The impact of New Netherlands upon the colonial Long Island Basin : report of a Yale-Smithsonian seminar held at the Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, May 3-5, 1990 / edited by Joshua W. Lane
Author:
Yale-Smithsonian Seminar on Material Culture (1990 : New Haven, Conn.) Search this
The 1879 act establishing the United States Geological Survey (USGS) declares "And all collections of rocks, minerals, soils, and fossils, and objects of natural history,
archaeology, and ethnology, made by the Coast and Interior Survey, the Geological Survey, or by any other parties for the Government of the United States, when no longer needed
for investigations in progress, shall be deposited in the National Museum." Many of the paleontologists affiliated with the USGS Paleontology and Stratigraphy Branch have
been stationed at the National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) to study and care for the national collections. This close working relationship between the USGS and the NMNH
has resulted in the Smithsonian Archives acquiring records and special collections documenting paleontological work of the Survey and its scientists.
Descriptive Entry:
This collection contains records concerning the official work of the Section of Coastal Plain Investigations, United States Geological Survey (USGS), as well as papers
documenting the paleontological research and professional activities of Lloyd William Stephenson and Thomas Wayland Vaughan. Apparently, when the Section of Coastal Plain
Investigations was abolished in 1936, Stephenson took many of the old files with him to his new position as a Geologist with the Section of Paleontology and Stratigraphy.
Therefore, materials prior to 1936 consist primarily of records documenting the geological work of the Section of Coastal Plain Investigations, USGS. Most of these records
were created by Vaughan and Stephenson in their capacity as Section Chiefs. Smaller amounts of records were created by Section geologists including C. Wythe Cook, Julia Anna
Gardner, Watson Hiner Monroe, and W. P. Woodring. Material created after 1936 documents Stephenson's research on Cretaceous paleontology.
The majority of the collection consists of correspondence arranged in four separate series. Included is general correspondence which primarily documents Stephenson's official
and professional activities, 1913-1956; correspondence (arranged by state) with paleontologists, state geologists, and economic geologists which mostly documents surveys and
other work of the Section of Coastal Plain Investigations, 1907-1945; letters concerning Vaughan's research on fossil corals of Mexico, the West Indies, and South America,
1912-1933; and correspondence with paleontologists, museums, and universities concerning the identification, loan, and acquisition of invertebrate fossil specimens, 1913-1946.
The collection also contains material concerning the geology of Texas. Stephenson's work preparing part of the geological map of Texas is documented by correspondence,
maps, and charts. Also included are various records concerning the examination of stratigraphic samples submitted by oil companies drilling prospecting wells in Texas.
Lastly the collection contains administrative records of the Section of Coastal Plain Investigations including personnel files and monthly reports; manuscripts written
and reviewed by Stephenson; and collected geological charts.
Historical Note:
In 1907, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) established the Subsection of Coastal Plain Investigations within its Geologic Branch. In 1913, the name was changed
to the Section of Coastal Plain Investigations. Working closely with the state geological surveys, the Section was responsible for the general study of the geology of the
Atlantic and Gulf coastal plains of the United States. Subjects of its investigations included physiography, stratigraphy, geologic structure, paleontology, sedimentology,
and ground waters. In 1936, as a part of a reorganization of the USGS, the Section of Coastal Plain Investigations was merged with the Section of Paleontology and Stratigraphy
under the latter name.
Thomas Wayland Vaughan (1870-1952) was appointed Geologist in charge of coastal plain investigations in 1907. He remained in charge of the Section until 1923 when he resigned
to become Director of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Lloyd William Stephenson (1876-1962), who had served as Vaughan's assistant since 1907, was promoted to succeed
him as Chief of the Section. Stephenson remained in the post until 1936 when the Section of Coastal Plain Investigations was abolished. From 1936 until his retirement in 1947,
he served as a Geologist in the Section of Paleontology and Stratigraphy. After his retirement, Stephenson continued his research on Cretaceous paleontology with the USGS
on a voluntary basis.
Other geologists on the staff of the Section of Coastal Plain Investigations included C. Wythe Cooke, 1910-1936; Julia Anna Gardner, 1920-1936; Watson Hiner Monroe, 1930-1936;
and W. P. Woodring, 1919-1936.
Copies of correspondence between George J. Gibbs and others on a variety of topics, especially anthropological, ornithological, and geneological. Included is corresponsence with Spencer Baird and Joseph Henry of the Smithsonian Institution; John Evans; Joseph Hutchings; W.R. Inglis, "late" president of the Turks and Caicos Islands; J.H. Lefroy, "fomer" governor of Bermuda; Sir Anthony Musgrage, governor of Jamaica; and Joseph Hutchings. Also included are photographs of Baird, Evans, Hutchings, Inglis, Lefroy, and Musgrave; a copy of James Smithson's will; sketches of artifacts; geneological information regarding the original colonists of the Bermudas, and excerpts from other sources.
Arrangement:
chronological
Biographical / Historical:
Virtually no biographical information is available. From the text, a birthdate for George J. Gibbs of ca. 1833 has been deduced. In the manuscript, Gibbs states that his father was the Honorable George Gibbs "of these islands" and that his uncle was William H. Gibbs who died ca. 1876. G.J. Gibbs lived on Grand Turk Island of the British West Indies, at that time a Jamaican dependency, was married, and had children (number unknown). According to the text, he became an invalid due to an illness ca. 1875.
Local Note:
Date of birth determined by extrapolation from text: on page 286, 1878, Gibbs says that for 42 years he knew no illness, but "three years ago" [1875] he became ill from exposure on a hunting trip and has ever since been an invalid. [1875 - 42 years = 1833, hypothetical birth date.]
Other Title:
"A correspondence relative to Ancient Stone Implements etc., etc. between George J. Gibbs of Grand Turk and Caicos Islands, W.I. and John Evans Esquire F.R.S. & F.S.A., Honorary Secretary of the Geological and Numismatic Societies of London etc., etc. (the author of a work established in London in the year 1872 entitled ʻAncient Stone Implements, etc. of Great Britainʼ) also with Joseph Henry Esquire Secretary and Diretor of the Smithsonian Intitute and of the National Museum of the United States of America at Washington, D.C. and with other partners on various subjects."
Provenance:
B.G.E. St.Aubyn, Windsor House, Cayman Islands, British West Indies gift July, 1973 74-1
Topic:
Archaeology -- Stone tools -- West Indies Search this
Anthropology -- Indians -- Americas -- West Indies Search this
Natural history -- Ornithology -- West Indies Search this
Social history -- geneology -- Bermuda -- West Indies -- England Search this
Language and languages -- Documentation Search this
Genre/Form:
Letters
Citation:
Manuscript 7173, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
337.16 cu. ft. (672 document boxes) (116 microfilm reels)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Black-and-white photographs
Manuscripts
Date:
1877-1975
Descriptive Entry:
Records prior to 1907 consist mostly of incoming correspondence (outgoing correspondence can be found in record unit 112). After 1907 the records contain both incoming
and outgoing correspondence. Much of the material consists of routine public inquiries. In addition, these records document museum accessions and Smithsonian expeditions and
field trips. Other topics include Smithsonian participation in expositions, operation of certain museum divisions, and miscellaneous subjects. Accession records include: data
on the Herber R. Bishop jade collection; William Joseph Hammer collection of incandescent lamps, 1905; Robert Ward collection of ferns, 1905-1906; transfer of the United States
Patent Office collections to the United States National Museum, 1906-1909; Hubert G. Squires collection of Chinese porcelain; Hippisley collection of Chinese porcelain, 1909-1912;
collections from the Arizona fossil forest; E. A. Wakefield collection of Basuto pottery; James D. S. Chalmers collection of minerals; McIntire collection of historical objects;
Charles Fuller Baker collection from the Galapagos Islands; United States National Museum collection of postage stamps; Isaac Lea collection of gems and mollusks; George D.
Seymour collection of clocks; Joseph Priestley collection of scientific apparatus; Robert C. Hall ethnological collection; Dwight J. Partello bequest; John B. Bernadou bequest;
Bernard Rogan Ross ethnological collections; Mrs. James W. Pinchot collection of textiles; Richard Mansfield collection of theatrical costumes; B. F. Chandler herbarium; Morris
Loeb collection of chemical compounds; Donn collection of Lincoln relics; Frank S. Collins herbarium and library; Oldroyd collection of Lincoln relics; Thomas Jefferson writing
desk; Richard E. Byrd airplane "Josephine Ford"; Walter W. Holmes fossil bird bone collection; Brush-Swan electrical apparatus collection; collection of first ladies' gowns
in the United States National Museum; Virgil Michael Brand coin collection; Charles Russell Orcutt natural history collections; Isobel H. Lenman collection of Old World archaeology;
American period costume collection in the United States National Museum; Charles A. Lindbergh collection of personal memorabilia; Nordenskold Mesa Verde collection; Joseph
Nelson Rose collection of cacti; Osborne collection of Guatemalan textiles; United States National Museum collection of building stones; the Holt collection of birds from
South America, 1936-1940; the Annie H. Hegeman lace and textile collection; the United States National Museum's collection of Jean Leon Gerome Ferris paintings; James Townsend
Russell anthropological collection; the Harvey Harlow Nininger meteorite collection; the Hope diamond.
Records related to Smithsonian expeditions and field work include: Mexican-United States Boundary Commission; expeditions and collecting in the Philippine Islands, 1903-1905;
University of Pennsylvania expedition to Babylonia, 1887-1888; Metropolitan Museum of Art Expedition to Egypt, 1909; Arthur deC. Sowerby collecting trips to China, 1909-1936;
Owen Bryant-William Palmer expedition to Java, 1905-1910; Smithsonian-Roosevelt African expedition, 1909; Rainey African expedition, 1911; Smithsonian-Harvard expedition to
Altai Mountains, Siberia, 1912; National Geographic Society-Yale University expedition to Peru, 1915; Smithsonian-Universal Film Manufacturing Company African Expedition,
1920; David C. Graham collecting work in China, 1925-1940; Hugh McCormick Smith collecting work in Siam; Marsh-Darien expedition, 1924; Smithsonian biological survey of the
Panama Canal Zone, 1911-1912; Ellsworth Paine Killip collecting work in Europe, 1935, and Venezuela, 1943-1944; Henry Bascom Collins, Jr., field work in Mississippi and Louisiana,
1938; Herbert Girton Deignan's collecting work in Siam, 1936-1937; the Johnson-Smithsonian Deep Sea Expedition to the West Indies, 1933; Stanley John's collecting work in
the British West Indies, 1935-1938; Charles W. Gilmore and Frank H. H. Roberts collecting work in Arizona, 1937; the National Geographic Society-Smithsonian Institution Archeological
Expedition to Vera Cruz, Mexico, 1938-1939; Matthew William Stirling's field work in Mexico, 1940-1946; the National Geographic Society-University of Virginia Expedition to
the South Pacific Islands, 1939; Walter W. Taylor, Jr.'s, archeological field work in Mexico, 1940-1945; Floyd A. McClure's bamboo investigations in Mexico and Central and
South America, 1943-1944; Henri Pittier's botanical field work in Venezuela, 1944-1946; Philip Hershkovitz field work in Colombia, 1946-1950; the Finn Ronne Antarctic Research
Expedition, 1946-1948; Brina Kessel field work in Alaska, 1950; Clifford Evans, Jr., field work in Ecuador, 1954-1958; Marshall T. Newman field work in Peru, 1955-1957; James
Paul Chapin collecting work in Africa, 1957; Ralph S. Solecki field work in Iraq, 1954-1959.
Records that document Smithsonian involvement in expositions include: South Carolina and West Indian Exposition, Charleston, 1902; Louisiana Purchase Exposition, St. Louis,
1904; Jamestown (Virginia) Tercentenary Exposition, 1907; International Photographic Exposition, Dresden, 1909; World's Columbian Exposition, 1896; Panama-California Exposition,
San Diego, 1915; Panama-Pacific International Exposition, San Francisco, 1915; International Silk Exposition, New York, 1921; Pageant of Progress Exposition, Chicago, 1922;
Sesquicentennial Exposition, Philadelphia, 1926; Progress Exposition, New Haven, 1926; International Exposition, Seville, Spain, 1927; Century of Progress Exposition, Chicago,
1931; Great Lakes Exposition, Cleveland, 1936; New York World's Fair, 1939; Golden Gate International Exposition, San Francisco, 1939; Texas Centennial Exposition, Dallas,
1936; Greater Texas and Pan American Exposition, 1937; Port-au-Prince Bicentennial Exposition, Haiti, 1949.
Records related to the origin or operation of subdivisions of the United States National Museum include: development of the Division of Textiles; history of the National
Herbarium, 1886-1908; development of the Division of Medicine; development of the Division of Mineral Technology, 1914; Traveling Exhibit Service; Division of Graphic Arts;
Division of Numismatics.
Miscellaneous topics covered by these records include: establishment of Bermuda Biological Station, 1900-1904; United States military operations against insurgents in the
Philippine Islands, 1904; the Lincoln Memorial Commission, 1913; proposed construction of a George Washington Memorial; National Museum involvement in search for the Port
Orford meteorite; exhibition of the "Spirit of St. Louis"; National Museum exhibition of objects from World War I; use of the National Museum Building by the Bureau of War
Risk Insurance in World War I; proposed creation of a National Museum of Engineering and Industry under Smithsonian control; Samuel P. Langley's aerodrome experiments; Smithsonian
activities during World War II, particularly the evacuation of United States National Museum collections from Washington; A. Remington Kellogg's work on the Governmental Advisory
Committee on Oceanography and the International Whaling Commission; United States National Museum correspondence with Phineas T. Barnum, 1882-1891; Washington A. Roebling's
mineral collections.
Most of the correspondence is directed to the officer in immediate charge of the United States National Museum (Richard Rathbun, 1897-1918; William deC. Ravenel, 1918-1925;
Alexander Wetmore, 1925-1948; A. Remington Kellogg, 1948-1962) with lesser amounts to John Enos Graf, who was appointed Associate Director, United States National Museum,
in 1931. Also, a smaller amount of correspondence is addressed to the Secretary of the Smithsonian (Spencer F. Baird, 1878-1887; Samuel P. Langley, 1887-1906; Charles D. Walcott,
1907-1927; Charles G. Abbot, 1928-1944; Alexander Wetmore, 1944-1952; Leonard Carmichael, 1953-1964) and to various museum curators. This correspondence was usually referred
to the chief administrator of the United States National Museum for response.
Historical Note:
In 1902 the Museum's Division of Correspondence and Documents instituted a numeric filing system for the general correspondence of the United States National Museum.
That correspondence, as found in this record unit, comprises most of the central administrative files of the Museum. Prior to 1902, museum correspondence had been filed alphabetically
by correspondent (see record unit 189). Beginning in 1862 the accession records of the National Museum had been filed using a numeric system similar to that later adopted
for correspondence. Finally in 1924 the two numbering systems were integrated.
History Under the Sea: A Handbook for Underwater Exploration (Monograph : 1965)
Creator::
National Museum of History and Technology. Division of Historic Archeology Search this
Extent:
9.58 cu. ft. (9 record storage boxes) (1 tall document box)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Color photographs
Black-and-white photographs
Black-and-white transparencies
Black-and-white negatives
Maps
Drawings
Clippings
Manuscripts
Color transparencies
Plates (illustrations)
Picture postcards
Date:
circa 1952-1978
Descriptive Entry:
Records include correspondence and memoranda between Peterson and George R. Wallace, President and Treasurer of the Explorers Research Corporation; Bertrand Committee;
Caribbean Research Institute; professional contacts participating in the Underwater Exploration Project; individuals interested in the History Under the Sea: A Handbook
for Underwater Exploration handbook and underwater exploration; and staff of the Department of Armed Forces History.
This collection also includes Bertrand Committee reports and blueprints for the raising of the steamboat Bertrand in 1969; photographs of Peterson, alongside explorer
Waldemar A. Ayres, experimenting with the Proton Processing Magnetometer; additional photographs and illustrations of underwater shipwreck sites, artifacts, and preservation
methods; original manuscripts and bibliographical information for the publication History Under the Sea: A Handbook for Underwater Exploration; subject files concerning
preservation of artifacts and use of electrolytic reduction on metallic objects; information pertaining to cannon markings and their identification; budgetary records; and
proposals for the Hall of Underwater Exploration, NMHT.
Historical Note:
Specialization within the field of underwater historic archeology was established by Mendel L. Peterson, who served as Head Curator of the Division of Military and
Naval History, United States National Museum, 1948-1957; Head Curator and Chairman of the Department of Armed Forces History, National Museum of History and Technology (NMHT),
1958-1968; and Curator of the Division of Historic Archeology, NMHT, 1969-1973.
Peterson began taking an interest in underwater historic archeology in 1952, and thereafter conducted extensive research as well as headed expeditions to underwater shipwreck
sites in the Florida Straits, Bahamas, and West Indies. Grants from the Explorers Research Company and National Geographic Society enabled Peterson to engineer his Proton
Processing Magnetometer, an electronic searching device used for locating underwater artifacts and tested in the waters of Bermuda. When the Division of Historic Archeology
was organized in 1969, emphasis on underwater historic archeology had more focus. Peterson supervised the Division's Underwater Exploration Project which, until his retirement
in 1973, involved further exploration of the Caribbean and thorough research of previously discovered underwater sites.
In 1965 Peterson published History Under the Sea: A Handbook for Underwater Exploration, which remains a standard reference source on surveying underwater archeological
sites and on laboratory techniques for preserving artifacts from underwater excavations.
The prehistory of Nevis, a small island in the lesser Antilles / Samuel M. Wilson with contributions by Laura Kozuch ... [et al.] ; foreword by Irving Rouse
