This accession consists of records documenting the administrative activities of the Office of International Relations and its predecessors, the Directorate of International
Activities and the Office of International Activities, respectively, in regard to office budgetary matters and the coordinating of internationally-focused Smithsonian projects
and initiatives such as grants, conferences, diplomatic visits, scientific research, and museum project management. Staff represented in these records include director Francine
C. Berkowitz; assistant director Brian Lemay; and international liaison specialist and senior policy advisor Leonard P. Hirsch, who was responsible for the support of Smithsonian
scientific programs, with an emphasis on global environmental concerns. Of note are records related to Hirsch's work on gay rights in the workplace, both at the Smithsonian
Institution and in the federal government. Materials include correspondence, memoranda, and notes; meeting agendas and minutes; budget summaries; contracts and agreements;
reports; grant proposals; survey information; questionnaires, fellowship and research program information; news releases; speech papers; Smithsonian Foreign Currency Program
information; guidelines and procedures; information about conferences, symposiums, committees, workshops, exhibitions, and special events; photographs and negatives; clippings;
brochures; floor plans; videotapes; and supporting documentation. Some materials are in electronic format.
Rights:
Restricted for 15 years. until Jan-01-2030; Transferring office; 2/23/1993 memorandum, Kirby to Thomas; Contact reference staff for details.
Smithsonian Institution. Office of Fellowships and Grants Search this
Extent:
10 cu. ft. (10 record storage boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Manuscripts
Date:
1966-1978
Descriptive Entry:
This accession consists of records documenting research funded by the Smithsonian Foreign Currency Program. Materials include correspondence and memoranda, reports,
proposals, budgetary and financial information, and related materials.
Smithsonian Institution. Office of Fellowships and Grants Search this
Extent:
1 cu. ft. (1 record storage box)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Manuscripts
Color photographs
Date:
1983-1985
Descriptive Entry:
This accession consists of Smithsonian Foreign Currency Program grant review files, both accepted and rejected, which document international funding requests for development
in museum collections, scholarly initiatives, and public programs. The records date back to when Francine C. Berkowitz served as Grants Program Manager at the Office of Fellowships
and Grants. They consist of Berkowitz's correspondence, memoranda, and notes; grant applications; proposals; review committee summaries; and budgetary information.
Folder 5 Revised Ceylon Elephant Proposal-1975. A copy of the revised renewal proposal submitted to the Smithsonian Foreign Currency Program as well as being used to extend grant #7428. A letter dated March 1975 that authorizes the approved research al...
Container:
Box 4 of 18
Type:
Archival materials
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 7411, John F. Eisenberg Papers
Folder 3 Progress Reports - 1975 and 1976 Ceylon Elephant Project. Progress reports dated March, April, and May 1976, and one dated December (1975) and January, February 1976. These were sent to the Smithsonian Foreign Currency Program as part of a req...
Container:
Box 4 of 18
Type:
Archival materials
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 7411, John F. Eisenberg Papers
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.
National Museum of Natural History. Palearctic Migratory Bird Survey Search this
Extent:
13 cu. ft. (12 record storage boxes) (2 document boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Manuscripts
Laboratory notebooks
Date:
1966-1971
Descriptive Entry:
These records consist primarily of raw and synthesized bird-banding data compiled by the Palearctic Migratory Bird Survey. The usual data given includes species, sex,
weight, and fat content. Also included is correspondence of Watson, mostly concerning banding work; reports; and administrative records.
Many of the materials in this collection have been digitized.
View Digitized Material.
Historical Note:
The Palearctic Migratory Bird Survey (PMS), a survey of migratory birds, their ectoparasites and the viruses they carry, was conducted in the eastern Mediterranean
from 1966 to 1971. The primary PMS operation site was in northern Egypt. Surveys were also conducted in Cyprus and Israel. The PMS involved scientists of the Smithsonian Institution,
the United States Naval Medical Research Unit, and Yale University, and was funded by the Army Research Office, the Smithsonian Foreign Currency Program, and the Smithsonian
Research Foundation. George E. Watson, Chairman, Department of Vertebrate Zoology, and Curator, Division of Birds, National Museum of Natural History, was Principal Investigator.