General of the United States Army during and after the American Civil War. He was responsible for the purchase and distribution of supplies to the Union troops. Meigs was also an engineer and architect, and before and after the war, he supervised numerous projects throughout Washington, D.C. as part of the Army Corps of Engineers. He supervised the construction of wings and the dome of the Capitol building and the expansion of the General Post Office building. Meigs designed the Old Pension Office Building. His most amazing contribution to the city, however, was the Washington Aqueduct. Interestingly, it was Meigs who suggested to Abraham Lincoln that Arlington would be a good place for a cemetery. Meigs is buried there
Leonard Jarvis was an American politician who served in Congress from 1829 to 1837. He was chairman of the Committee on Naval Affairs for some time. This contract is signed by him
John Vanderlyn was an American neoclassicist painter who painted portraits of politicians in the early 19th century. He was commissioned by Congress in 1842 to paint the landing of Columbus. This painting was later reproduced on a stamp. This painting was commissioned for the renovation of the rotunda in the Capitol Building
John Chapman was an American congressman who represented Pennsylvania. He worked as a judge before being elected to the House of Representatives
Summary:
This folder houses a series of letters referencing the building and renovation of the United States Capitol Building, most of which are from architects who worked on the project. One of the contracts orders iron beams for use in extending the Capitol building in 1857, during the second remodeling
Cite as:
Thomas B. Brumbaugh collection of 19th and 20th century American artists' correspondence 1831-1979. Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Gift of Susan A. Hobbs, 2009
Healy was an American academic painter during the 19th century who painted mostly portraits, including a rather well-known one of Abraham Lincoln seated, which hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. He studied in Paris, and worked in Paris, Rome, and Boston. Healy was prolific, painting as many as 50 portraits in a single year, including a series of American presidents, and group pictures depicting congressmen and other famous political figures. The picture depicts Senator Daniel Webster's (MA) reply in Senate to Senator Robert Hayne (SC) in 1830. They debated the issue of states' rights and nullification, and Webster defended a strong national government, famously declaring, "The motto should not be 'Liberty first, and Union afterwards,' but 'Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable!'"
Hon. George C. Washington was born in Virginia in 1789 and died in Georgetown, D.C. in 1854. He attended Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, served in the Maryland legislature, and served several terms representing Montgomery County in Congress
Eastman Johnson was an American painter who co-founded the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Johnson painted many influential Americans of his day, and his style was influenced by the Dutch masters, earning him the title of "The American Rembrandt."He was born in Maine in 1824, but moved to Washington, D.C., where he completed many of his portraits. Johnson lived among Native American tribes and opened a studio in New York
George Willoughby Maynard was an American painter who started his career by completing murals in Boston's Trinity Church. He later did many murals in the Library of Congress
Ambrose McEvoy painted figures, landscapes, and portraits in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He was a founder-member of the National Portrait Society in England, and painted a number of portraits of soldiers and sailors, which are now in the Imperial War Museum
Edward StanleyMercer was an English artist who studied at the Slade School of Art, along with time in Holland, Spain, and Italy. He exhibited at the Royal Academy, and was a member of both the Royal Society of Portrait Painters and the Royal Institute of Oil Painters
In the letter, Ambrose McEvoy mentions that he has "written to Harold Speed," who was an English painter of oil and watercolor landscapes and portraits. Speed (1872-1957) studied art at the Royal Academy Schools and was elected a member of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters. Speed exhibited at the Royal Academy
James Henry Moser was born in Ontario, Canada, who worked as an illustrator and landscape painter in oil and watercolor. In Washington, D.C., he was awarded the first Corcoran Prize by the Washington Watercolor Club. He was an art critic for the Washington Times, Post, and Herald, and did freelance illustrations for Harper's, among other publications. Mrs. Benjamin Harrison, the First Lady, purchased one of Moser's pieces, "A Sunny Morning at Salisbury Beach," to hang in the White House living room. He died in 1913 after having suffered a stroke earlier that year
Summary:
This folder is an amalgamation of letters written and recieved by prominent figures in 19th and 20th century American art. Included in the folder are letters from George P. Healy, Eastman Johnson, George W. Maynard, Ambrose McEvoy, and James Henry Moser
Cite as:
Thomas B. Brumbaugh collection of 19th and 20th century American artists' correspondence 1831-1979. Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Gift of Susan A. Hobbs, 2009
