The papers of New York, N.Y., and Washington, D.C. painter and muralist Allyn Cox measure 11 linear feet and date from 1856-1982. The collection documents Cox's personal and professional life through biographical material, family and general correspondence, writings and notes, research material, printed material, sketchbooks and loose sketches, and photographs. Photographs are of Cox at work, the Cox family, including Kenyon and Louise Cox, Cox's friends and colleagues, events, and Cox's artwork.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of New York, N.Y., and Washington, D.C. painter and muralist Allyn Cox measure 11 linear feet and date from 1856-1982. The collection documents Cox's personal and professional life through biographical material, family and general correspondence, writings and notes, research material, printed material, sketchbooks and loose sketches, and photographs. Photographs are of Cox at work, the Cox family, including Kenyon and Louise Cox, Cox's friends and colleagues, events, and Cox's artwork.
Biographical material includes family birth, death, and marriage certificates, and passports for Cox and his wife Ethel, whom he married in 1927; professional membership cards, awards and certificates; records related to sales of furnishings from the Cox family home in Essex, Massachusetts; and an untranscribed interview of Cox by Tony Janak of NBC TV.
Cox's family correspondence is primarily with his mother, Louise Cox. Also found is correspondence with Cox's sister, Caroline Cox Lansing, and his brother Leonard Cox and Leonard's wife, Sylvia, and letters from Ethel Cox to her mother. Additional correspondence relating to the disposition of Kenyon Cox''s artwork and archives to various institutions, can also be found here.
General correspondence documents Cox's career and professional relationships with artists and architects, including John Barrington Bayley, Fabrizio Cassio, Arthur Conrad, Roscoe DeWitt, Stuart Frost, John Harbeson, Francis Keally, Adrian Lamb, Edward Laning, Charles Downing Lay, Deane Keller, Philip Trammell Shutze, and Cliff Young; art institutions and organizations including the Art Commission of the City of New York, the Art Students League, Dumbarton Oaks, the National Society of Mural Painters, and the Smithsonian Institution; federal, state and local government agencies including the American Battle Monuments Commission, the Architect of the Capitol, and the General Grant National Memorial; members of Congress including founder of the United States Capitol Historical Society, Representative Fred Schwengel; and private social clubs in which Cox was active, including the Century Association, the Cosmopolitan Club and the Cosmos Club. Correspondence documents Cox's most well known commissions including work for the George Washington Masonic National Memorial and the United States Capitol, as well as work for many private clients including banks and residences.
Also found are typescripts, manuscripts and notes for Cox's lectures, as well as Ethel Cox's diary from 1923-1936 and her diary excerpt from 1955. Ten folders of research files, consisting primarily of clippings, comprise Cox's source material. Additional printed material provides scattered documentation of Cox's career through announcements and catalogs, and magazine and newspaper articles written by him or about his work. Also found is one folder of clippings about Kenyon Cox.
Four sketchbooks and circa twenty-two loose animal, figure, architectural and landscape sketches comprise Cox's artwork, in addition to two 1943 sketches Cox entered into a War Department mural competition. Also found is an 1873 sketchbook of Kenyon Cox, with sketches of people and scenes in Ohio.
Photographs are of Cox from childhood to the 1980s; his family, including parents, siblings, and grandparents; friends including Philip Trammell Shutze and Warner Bishop; family residences; artist models; events; and artwork, including many of Cox's commissions. In addition to photographic prints, slides, and negatives, the series includes vintage formats such as an ambrotype, 8 tintypes, 2 cyanotypes, and a platinum print. Of particular note are circa 16 photos of Kenyon Cox, one taken by Pirie MacDonald and three of him teaching a class at the Art Students League, and a series of circa 1906 photos taken in a garden, of Louise and Kenyon Cox with their children and others. Also found are 10 glass plate negatives of artwork by Cox.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 7 series. Glass plate negatives are housed separately and are closed to researchers.
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1916-1982 (0.33 linear feet; Boxes 1, 12)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1878-1982 (6.74 linear feet; Boxes 1-7, 12)
Series 3: Writings and Notes, 1919-1982 (0.58 linear feet; Boxes 7-8)
Series 4: Research Files, circa 1950s-circa 1970s (0.25 linear feet; Box 8)
Series 5: Printed Material, 1920s-1982 (0.5 linear feet; Boxes 8-9)
Series 6: Sketchbooks and Sketches, 1873-circa 1978 (0.25 linear feet; Box 9, OVs 13-14)
Series 7: Photographs, 1856-circa 1980 (2.25 linear feet; Boxes 9-12, OV 13)
Biographical / Historical:
New York, N.Y. and Washington, D.C. painter and muralist, Allyn Cox (1896-1982), was born in New York City to artists Kenyon and Louise Cox. Cox first trained as his father's assistant, serving as an apprentice to Kenyon Cox during the painting of the murals at the Wisconsin State Capitol, circa 1912. He attended the National Academy of Design from 1910-1915, and the Art Student's League with George Bridgman in 1915. In 1916 he was awarded the Prix de Rome and subsequently studied at the American Academy in Rome for 2 years before returning to New York City to begin a career in mural painting.
Cox completed numerous murals and decorative paintings for private residences, businesses, churches, and public buildings. Some of his most famous commissions included murals for the Royal Arch Room and Memorial Hall of the George Washington Masonic National Memorial in Alexandria, Virginia; the Law School at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville; and the William A. Clark Memorial Library at the University of California, Los Angeles; panels for the National City Bank, the Continental Bank, and the Guaranty Trust Company in New York; and glass mosaics and inlaid stone maps for the United States Military Cemetery in Hamm, Luxembourg.
Cox is best known for his work in the United States Capitol, beginning in 1952 when he undertook a congressional commission to restore and complete the murals in in the Capitol rotunda begun by Constantino Brumidi and Filipo Costaggini in 1878. Over the course of the next two decades Cox, now residing in Washington, D.C., restored the Frieze of American History and the Apotheosis of Washington in the Rotunda, and designed murals for three first-floor corridors in the Capitol's House wing, now known as the Cox Corridors. Assisted by Cliff Young, Cox completed painting for two of these corridors before his death. In 1958 Cox also painted a portrait of Henry Clay for the Senate Reception Room and in 1975 completed a mural depicting the 1969 moon landing in the Brumidi Corridor.
Cox taught at the Art Students League in 1940 and 1941, and was active in professional organizations throughout his career. He served as President of the American Artists Professional League and the National Society of Mural Painters, and Vice President of both the Fine Arts Federation and the New York Architectural League. He was a member of the board of the New York Municipal Art Society and served on the the New York City Art Commission.
Cox retired in March 1982 at the age of 86 and died the following September.
Related Materials:
Also found in the Archives of American Art are the Allyn Cox papers relating to U.S. Capitol murals, 1970-1974, donated by the Committee on House Administration, via Cindy Szady in 1981. Papers include a resume; a cost estimate by Cox for designing and executing mural decorations in the U.S. Capitol, 1970; a letter, 1974, from the Office of the Architect of the Capitol to the Capitol Historical Society enclosing photocopies of printed material pertinent to the unveiling and dedication of the Capitol rotunda frieze in 1954; miscellaneous printed material, 1971-1974; and 15 photographs of the murals in the Capitol.
Provenance:
The bulk of the Allyn Cox papers was donated in 1977 and 1983 by the Estate of Allyn Cox, Stephen M. Pulsifer, Exectuor, including material that had been loaned for microfiliming in 1969. Two mural sketches were donated by the Essex County Greenbelt Association in 1984.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Contact Reference Services for more information. Glass plate negatives are housed separately and are not served to researchers. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Muralists -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Genre/Form:
Interviews
Diaries
Sketchbooks
Sketches
Citation:
Allyn Cox papers, 1856-1982. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art. Glass plate negatives in this collection were digitized in 2019 with funding provided by the Smithsonian Women's Committee.
Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository.
Collection Citation:
Charles Lang Freer Papers. FSA A.01. National Museum of Asian Art Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Gift of the estate of Charles Lang Freer.
The collection has been digitized and is available online via AAA's website.
Collection Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Collection Citation:
Katherine Schmidt papers, circa 1922-1971. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing and digitization of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art.
Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation Search this
Collection Director:
Heye, George G. (George Gustav), 1874-1957 Search this
Container:
Box 265, Folder 13
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
Oct 1904
Scope and Contents:
Correspondents: Benjamin Talbot Babbitt Hyde, E.P. Ripley, George Gustav Heye, George Lentz, William C. Orchard, Henry Switzer, John Lorenzo Hubbell, Mary Schenck Woolman, G. Carlisle Breckenridge, Hermon C. Bumpus, Harlan Smith, Emily de Forest, Adolph Bandelier, John W. Winser, Homer Sargent, John H. Cobbs, Marshall Saville.
Collection Restrictions:
Access to NMAI Archive Center collections is by appointment only, Monday - Friday, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm. Please contact the archives to make an appointment (phone: 301-238-1400, email: nmaiarchives@si.edu).
Collection Rights:
Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. Permission to publish or broadcast materials from the collection must be requested from the National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center. Please submit a written request to nmaiarchives@si.edu.
Collection Citation:
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Museum of the American Indian/Heye Foundation Records, Box and Folder Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation Search this
Collection Director:
Heye, George G. (George Gustav), 1874-1957 Search this
Container:
Box 265, Folder 10
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
May-Jun 1904
Scope and Contents:
Correspondents: Albert Grignard, W.C. Witte, Zelia Nuttall, L.O. Howard, A. Froidevaux, C.H. Townsend, Charles H. Ward, John H. Cobbs, Charles Lummis, W. J. Andrus, W. J. McGee, William H. Goodyear, E. Snyder, Thomas S. Dozier, Frederick W. Hodge, Luis Garcia Pimental, T. Mitchell Prudden, Richard Dodge, Frederic Ward Putnam, Homer Sargent, George Dorsey, Frank Stowger, John Frederick Huckel, William Henry Holmes, Charles C. Willoughby, Nicolas Leon, D. McGuire.
Collection Restrictions:
Access to NMAI Archive Center collections is by appointment only, Monday - Friday, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm. Please contact the archives to make an appointment (phone: 301-238-1400, email: nmaiarchives@si.edu).
Collection Rights:
Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. Permission to publish or broadcast materials from the collection must be requested from the National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center. Please submit a written request to nmaiarchives@si.edu.
Collection Citation:
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Museum of the American Indian/Heye Foundation Records, Box and Folder Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation Search this
Collection Director:
Heye, George G. (George Gustav), 1874-1957 Search this
Container:
Box 266, Folder 3
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
Mar-Apr 1905
Scope and Contents:
Correspondents: W. J. Andrus, Mary E Robbins, J. McKeen Cattell, Marion Hurlbert, Anita Earl, Zelia Nuttall, Albert Grignard, Frederic Ward Putnam, Edgar L. Hewett, Wilhelm (Guillermo) Bauer, G. Armeny, Mary Schenk Woolman, Helen Leah Reed, Thomas Dozier, John H. Cobbs, Hermon C. Bumpus, L.H. Brittin, John Lorenzo Hubbell, George Gustav Heye, Benjamin Talbot Babbitt Hyde, G.E. Kastengren, Frederick W. Hodge, Alfred L. Kroeber, Emily de Forest, Charles C. Willoughby, Franz Boas, William L. Brown, L.O. Howard,E.S. Belknap.
Collection Restrictions:
Access to NMAI Archive Center collections is by appointment only, Monday - Friday, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm. Please contact the archives to make an appointment (phone: 301-238-1400, email: nmaiarchives@si.edu).
Collection Rights:
Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. Permission to publish or broadcast materials from the collection must be requested from the National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center. Please submit a written request to nmaiarchives@si.edu.
Collection Citation:
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Museum of the American Indian/Heye Foundation Records, Box and Folder Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation Search this
Collection Director:
Heye, George G. (George Gustav), 1874-1957 Search this
Container:
Box 266, Folder 5
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
Sep 1905
Scope and Contents:
Correspondents: George Lentz, J.F. Arthur, Frederick W. Hodge, C.H. Dye, D.M. Ellis, H. Stadthagen, John Lorenzo Hubbell, C.D. Pickering, Lowdermilk & Co., Otis T. Mason, Pat Ryan, L.H. Brittin, Lincoln National Bank, L.O. Howard, Bennett Bishop, Arthur D. Pickering, Howard Clarke, J.E. Linde, Frederic Ward Putnam, Frederic Landsberg, William L. Brown, T. Mitchell Prudden, Zelia Nuttall, G.W. Geisel, J. Walter Fewkes, Wilhelm (Guillermo) Bauer, John H. Cobbs, Clarence B. Moore, George Grant MacCurdy, Francis E. Vaughan.
Collection Restrictions:
Access to NMAI Archive Center collections is by appointment only, Monday - Friday, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm. Please contact the archives to make an appointment (phone: 301-238-1400, email: nmaiarchives@si.edu).
Collection Rights:
Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. Permission to publish or broadcast materials from the collection must be requested from the National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center. Please submit a written request to nmaiarchives@si.edu.
Collection Citation:
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Museum of the American Indian/Heye Foundation Records, Box and Folder Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository.
Collection Citation:
Charles Lang Freer Papers. FSA A.01. National Museum of Asian Art Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Gift of the estate of Charles Lang Freer.
Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository.
Collection Citation:
Charles Lang Freer Papers. FSA A.01. National Museum of Asian Art Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Gift of the estate of Charles Lang Freer.
59 Items (items (5 linear ft.), 20 x 24 or smaller)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Photographs
Typescripts
Papers
Place:
Ajanta Caves (India)
Ellora Caves (India)
Khajuraho (India)
Fatehpur Sikri (India)
Lal Qila (Delhi, India)
Date:
1947-1994
Scope and Contents:
Papers, 1947-1994, of photographer and author Volkmar Kurt Wentzel, regarding a two year survey conducted for the National Geographic Society during 1946-1947, to visually document caves, temples, and sculpture of India, including: his typescript draft (photocopy), [after 1946], written for the National Geographic Magazine on the Ajanta and Ellora temples; a proof, 1953, of his article entitled "India's Sculptured Temple Caves"; a lecture typescript entitle "A Walter Mitty Fantasy," presented to the Literary Society, 1994, along with a brochure and checklist for his related exhibition of photographs of Indian rock-cut temples and sculptures held at the Cosmos Club, Washington, D.C.; and 54 photographs, silver prints and five cibachromes, 1947, many signed by the photographer, dated, and captioned. Photographs depict the temples, sculpture, and frescoes of Ellora, Ajanta, Khajuraho, Halebid, Fatehpur Sikri, and Red Fort ,Delhi.
Arrangement:
Records; Organized in four boxes ; Arranged by form of material: Boxes 1-3: Photographs. Box 4: Typescript, Brochure, Printed Material, Photographs.
Biographical / Historical:
Volkmar Kurt Wentzel (1915-2006) was an accomplished photographer, particularly in the 1940's. Born in Dresden, Germany, he emigrated to the United States at around the age of 20 and immediately began work as a photojournalist at Underwood and Underwood. He served as an aerial photographer and photo-intelligence officer during World War II. After the war he spent extensive time photographing Ladakh (western Tibet), Nepal, and India. He photographed widely in the United States, Europe, and Africa as well. He wrote and documented photographically cave temples in India as a correspondent for the National Geographic Society between 1946-1946. He received many accolades for his photography and has exhibited his work both in the United States and abroad.
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
