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1,675 documents - page 1 of 84
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Prospect Hill Virus: Serological Evidence for Infection in Mammalogists

Author:
Traub, Robert  Search this
Gajdusek, D. C.  Search this
Gibbs, C. R.  Search this
Yanagihara, R.  Search this
Object Type:
Smithsonian staff publication
Electronic document
Year:
1984
Topic:
Natural History  Search this
Entomology  Search this
Insects  Search this
See others in:
Entomology
Data source:
Smithsonian Libraries
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:SILSRO_98258
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Guidelines for Manuscripts for Publications of the American Society of Mammalogists

Author:
Verts, B. J.  Search this
Wilson, Don E.  Search this
Gardner, Alfred L.  Search this
Object Type:
Smithsonian staff publication
Electronic document
Year:
1989
Topic:
Natural History  Search this
Vertebrates  Search this
Animals  Search this
Zoology  Search this
See others in:
Vertebrate Zoology
Data source:
Smithsonian Libraries
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:SILSRO_98291
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Building an integrated infrastructure for exploring biodiversity: field collections and archives of mammals and parasites

Author:
Eckerlin, Ralph P.  Search this
Hoberg, Eric P.  Search this
Galbreath, Kurt E.  Search this
Henttonen, Heikki  Search this
Cook, Joseph A.  Search this
Dunnum, Jonathan L.  Search this
Greiman, Stephen E.  Search this
Tkach, Vasyl V.  Search this
Gardner, Scott L.  Search this
Bell, Kayce C.  Search this
Campbell, Mariel L.  Search this
Hope, Andrew G.  Search this
Nyamsuren, Batsaikhan  Search this
Tsvetkova, Albina  Search this
Armién, Blas  Search this
Dursahinhan, Altangerel T.  Search this
Jiménez, F. Agustín  Search this
Koehler, Anson V. A.  Search this
Torres-Pérez, Fernando  Search this
Object Type:
Smithsonian staff publication
Electronic document
Year:
2019
Topic:
Natural History  Search this
Invertebrates  Search this
Animals  Search this
Zoology  Search this
See others in:
Invertebrate Zoology
Data source:
Smithsonian Libraries
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:SILSRO_151318
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Anatomy of the wood rat (comparative anatomy of the subgenera of the American wood rat genus Neotoma)

Author:
Howell, A. B.  Search this
Object Type:
Smithsonian staff publication
Electronic document
Year:
1926
Topic:
Natural History  Search this
Data source:
Smithsonian Libraries
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:SILSRO_136726
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Ecological and behavioral consequences of adaptation to various food resources

Author:
McNab, Brian K.  Search this
Object Type:
Smithsonian staff publication
Electronic document
Year:
1983
Topic:
Tropics  Search this
Biology  Search this
Data source:
Smithsonian Libraries
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:SILSRO_106514
view Records digital asset: Finding aid

Records

Extent:
31.24 cu. ft. (59 document boxes) (3 tall document boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Black-and-white photographs
Manuscripts
Date:
circa 1867-1971
Introduction:
This finding aid was digitized with funds generously provided by the Smithsonian Institution Women's Committee.
Descriptive Entry:
The records of the Division of Mammals include annual reports of the division from 1905-1945; incoming and outgoing correspondence of the staff of the division, chiefly the curators, 1882-1971; invoices for shipments; manuscripts of Gerrit Smith Miller, Jr., and Marcus Ward Lyon, Jr.; and a biographical file on prominent naturalists and scientists.
Historical Note:
The Department of Mammals at the United States National Museum was formally created in 1879 with the organization of the United States National Museum by George Brown Goode. Work in mammalogy had been possible prior to that time, however, as a result of the large collection of mammals the Smithsonian had accumulated.

The earliest basis for the mammals collection was the natural history collection of Spencer F. Baird, which he brought with him when he joined the Smithsonian Institution in 1850. In addition to these specimens, the Smithsonian began to receive mammals from naturalists and others assigned to the United States government exploring expeditions. In 1858, the Smithsonian received what remained of the collections of the Wilkes Expedition of 1838-1842, which had been stored in the Patent Office in Washington, D.C. Another large collection was acquired upon the dissolution of the National Institute in 1861.

Upon the formation of the Department in 1879, Elliot Coues was appointed honorary curator of mammals. He continued as honorary curator until Frederick William True became curator in 1883. In 1897, a major reorganization of the museum made the department a division within the new Department of Biology, and True became head curator of biology. The following year Gerrit Smith Miller, Jr., was appointed assistant curator of mammals and from 1908-1940 was curator. Following his retirement, A. Remington Kellogg was curator until 1948. From 1948-1965, the division was headed by David H. Johnson, who was associate curator from 1941-1957 and curator from 1957-1965. Charles O. Handley became curator in 1965, and Henry W. Setzer was appointed curator in 1969.
Topic:
Mammalogists  Search this
Mammalogy  Search this
Genre/Form:
Black-and-white photographs
Manuscripts
Citation:
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 208, National Museum of Natural History. Division of Mammals, Records
Identifier:
Record Unit 208
See more items in:
Records
Archival Repository:
Smithsonian Institution Archives
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-sia-faru0208
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Folder 6 American Society of Mammalogists, 1947-1949

Container:
Box 15 of 62
Type:
Archival materials
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 208, National Museum of Natural History. Division of Mammals, Records
See more items in:
Records
Records / Series 4: CORRESPONDENCE, 1907-1971. / Box 15
Archival Repository:
Smithsonian Institution Archives
EDAN-URL:
ead_component:sova-sia-faru0208-refidd1e1935
view Stanley Paul Young Papers digital asset: Finding aid

Stanley Paul Young Papers

Extent:
5.29 cu. ft. (9 document boxes) (1 12x17 box) (1 5x8 box)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Black-and-white photographs
Manuscripts
Date:
1921-1965
Introduction:
This finding aid was digitized with funds generously provided by the Smithsonian Institution Women's Committee.
Descriptive Entry:
The papers of Stanley Paul Young consist of papers from his predatory animal control work; personal, official and professional correspondence; material on his publications; and material on his professional career. Additional Young material can be found in Record Unit 7171, the Bird and Mammal Laboratories Records.

Correspondents include: John Warren Aldrich, Durward L. Allen, Frank G. Ashbrook, John H. Baker, Rollin Harold Baker, Fred S. Barkalow, J. Neilson Barry, William Bonar Bell, Clifford Berryman, Theodore S. Bober, Irwin Theodore Bode, Paul Bransom, Walter John Breckenridge, James P. Buchanan, Milton H. Buehler, Noble E. Buell, Nelson Gardiner Bump, William H. Burt, Victor H. Cahalane, Arthur H. Carhart, Emma M. Charters, Clarence Cottam, Ian McTaggart Cowan, Jay N. Darling, William B. Davis, Albert M. Day, J. Kenneth Doutt, Frank Dufresne, Kenneth L. Duke, Richard P. Eckels, Robert K. Enders, Ira N. Gabrielson, Marshall C. Gardner, Francis Earl Garlough, John C. Gatlin, Donald A. Gilchrist, Raymond Maurice Gilmore, Frank Glaser, Edward Alphonso Goldman, A. E. Gray, Dorr Dudley Green, Tappan Gregory, Harold H. Haecker, William John Hamilton, Jr., Van T. Harris, Carl A. Hatch, Harry B. Hawes, Donald F. Hoffmeister, Emmet T. Hooper, Hartley H. T. Jackson, W. C. Jacobsen, Stanley Gordon Jewett, J. Knox Jones, Edwin R. Kalmbach, Karl Walton Kenyon, Edwin V. Komarek, Wesley Frank Kubichek, C. R. Landon, George B. Lay, Leo L. Laythe, Clarence F. Lea, Daniel Loney Leedy, J. Stokley Ligon, Ernest R. McCray, Richard Hyde Manville, Everett M. Mercer, George A. Montgomery, Adolph Murie, Olaus Johan Murie, Otto A. Owen, Theodore Sherman Palmer, Richard H. Pough, Paul T. Quick, Paul G. Redington, Theodore H. Reed, William E. Riter, Carl P. Russell, Victor Blanchard Scheffer, Carl D. Shoemaker, Harold Cramer Smith, Lloyd Mason Smith, Melvin D. Smith, Charles C. Sperry, Gustav A. Swanson, Walter P. Taylor, Rene Thevenin, Frederic A. Ulmer, Jr., Thomas Vaughn, Frederic C. Walcott, Ernest Pillsbury Walker, Hugh M. Worcester, Stanley Paul Young, R. Scott Zimmerman.
Historical Note:
Stanley Paul Young (1899-1969) was born in Astoria, Oregon, on October 30, 1899. The son of a pioneer Columbia River salmon packer, Young grew up in that region and spent a good part of his boyhood in outdoor pursuits. His interests led him to the University of Oregon where he received his B.A. in mining engineering in 1911. He went to the University of Michigan for graduate work in geology, but his interests changed and he completed his M.S. in biology.

In 1917, on his way to California to teach, Young stopped to see his brother in Arizona. While there, he was offered a position as a ranger for the U.S. Forest Service, which he accepted. A few months later he joined the Bureau of Biological Survey of the Department of Agriculture as a hunter. He worked in that area to control predatory animals that were destroying the livestock of local ranchers. While on the job, he crossed the Mexican border, was captured by Pancho Villa, and remained in his camp for a week before being rescued.

In 1919, Young became assistant inspector for Arizona and New Mexico and, in 1921, agent-in-control of predatory animal work in the Colorado-Kansas district. He remained there until 1927 when he was assigned to Washington, D.C., as assistant head of the Division of Predatory Animal and Rodent Control. In Washington, Young filled a variety of positions in the Biological Survey: chief of the Division of Economic Operations, 1928-1934; chief of the Division of Game Management, 1934-1938, and chief of the Division of Predator and Rodent Control, 1938-1939. When the Biological Survey was transferred to the Department of Interior in 1939, Young was made senior biologist in the Branch of Wildlife Research, where he worked with Hartley H. T. Jackson. In 1957, when the Bird and Mammal Laboratories were made an independent research unit, Young was named the first director and remained there until his retirement in 1959.

Young's chief interests were the predatory mammals of the West: the wolf, coyote, puma, and bobcat. His major publications included The Wolves of North America, with Edward Alphonso Goldman (1944), The Puma, Mysterious American Cat, with E. A. Goldman (1946), The Wolf in North American History (1946), The Clever Coyote, with Hartley H. T. Jackson (1951), and The Bobcat of North America (1958).
Topic:
Mammalogy  Search this
Mammalogists  Search this
Geology  Search this
Biology  Search this
Predatory animals  Search this
Genre/Form:
Black-and-white photographs
Manuscripts
Citation:
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 7174, Stanley Paul Young Papers
Identifier:
Record Unit 7174
See more items in:
Stanley Paul Young Papers
Archival Repository:
Smithsonian Institution Archives
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-sia-faru7174
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Folder 5 Material concerning the American Society of Mammalogists, including letter inviting Stanley P. Young to join the society and correspondence concerning the 1959 Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C., 1928, 1958-1959.

Container:
Box 4 of 11
Type:
Archival materials
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 7174, Stanley Paul Young Papers
See more items in:
Stanley Paul Young Papers
Stanley Paul Young Papers / Series 2: CORRESPONDENCE, REPORTS, PHOTOGRAPHS AND RELATED MATERIALS CONCERNING THE OFFICIAL AND PROFESSIONAL WORK OF STANLEY PAUL YOUNG, 1927-1965. / Box 4
Archival Repository:
Smithsonian Institution Archives
EDAN-URL:
ead_component:sova-sia-faru7174-refidd1e478
view Folders 1-3 Photographs of mammalogists, Alaska, wildlife and especially persons, locations, and material involved in predator and rodent control. [Negatives have been removed.] digital asset: Members of Survey Team with the United States Biological Survey, c. 1920s/1930s (in folder 2) [Image #2005-4686]

Folders 1-3 Photographs of mammalogists, Alaska, wildlife and especially persons, locations, and material involved in predator and rodent control. [Negatives have been removed.]

Container:
Box 6 of 11
Type:
Archival materials
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 7174, Stanley Paul Young Papers
See more items in:
Stanley Paul Young Papers
Stanley Paul Young Papers / Series 2: CORRESPONDENCE, REPORTS, PHOTOGRAPHS AND RELATED MATERIALS CONCERNING THE OFFICIAL AND PROFESSIONAL WORK OF STANLEY PAUL YOUNG, 1927-1965. / Box 6
Archival Repository:
Smithsonian Institution Archives
EDAN-URL:
ead_component:sova-sia-faru7174-refidd1e584
No Image Available

Folder 1 Photographs of mammalogists, Alaska, wildlife and especially persons, locations, and material involved in predator and rodent control. [Negatives have been removed.]

Container:
Box 7 of 11
Type:
Archival materials
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 7174, Stanley Paul Young Papers
See more items in:
Stanley Paul Young Papers
Stanley Paul Young Papers / Series 2: CORRESPONDENCE, REPORTS, PHOTOGRAPHS AND RELATED MATERIALS CONCERNING THE OFFICIAL AND PROFESSIONAL WORK OF STANLEY PAUL YOUNG, 1927-1965. / Box 7
Archival Repository:
Smithsonian Institution Archives
EDAN-URL:
ead_component:sova-sia-faru7174-refidd1e611
No Image Available

American Society of Mammalogists: "Report of the Committee on Conservation of Land Mammals," 1956

Container:
Box 7 of 35
Type:
Archival materials
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 7279, Helmut Karl Buechner Papers
See more items in:
Helmut Karl Buechner Papers
Helmut Karl Buechner Papers / Series 3: GENERAL OFFICE FILES, 1950-1975. ARRANGED ALPHABETICALLY. / Box 7
Archival Repository:
Smithsonian Institution Archives
EDAN-URL:
ead_component:sova-sia-faru7279-refidd1e1645
view John F. Eisenberg Papers digital asset: Finding aid

John F. Eisenberg Papers

Extent:
18 cu. ft. (18 record storage boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Maps
Manuscripts
Black-and-white photographs
Date:
circa 1960-1982 and undated
Introduction:
This finding aid was digitized with funds generously provided by the Smithsonian Institution Women's Committee.
Descriptive Entry:
The Venezuela Project (1974-1982) was one of three big projects that Dr. Eisenberg directed during his time at the National Zoological Park. The papers documenting this project include grant information and progress reports, correspondence between Sr. Tomas Blohm (research took place on his ranch), information on personnel who participated in the project, financial records connected to the project, background information and publicity, and other correspondence. Included are photographs and newspaper clippings.

The Ceylon Project included research on elephants (1967-1976) and primates (1968-1982). Papers connected to this project include a research agreement with the Ceylonese government, grant information and progress reports, financial records, correspondence with Dittus Wolfgang, George McKay, and other researchers in Ceylon, and information on elephant immobilization techniques learned from the Ringling Brothers' elephant handlers. Angela Daugharty writes an interesting letter connected to the elephant project. Suzanne Ripley, co-investigator, was an integral part of the research done in Ceylon, but none of her correspondence is found here. Oddly enough the correspondence between Eisenberg and Ripley is found in box 16. Papers document research on pregnant elephants and dugongs. Correspondence from contacts within the Ceylonese infrastructure is included.

The Panama project was the third large, long-term project that Dr. Eisenberg was involved in. In Panama research centered on sloths, howler monkeys, iguanas, anteaters, and various plant studies done in conjunction with the two-toed sloths. All of these are represented to some degree in the Panama files. Grant and financial records, logistics paperwork, progress reports, and several manuscripts are also included. Correspondence is mainly from Dr. Montgomery, who led the research effort in Panama.

Dr. Eisenberg, in his capacity as head of the research office at the National Zoological Park, received information from many sources on many subjects. The bulk of this paperwork can be found in his subject files. Information in these files comes from research projects as well as events within the Zoological Park. Subjects touched upon include a memorandum listing possible projects for the 1976 Bicentennial at the National Zoological Park, a memorandum on carcasses, correspondence on the Deer Project, various research reports, and reports on the Sleep Project. Information from the Smithsonian Foreign Currency Program is also included.

Like the subject files, the general correspondence files cover a broad spectrum of people and activities, and document Eisenberg's career within and outside the Smithsonian. Correspondence comes from educators, graduate students, Smithsonian staff, research scientists, members of professional societies, and curators. Many of these contacts are personal and some are international; they include discussion of possible drugs to immobilize wolves, letters from people inquiring about the white tigers, letters on speaking engagements, references provided by Eisenberg, and even a Christmas card. Some correspondents also sent reports dealing with research in the zoological field.

Eisenberg was a member of many scientific societies and published in many scientific journals. He was often invited to attend conferences and to review articles by other scientists in his field; this component of his professional life is documented in this collection. Papers include book reviews by Eisenberg, letters from Elsevier Scientific Publishing Company, correspondence between Eisenberg and various publishers, reports on various topics, newsletters from the Animal Behavior Society, correspondence on conferences (mostly Animal Behavior Society), information on International Ethological Conferences, research proposals, Carnivore roundtables, symposiums sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution, and correspondence from academic institutions.

Other miscellaneous files document his work in education, at the National Zoological Park as an administrator and as a researcher, and in various professional organizations. In one case papers document his relationship with a fellow employee. Files include a research proposal for the elephant physiology project, correspondence between Eisenberg and various coworkers (especially Suzanne Ripley), manuscripts, and memoranda on zoo projects. Also included are guidebooks, brochures, and maps of zoos in the United States and abroad. Site plans, progress reports, and assorted financial records (including receipts from Ceylon), round out this component of the Eisenberg collection.
Historical Note:
John Eisenberg was born June 20, 1935 in Everett, Washington. He received a B.S. at Washington State University in 1957 and an M.A. from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1959. He received a Ph.D. in zoology from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1962 and went to the University of British Columbia, where he stayed from 1962 to 1964 as an assistant professor of zoology. In 1964 he accepted a post at the University of Maryland, College Park, as assistant professor of zoology and in 1965 was made research associate professor of zoology. In 1972 he became a research professor at the University of Maryland. In 1973 he was made an associate of the Department of Mental Hygiene at Johns Hopkins University, and he held this title until 1978.

In 1964 the National Zoological Park (NZP) organized a division to do research. On September 1, 1965 Eisenberg was appointed to the post of resident scientist in the Division of Research at the National Zoological Park. He worked with Edwin Gould of John's Hopkins University on an ecological and behavioral study of the tenrecoid insectivores of Madagascar from January 1966 to April 1966. In January 1967 he left for Ceylon to initiate an elephant research project. At the end of January he returned to Madagascar to continue his studies of the tenrecoid. In April he returned to Washington, D.C., then flew back to Ceylon in May for field inspections of the elephant project.

He started a year-long residency in Ceylon June 10, 1968, and during October did another field inspection as well as teaching a course to Ceylonese personnel on immobilizing wild elephants. In January he met with Dr. Paul Leyhausen of the Max Planck Institute. By 1970 the fieldwork on the Ceylon Elephant Project was complete. In 1971 the research division, under his direction, started the captive breeding of papcaranas and a research project on sloths in Panama. In March he was the acting director for the Zoological Program; he went back to being resident scientist in 1972 because the Zoological Program was dissolved.

The study on the sloth continued in Panama during 1972. He became president of the Animal Behavior Society in 1973, and the scientist in charge of the office of Scientific Research at the National Zoological Park. The sloth study continued in Panama, led by Dr. G. C. Montgomery. During 1974 progress was made on 24 research projects that included: the sloth study, a study of the behavior scoring of female mammals in heat, and reproduction in caviomorph rodents. He was also involved with the Thirteenth International Congress of Ethology that took place in Washington, D.C.

In January 1975 he left for Venezuela to do herpetological and mammalian studies, and research in Venezuela continued until June. The Venezuelan field projects at Guatopo National Park and the ranch of Sr. Tomas Blohm started in earnest in 1976. During 1977 the Venezuelan projects continued, and a new project on the vocal communication in cogeneric wrens started in Panama. These projects continued through 1978, and a new project studying the toque monkey in Ceylon started as well. In 1979 Dr. Eisenberg was made the assistant director for animal programs at the National Zoological Park. He became responsible for all animal and educational programs run by the National Zoological Park. Vertebrate Ecology in the Northern Neotropics, which he edited, was published in 1980 by the Smithsonian Press.

In 1981 he did a field study of the Cuban solendon in Cuba and visited various national parks in India. In April he spent three weeks in China discussing the possibility of setting a series of research projects based in a national park. In September his monograph, The Mammalian Radiations, was published. He also received the prestigious C. Hart Merriam award from the American Society of Mammalogists in 1981. He continued in the post of assistant director of animal and education programs until August 21, 1982, when he resigned to become Ordway professor of ecosystem conservation at the University of Florida in Gainesville.
Topic:
Zoology  Search this
Genre/Form:
Maps
Manuscripts
Black-and-white photographs
Citation:
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 7411, John F. Eisenberg Papers
Identifier:
Record Unit 7411
See more items in:
John F. Eisenberg Papers
Archival Repository:
Smithsonian Institution Archives
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-sia-faru7411
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Folder 34 American Society of Mammalogists. Correspondence and general information from the American Society of Mammalogists dating from April 1967 to February 1977.

Container:
Box 14 of 18
Type:
Archival materials
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 7411, John F. Eisenberg Papers
See more items in:
John F. Eisenberg Papers
John F. Eisenberg Papers / Box 14
Archival Repository:
Smithsonian Institution Archives
EDAN-URL:
ead_component:sova-sia-faru7411-refidd1e8464
No Image Available

Folder 37 Leopard Texas A & M Talk. A draft of a talk on Ceylon leopards and their home range given by Dr. Eisenberg at the fiftieth meeting of the American Society of Mammalogists June 1970.

Container:
Box 14 of 18
Type:
Archival materials
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 7411, John F. Eisenberg Papers
See more items in:
John F. Eisenberg Papers
John F. Eisenberg Papers / Box 14
Archival Repository:
Smithsonian Institution Archives
EDAN-URL:
ead_component:sova-sia-faru7411-refidd1e8497
view Edward William Nelson and Edward Alphonso Goldman Collection digital asset: Finding aid

Edward William Nelson and Edward Alphonso Goldman Collection

Extent:
21.66 cu. ft. (34 document boxes) (7 12x17 boxes) (11 3x5 boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Manuscripts
Scrapbooks
Clippings
Glass negatives
Black-and-white photographs
Place:
Alaska
Mexico
France
Saint Michael (Alaska)
Wrangell Island (Wrangell, Alaska)
Arizona
California
Date:
circa 1873-1946 and undated
Descriptive Entry:
This collection consists primarily of papers documenting the professional career and personal life of Edward William Nelson. A smaller amount of material was created by Edward Alphonso Goldman and relates to both professional and private matters. Apparently, Goldman assumed control of Nelson's papers after the latter's death, probably for reference in his continuing work summarizing the results of their Mexico field investigations. Due the pair's close professional relationship, it was decided to keep the collection intact. The papers of each individual have been kept distinct and reside in separate series, with the exception of photographs, which mostly document the Mexico field work. Other photographic materials have been placed in the same series as a matter of convenience.

Nelson's papers are valuable in documenting his work as a field naturalist, particularly in Alaska and Mexico; his administrative career with the Bureau of Biological Survey and consequential involvement in conservation issues of the day; his research on birds and mammals; his participation in professional societies and conservation organizations; personal and family matters; and commercial ventures, especially his ownership of fruit-growing businesses in California and Arizona.

The papers include a large file of incoming and outgoing correspondence that relates to all aspects of his professional life, but is particularly important in documenting his administrative tenure with the Bureau of Biological Survey, 1914-1927. The letters provide information on the role of the Biological Survey in conservation issues of the era, as well as Nelson's own attitudes on the matters--attitudes that sometimes clashed with other conservationists, including William Temple Hornaday. He corresponded extensively with most of the major figures in the conservation movement including Hornaday, John B. Burnham, Charles Sheldon, George Bird Grinnell, and John C. Phillips. Especially well represented by correspondence are the negotiations for the passage of the Migratory Bird Treaty between the United States and Great Britain, 1916, and the protracted fight over the Public Shooting Grounds-Game Refuge Bill during the 1920s. The correspondence also relates Nelson's role in the formative periods of several professional societies and conservation organizations including the American Society of Mammalogists, the American Game Protective Association, and the American Wild Fowlers.

Nelson's career as an explorer and field worker is documented in a series of journals and notebooks maintained between 1877 and 1930. The journals kept during his landmark work in Alaska and Mexico provide a running narrative of his daily activities and include notes on the fauna, flora, and physiography of the areas explored; information on specimens and artifacts collected; observations on native peoples and their cultures; and sketches of people, villages, fauna, and natural phenomena. The journals from his Alaska work are relatively complete; however, journals from the Mexico investigations from 1903 to 1906 are missing. Also included is a journal from the Death Valley Expedition, 1890-1891, and journals and notebooks kept during many of Nelson's official trips for the Bureau of Biological Survey.

The collection includes a series of records documenting Nelson's private life and business affairs. Especially well represented is his involvement with the Nelson-Goldman Orchard Company, 1911-1933, and the Arizona Orchard Company, 1921-1923. Also included is a voluminous correspondence with his brother, Fred W. Nelson, which concerns family and business matters; and various records concerning health issues, investments, real estate, and other financial matters.

Nelson's research is documented in a large series of notes, lists, manuscripts, newspaper clippings, photographs, and publications. Most of the material concerns his work on birds and mammals. The file also contains collected materials on many of the conservation issues of the day.

The papers of Edward Alphonso Goldman found in this collection are just a fragment of the material generated during his long career with the Bureau of Biological Survey. They are most valuable in documenting his biological survey of Mexico with Nelson. Included is an incomplete series of journals which contain a chronological narrative of Goldman's activities. Specific volumes are devoted to notes of birds and mammals observed and collected. Other papers of Goldman include correspondence, mostly with Nelson, and his brothers, George and Luther; and materials documenting his research on mammals.

The collection contains a series of photographs, photograph albums, and glass plate negatives documenting the careers of both men. Most of the material relates to their biological investigations of Mexico, 1892-1906. Included are images of areas visited, native peoples, and flora and fauna. Many of the photographs are unidentified. Also included are photographs of Nelson and Goldman; photographs of colleagues; and photographs taken in France during Goldman's service in World War I.

The collection also contains some papers of the conservationist Charles Sheldon, a close personal friend of Nelson. Apparently, Nelson acquired the papers when he was writing a biographical memorial on Sheldon. They consist of correspondence, notes, photographs, manuscripts, and related materials documenting Sheldon's work in conservation and natural history.

Finally, the collection includes a manuscript (with Nelson's annotations) of George Shiras' "Hunting Wild Life with Camera and Flashlight; A Record of Sixty-Five Years' Visits to the Woods and Waters of North America," and a few pieces of correspondence concerning the manuscript.

Additional materials documenting field work of Nelson and Goldman can be found in Smithsonian Institution Archives Record Unit 7176, Field Reports of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, 1860-1961, Field Reports. Voluminous field notebooks, lists, and other specimen related records for both men are housed in the Division of Birds and the Division of Mammals, National Museum of Natural History.
Historical Note:
The biological explorations made by Edward William Nelson and Edward Alphonso Goldman in Mexico from 1892 to 1906 have been described as ". . . among the most important ever achieved by two workers for any single country." They conducted investigations in every state in Mexico, collecting 17,400 mammals and 12,400 birds, as well as amassing an enormous fund of information on the natural history of the country. The best account of the work is Goldman's Biological Investigations in Mexico, Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, vol. 115, July 1951.

EDWARD WILLIAM NELSON (1855-1934)

Described by Theodore Roosevelt as ". . . one of the keenest naturalists we have ever had . . .," Edward William Nelson was born in Manchester, New Hampshire. He developed an interest in the outdoors around his boyhood home in New England, and in Chicago where his family moved in 1868. Shortly after enrolling in Cooke County Normal School in 1872, Nelson was invited to join Edward Drinker Cope and Samuel Garman on a fossil collecting trip to the Badlands of Wyoming. After returning to Chicago, his interest in natural history continued to grow as he became acquainted with Joel Asaph Allen, Robert Ridgway, Stephen A. Forbes, Henry W. Henshaw and others.

In the winter of 1876, Nelson traveled to Washington, D.C., to meet Spencer F. Baird, Assistant Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, and enlist his help in securing a position as a field naturalist. Through Baird's influence, Nelson traveled to Alaska as a weather observer in the Signal Corps of the United States Army in April 1877. From June 1877 to June 1881, he was stationed at St. Michael on the Bering Sea coast of Alaska with a charge to ". . . secure an unbroken series of meteorological observations, and, in addition, to obtain all the information possible concerning the geography, ethnology, and zoology of the surrounding region." Nelson made several dog-sled excursions around the region, compiling data on the lives and customs of the native people, and making ethnological and natural history collections for the Smithsonian. The results of his work were published in "Report upon Natural History Collections Made in Alaska between the Years 1877-1881," 1887, and "The Eskimo about Bering Strait," 1900. In June 1881, he accompanied the revenue steamer Corwin on its search for the missing arctic ship Jeannette. The expedition was the first to reach and explore Wrangell Island.

Nelson spent most of the period from 1882 until 1890 in Arizona recovering from pulmonary tuberculosis contracted in Washington, D.C., while preparing his report on the birds of Alaska. In 1890, he accepted an appointment as a Special Field Agent with the Death Valley Expedition under C. Hart Merriam, Chief of the Division of Ornithology and Mammalogy, United States Department of Agriculture. This was the start of a career with the Division and its successor, the Bureau of Biological Survey, that would continue until 1929. In January 1892, Nelson received orders to conduct a three-month field survey in Mexico with Edward Alphonso Goldman, whom he had recently hired as an assistant. The trip evolved into an exhaustive, fourteen-year biological investigation of the entire country.

After concluding the Mexico work, Nelson's duties with the Bureau of Biological Survey gradually shifted from scientific to administrative. He was Chief Field Naturalist, 1907-1912; Assistant in charge of Biological Investigations, 1913-1914; Assistant Chief, 1914-1916; Chief, 1916-1927; and Senior Biologist, 1927-1929. Nelson was also an honorary Research Associate of the Smithsonian Institution from 1930 until his death. During the decade in which he led the Biological Survey, Nelson was actively involved in most of the major conservation issues of the era. He helped negotiate the Migratory Bird Treaty of 1916 with Great Britain and was an enthusiastic supporter of the Public Shooting Grounds-Game Refuge Bill, the Alaska Game Law Bill, and the Migratory Bird Conservation Act. He was also instrumental in developing policies to improve conditions of domestic reindeer herds in Alaska, and the promoting of bird-banding as a method of ornithological research.

In the field, Nelson was an all-round naturalist, observing and collecting most things that he encountered. He was a prolific author, and his bibliography included over two hundred titles, mostly concerning birds and mammals. Over one hundred animals and plants were named in his honor. Nelson Island and Nelson Lagoon, along the coast of the Bering Sea, and Nelson Range, a short mountain range in California, also bear his name. Nelson was President of the American Ornithologists' Union, 1908-1909, the Biological Society of Washington, 1912-1913, and the American Society of Mammalogists, 1920-1923. He received an honorary M.A. from Yale University in 1920, and an honorary Doctor of Science from the George Washington University in the same year.

Nelson was involved with the Goldman family in the operation of fruit orchards in California and Arizona. He was a co-owner and director of the Nelson-Goldman Orchard Company, 1911-1934, and the Arizona Orchard Company, 1921-1923.

For more detailed biographical information on Nelson, see Edward Alphonso Goldman, "Edward William Nelson - Naturalist," The Auk, April 1935, vol. 52, no. 2; Margaret Lantis, "Edward William Nelson," Anthropological Papers of the University of Alaska, December 1954, vol. 3, no. 1; and William W. Fitzhugh and Susan A. Kaplan, Inua. Spirit World of the Bering Sea Eskimo, (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982).

EDWARD ALPHONSO GOLDMAN (1873-1946)

Edward Alphonso Goldman, field naturalist and mammalogist, was born in Mount Carroll, Illinois. His family moved to Tulare County, California, in 1888, and he went to work as a foreman in a vineyard near Fresno at the age of seventeen. After a fortuitous meeting between his father and Edward William Nelson of the Bureau of Biological Survey, Goldman was hired by Nelson in January 1892 to assist his biological investigations of California and Mexico. Thus began an association with Nelson and the Biological Survey that would continue for the remainder of his life. Shortly thereafter, he received appointment as a Field Naturalist with the Biological Survey, and he spent most of the next fourteen years with Nelson collecting in every region of Mexico.

Goldman served in a variety of positions with the Biological Survey. He was Field Naturalist, 1892-1917; Biologist in Charge, Division of Biological Investigations, 1919-1925; Biologist in Charge, Game and Bird Reservations, 1925-1928; and Senior Biologist, Division of Biological Investigations, 1928-1943. Goldman also had an honorary position with the Smithsonian Institution as Associate in Zoology from 1928 to 1946. His service with the Biological Survey was marked by extensive field investigations in every region of the United States.

In 1911-1912, Goldman conducted faunal studies as part of the Biological Survey of Panama during construction of the canal. His results were published in The Mammals of Panama in 1920. During World War I, he was a Major in the Sanitary Corps of the American Expeditionary Forces, in charge of rodent control in France. In 1936, he was chosen to assist the United States Government in negotiations with Mexico for the protection of migratory birds and game mammals.

Goldman's bibliography included more than two hundred titles. He named over three hundred forms of mammals, most of them subspecies. Approximately fifty mammals, birds, reptiles, mollusks, and plants bear his name. Goldman Peak in Baja California was also named in his honor. A member of many professional organizations, Goldman was President of the Biological Society of Washington, 1927-1929, and the American Society of Mammalogists, 1946.

For additional biographical information on Goldman, see Stanley P. Young, "Edward Alphonso Goldman: 1873-1946," Journal of Mammalogy, May 1947, vol. 28, no. 2, pp. 91-109.
Chronology:
-- CHRONOLOGY OF THE LIFE OF EDWARD WILLIAM NELSON

1855 -- Born in Manchester, New Hampshire, May 8

1868 -- Family moved to Chicago

1872 -- Assisted Edward Drinker Cope and Samuel Garman on a fossil collecting expedition to the Badlands of Wyoming

1876 -- Visited Washington, D.C. and met Spencer F. Baird

1877-1881 -- Weather Observer for the Signal Corps of the U.S. Army at St. Michael, Alaska. Made extensive natural history and ethnology collections and observations of the Bering Strait Eskimos.

1881 -- Accompanied revenue steamer Corwin on search for missing arctic exploring ship Jeannette. Was a member of the first party to explore Wrangell Island.

1887 -- "Report upon Natural History Collections made in Alaska between the years 1877-1881" (Arctic Series of Publications Issued in Connection with the Signal Service, United States Army, no. 3)

1890-1891 -- Special Field Agent, Death Valley Expedition, Division of Ornithology and Mammalogy, United States Department of Agriculture

1890-1907 -- Field Naturalist, Bureau of Biological Survey

1892-1906 -- Field investigations of Mexico with Edward Alphonso Goldman

1899 -- "Revision of the Squirrels of Mexico and Central America" (Proceedings of the Washington Academy of Sciences, vol. 1)

1900 -- "The Eskimo about Bering Strait" (Eighteenth Annual Report, Bureau of American Ethnology, Pt. 1)

1907-1912 -- Chief Field Naturalist, Bureau of Biological Survey

1908-1909 -- President, American Ornithologists' Union

1909 -- "The Rabbits of North America" (U.S. Bureau of Biological Survey, North American Fauna, no. 29)

1911-1934 -- Part owner, Nelson-Goldman Orchard Company, Orosi, California

1912-1913 -- President, Biological Society of Washington

1913-1914 -- Assistant in charge of Biological Investigations, Bureau of Biological Survey

1914-1916 -- Assistant Chief, Bureau of Biological Survey

1916-1927 -- Chief, Bureau of Biological Survey

1918 -- "Wild Animals of North America" (National Geographic Society; rev. ed., 1930)

1918-1919 -- Vice-President, American Society of Mammalogists

1920 -- Honorary Master of Arts, Yale University

1920 -- Honorary Doctor of Science, George Washington University

1920-1923 -- President, American Society of Mammalogists

1921-1922 -- President and Director, Arizona Orchard Company

1922 -- "Lower California and its Natural Resources" (Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 16)

1927-1929 -- Senior Biologist, Bureau of Biological Survey

1930-1934 -- Research Associate, Smithsonian Institution

1934 -- Death, May 19

-- CHRONOLOGY OF THE LIFE OF EDWARD ALPHONSO GOLDMAN

1873 -- Born in Mount Carroll, Illinois, July 7

1888 -- Family moved to Tulare County, California

1891 -- Hired by Edward William Nelson as a field assistant, beginning a long professional and personal association

1892-1917 -- Field Naturalist, Bureau of Biological Survey

1892-1906 -- Biological investigations of Mexico, mostly with Nelson

1910 -- Revision of the Wood Rats of the Genus Neotoma (U.S. Bureau of Biological Survey, North American Fauna, no. 31)

1911 -- Revision of the Spiny Pocket Mice (genera Heteromys and Liomys) (U.S. Bureau of Biological Survey, North American Fauna, no. 34)

1911-1912 -- Conducted faunal studies as part of the Biological Survey of the Panama Canal Zone

1913-1917 -- Biological investigations of Arizona

1918 -- Rice Rats of North America (U.S. Bureau of Biological Survey, North American Fauna, no. 43)

1918-1919 -- Major, Sanitary Corps, American Expeditionary Forces, in charge of rodent control in France

1919-1925 -- Biologist in Charge, Division of Biological Investigations, Bureau of Biological Survey

1920 -- Mammals of Panama (Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, vol. 69, no. 5)

1922-1937 -- Reserve Major, Sanitary Corps, U.S. Army

1925-1928 -- Biologist in Charge, Game and Bird Reservations, Bureau of Biological Survey

1928-1944 -- Senior Biologist, Division of Biological Investigations, Bureau of Biological Survey

1928-1946 -- Associate in Zoology, United States National Museum

-- 1936 assisted with negotiations of United States-Mexico migratory bird and mammal treaty

1944 -- "The Wolves of North America," with Stanley P. Young (American Wildlife Institute)

1944-1946 -- Collaborator, United States Fish and Wildlife Service

1946 -- President, American Society of Mammalogists

1946 -- "The Puma: Mysterious American Cat," with Stanley P. Young (American Wildlife Institute)

1946 -- Death, Washington, D.C., September 2

1951 -- Biological Investigations in Mexico (Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, vol. 115)
Topic:
Mammalogy  Search this
Ornithology  Search this
Orchards  Search this
World War, 1914-1918  Search this
Genre/Form:
Manuscripts
Scrapbooks
Clippings
Glass negatives
Black-and-white photographs
Citation:
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 7364, Edward William Nelson and Edward Alphonso Goldman Collection
Identifier:
Record Unit 7364
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Edward William Nelson and Edward Alphonso Goldman Collection
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PROFESSIONAL CORRESPONDENCE OF EDWARD WILLIAM NELSON, 1878-1934 AND UNDATED.

Type:
Archival materials
Note:
This series consists of incoming and outgoing correspondence documenting the official and professional career of Edward William Nelson. He maintained a voluminous correspondence with ornithologists, mammalogists, conservationists, and other professional colleagues. The letters document Nelson's involvement with conservation issues and legislation, especially the Migratory Bird Treaty between the United States and Great Britain, 1916, and the Public Shooting Grounds-Game Refuge Bill; his work with professional societies and conservation organizations including the American Ornithologists' Union, the American Society of Mammalogists, the American Game Protective Association, and the American Wild Fowlers; his field work in Alaska and Mexico; his research on birds and mammals; and the preparation of scientific and popular papers.

Of special interest are several letters from Edward Alphonso Goldman documenting his service with the American Expeditionary Forces during World War I; letters of Alice Eastwood and Leverett Mills Loomis describing the San Francisco earthquake of 1906; and letters of David Starr Jordan and Wilfred Hudson Osgood concerning the selection of the fourth Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution in 1907.

Occasional photographs, drawings, manuscripts, and publications are found with the correspondence. This material is noted in the folder descriptions.

Arranged alphabetically.
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 7364, Edward William Nelson and Edward Alphonso Goldman Collection
Identifier:
Record Unit 7364, Series 1
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Folder 8 American Society of Mammalogists, 1921-1923. Consists mostly of Nelson's correspondence as President, 1922.

Container:
Box 1 of 50
Type:
Archival materials
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 7364, Edward William Nelson and Edward Alphonso Goldman Collection
See more items in:
Edward William Nelson and Edward Alphonso Goldman Collection
Edward William Nelson and Edward Alphonso Goldman Collection / Series 1: PROFESSIONAL CORRESPONDENCE OF EDWARD WILLIAM NELSON, 1878-1934 AND UNDATED. / Box 1
Archival Repository:
Smithsonian Institution Archives
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view Records digital asset: Finding aid

Records

Topic:
Journal of Mammalogy
Extent:
77.19 cu. ft. (153 document boxes) (1 16x20 box) (4 oversize folders)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Audiotapes
Manuscripts
Videotapes
Black-and-white photographs
Color transparencies
Date:
1919-1993 and undated
Descriptive Entry:
These records document the history and development of the American Society of Mammalogists from the time of its inception through the year 1994. The collection includes a number of early documents, some in the handwriting of the originators, and correspondence, minutes, reports, financial records, audiocassettes, photographs, and other memorabilia from the files of most of the officers and many of the committees serving during 1919-1994. A commemorative wood-cased album contains photographs of all the presidents of the society, and another contains photos of honorary members (see Box 159).

A history of the Society, 75 Years of Mammalogy, containing chapters contributed by a number of authors and edited by James N. Layne, was published in 1994. (Papers connected with three of the book's chapters are included in Box 150, Folders 1-3). A less formal and perhaps more personal description of the early days of the Society was written by Hartley H. T. Jackson in 1968 and sent to Donald Hoffmeister, then Society historian. This remarkable document, in Jackson's own hand, is preserved in the collection (see Box 143, Folder 6) along with a number of other writings by Jackson and other early members.
Historical Note:
The American Society of Mammalogists was formally established at an organizational meeting held in the new U.S. National Museum (now the National Museum of Natural History), Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., April 3-4, 1919. The meeting had been announced by a one-page circular mailed in February 1919 to several thousand prospective members and by an advertisement in Science magazine. (See Box 62, Folder 1, Box 143, Folders 1 and 2, and Box 144, Folder 2 for minutes and reports of the organizational meeting.) It was an outgrowth of the recommendations of an ad hoc committee established originally by several members of the U.S. Biological Survey, which at the time was housed in the National Museum in Washington, D.C. The organizational committee consisted of Hartley H. T. Jackson, U.S. Biological Survey, chairman; Walter P. Taylor, U.S. Biological Survey, secretary; Glover M. Allen, Boston Society of Natural History; Joseph A. Allen, American Museum of Natural History; Joseph Grinnell, University of California; Ned Hollister, U.S. National Zoological Park; Arthur H. Howell, U. S. Biological Survey; Wilfred H. Osgood, Field Museum of Natural History; Edward A. Preble, U.S. Biological Survey; and Witmer Stone, Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. Other staff members of the U.S. Biological Survey who contributed to the discussions of the committee included Vernon Bailey, A. K. Fisher, William H. Cheesman, and E. W. Nelson. Sixty persons signed the Register of Attendance at the organizational meeting (see Box 143, Folder 2), but the list of charter members of the society includes approximately 400 names (see Box 62, Folder 2).

The by-laws (see Box 143, Folder 4) and rules of the new society were based on the constitutions and by-laws of the American Ornithologists Union, the American Society of Naturalists, the Wisconsin Natural History Society, the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, and the Biological Society of Washington. The Society was incorporated in the District of Columbia on April 29, 1920, and the purpose of the Society is spelled out as "the promotion of the study of mammalogy by the publication of a serial and other publications, by aiding research, and by engaging in such other activities as may be deemed expedient." (See Box 143, Folder 3.) Signatories to the Articles of Incorporation were C. Hart Merriam, E. W. Nelson, Vernon Bailey, Hartley H. T. Jackson, Clarence R. Shoemaker, Charles W. Richmond, and Victor J. Evans. The Society publishes the Journal of Mammalogy quarterly and a number of miscellaneous publications and several series on a less regular basis.
Topic:
Mammalogy  Search this
Professional associations  Search this
Mammalogists  Search this
Genre/Form:
Audiotapes
Manuscripts
Videotapes
Black-and-white photographs
Color transparencies
Citation:
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 7357, American Society of Mammalogists, Records
Identifier:
Record Unit 7357
See more items in:
Records
Archival Repository:
Smithsonian Institution Archives
EDAN-URL:
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Folder 2 1974-1979 Committee on Grants-in-Aid

Container:
Box 140 of 162
Type:
Archival materials
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 7357, American Society of Mammalogists, Records
See more items in:
Records
Records / Series 6: COMMITTEE PAPERS. / Box 140
Archival Repository:
Smithsonian Institution Archives
EDAN-URL:
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