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SIA RU007082, Shimek, Bohumil 1861-1937, Bohumil Shimek Papers, 1878-1936

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Summary

Creator:
Shimek, Bohumil 1861-1937
Title:
Bohumil Shimek Papers, 1878-1936
Dates:
1878, 1878-1936
Notes:
Bohumil Shimek (1861-1937) studied civil engineering at the State University of Iowa (SUI), where he received a C.E. degree in 1883 and an M.S. degree in 1902. He served as railroad and county surveyor for Johnson County, Iowa, 1883-1885, and taught sciences at Iowa City High School, 1885-1888. From 1888 until 1890, Shimek was an instructor in zoology at the University of Nebraska. From 1890 to 1932, he taught botany at SUI and served as the head of the Department of Botany, 1914-1919. In 1914, Shimek was an exchange professor at Charles University in Prague. Shimek was also Curator of the Herbarium, SUI, 1895-1937; President of the Iowa State Academy of Sciences, 1904-1905; a geologist for the Iowa State Geological Survey, 1908-1929; and Director of the Lakeside Laboratory, Lake Okoboji, Iowa. Shimek's interest in the natural sciences and geology covered many areas, but he was mostly known for his study of loess, loess fossils, and fossil malacology in Iowa and the prairie states. He was the author of the term, NEBRASKAN, which is used to describe the layer underneath the Aftonian interglacial deposits
Summary:
These papers consist of correspondence with conchologists, naturalists, and shell collectors pertaining to shell collections and exchanges, and responses to Shimek's questionnaires on Pomatiopsis lapidarias and other shells; notebooks listing personal names of those to whom Shimek sent his publications on loess, geology, and botany; a notebook containing names of Czech-Americans; a notebook containing personal names listed under the counties of Iowa; field notes and diaries documenting Shimek's scientific field explorations throughout the Midwest, the Atlantic coastal states, the South, the Southwest, and Nicaragua; photographs showing mostly geological features and flora; a scrapbook on the geology of several counties of Iowa; a class book kept by Shimek while he was an instructor at the University of Nebraska; maps of different localities in Iowa and Nebraska; bibliographical cards on geological formations, shells, loess, and botany, arranged by subject and alphabetically thereunder; newspaper clippings, journal articles, and speeches, probably on soil erosion and prevention, and on foreign immigration
Topics:
Geology, Botany, Invertebrate zoology, Paleontology
Subject:
University of Nebraska
Form/Genre:
Maps, Collection descriptions, Photographs, Field notes, Scrapbooks
Local Number:
SIA RU007082
Physical Description:
2 linear meters

Finding Aids to Personal Papers and Special Collections in the Smithsonian Institution Archives

Record Unit 7082

Shimek, Bohumil, 1861-1937

Bohumil Shimek Papers, 1878-1936

Repository: Smithsonian Institution Archives, Washington, D.C. Contact us at osiaref@si.edu.
Creator: Shimek, Bohumil, 1861-1937
Title: Bohumil Shimek Papers
Dates: 1878-1936
Quantity: 2 linear meters.
Collection: Record Unit 7082
Language of Materials: English

Historical Note

Bohumil Shimek (1861-1937) studied civil engineering at the State University of Iowa (SUI), where he received a C.E. degree in 1883 and an M.S. degree in 1902. He served as railroad and county surveyor for Johnson County, Iowa, 1883-1885, and taught sciences at Iowa City High School, 1885-1888. From 1888 until 1890, Shimek was an instructor in zoology at the University of Nebraska. From 1890 to 1932, he taught botany at SUI and served as the head of the Department of Botany, 1914-1919. In 1914, Shimek was an exchange professor at Charles University in Prague. Shimek was also Curator of the Herbarium, SUI, 1895-1937; President of the Iowa State Academy of Sciences, 1904-1905; a geologist for the Iowa State Geological Survey, 1908-1929; and Director of the Lakeside Laboratory, Lake Okoboji, Iowa. Shimek's interest in the natural sciences and geology covered many areas, but he was mostly known for his study of loess, loess fossils, and fossil malacology in Iowa and the prairie states. He was the author of the term, NEBRASKAN, which is used to describe the layer underneath the Aftonian interglacial deposits.

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Introduction

This finding aid was digitized with funds generously provided by the Smithsonian Institution Women’s Committee.

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Descriptive Entry

These papers consist of correspondence with conchologists, naturalists, and shell collectors pertaining to shell collections and exchanges, and responses to Shimek's questionnaires on Pomatiopsis lapidarias and other shells; notebooks listing personal names of those to whom Shimek sent his publications on loess, geology, and botany; a notebook containing names of Czech-Americans; a notebook containing personal names listed under the counties of Iowa; field notes and diaries documenting Shimek's scientific field explorations throughout the Midwest, the Atlantic coastal states, the South, the Southwest, and Nicaragua; photographs showing mostly geological features and flora; a scrapbook on the geology of several counties of Iowa; a class book kept by Shimek while he was an instructor at the University of Nebraska; maps of different localities in Iowa and Nebraska; bibliographical cards on geological formations, shells, loess, and botany, arranged by subject and alphabetically thereunder; newspaper clippings, journal articles, and speeches, probably on soil erosion and prevention, and on foreign immigration.

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This collection is indexed under the following access terms. These are links to collections with related topics, persons or places.

Name

Subject

Physical Characteristics of Materials in the Collection

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Preferred Citation

Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 7082, Shimek, Bohumil, 1861-1937, Bohumil Shimek Papers

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Container List

Series 1

CORRESPONDENCE, 1878-1936.

Box 1

A - C

Box 1 of 9

D - H

Box 1 of 9

J - L

Box 1 of 9

M

Box 1 of 9

N - Pre

Box 1 of 9

Prince, Henry, 1882-1891

Box 1 of 9

R

Box 1 of 9

S

Box 1 of 9

T - W and miscellaneous

Box 1 of 9

Synopsis of correspondence pertaining to questionnaires on Pomatiopsis lapidaria, and other shells, 1933

Box 1 of 9

Series 2

CLASSROOM MATERIAL.

Box 1

Class Record, University of Nebraska, 1888-1889

Box 1 of 9

Series 3

NOTEBOOKS CONTAINING PERSONAL NAMES.

Box 1

Names of individuals arranged alphabetically by counties of Iowa, undated

Box 1 of 9

Names and addresses of Czech-Americans, circa 1914

Box 1 of 9

Names and addresses of individuals to who Shimek sent his publications on loess, geology, and botany, circa 1899 and circa 1915 (2 books)

Box 1 of 9

Series 4

FIELD NOTEBOOKS AND DIARIES, SPECIMEN LISTS AND CATALOGUE, AND OTHER NOTES, 1878-1936. ARRANGED CHRONOLOGICALLY.

This series consists mostly of field notebooks and diaries and other notes taken by Shimek during his field trips and scientific investigations. Miscellaneous notes written at various times and not necessarily related to the subject content of the field notebooks were filed into the notebooks by Shimek. These materials have been removed from the notebooks for conservation purposes and are now filed in the same as the notebooks they resided in.

Box 1

Level Book, 1878

Box 1 of 9

Notes on birds, Johnson County, Iowa, 1879

Box 1 of 9
Field notes and diary, 1880
Notes on birds, 1880
Notes on Ova, 1880

Level Book, 1882

Box 1 of 9

Notes on plants; notes in Czech, speech on foreign immigration, 1883

Box 1 of 9

Level Book, 1885

Box 1 of 9
Field notes and diary, Atlantic Coastal states; notes on plants, 1885
Notes, Atlantic Coastal states, 1885

Lists of fossils, mollusks and plants; surveying notes, 1886

Box 1 of 9
Boring tests at the University of Nebraska Agricultural Experiment Station, 1889
Expenditures, 1889
Notes on botany specimens, Nebraska, 1890

Extracts on geology; Survey of cemetery plots in Monona County, Iowa, 1891

Box 1 of 9

Shells, Alabama and Tennessee; notes on trees, 1891

Box 1 of 9

Field notes and diaries, Nicaragua, 1892-1893 (I-III)

Box 1 of 9

Botanical notes, Nicaragua, 1892-1893 (notebooks I-VI)

Box 1 of 9

Plant records, 1895

Box 1 of 9

Diary, and miscellaneous notes, 1896

Box 1 of 9

Notes on plants, 1896

Box 1 of 9

Surveying data, Monona County, Iowa, 1897

Box 1 of 9

Field notes and diary, Natchez, Mississippi, 1898

Box 1 of 9

Field notes, Osceola and Lyon counties, Iowa, 1899

Box 1 of 9

Field notes, Iowa, 1899

Box 1 of 9

Box 2

Field notes, Osceola and Dickenson counties, Iowa; and other notes, 1900

Box 2 of 9

Field notes and diary, Granite, Iowa; and Kewaunee, Wisconsin, 1901

Box 2 of 9

Lists of specimens, Lake Okoboji, Iowa, 1901

Box 2 of 9

Miscellaneous, 1901

Box 2 of 9

List of botanical specimens, 1902

Box 2 of 9
List of botanical specimens, Iowa, 1903

Field notes and diary, Kansas, Missouri, New Mexico, Texas, 1903

Box 2 of 9

Field notes and diary, Iowa, New Mexico, September 1904

Box 2 of 9
Field notes and diary, Iowa, October 1904
Field notes and diary, Indiana, November 1904

Field notes, Iowa, April-May 1905

Box 2 of 9

Field notes and diary, New Mexico, Arizona, California, August-September 1905

Box 2 of 9

Field notes, Iowa, June-July 1905; and August 1906

Box 2 of 9

Field notes and diary, Bayfield, Wisconsin, March 1906

Box 2 of 9

Field notes and diary, Indiana, Illinois, April 1906; and Iowa, Nebraska, August-September 1926

Box 2 of 9

Field notes and diary, South Dakota, August 1906

Box 2 of 9
Field notes and diary, Iowa, August-September 1906
Field notes and diary, Iowa, Illinois, October-November 1906

Field notes and diary, Iowa, Nebraska, Illinois, Wisconsin, November-December 1906

Box 2 of 9

Field notes and diary, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, December 1906

Box 2 of 9

Field notes and diary, Mississippi, Arkansas, December 1906-January 1907

Box 2 of 9

Field notes, Nebraska, March 1907

Box 2 of 9
Field notes and diary, Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, July-August 1907
Field notes and diary, New Mexico, August 1907

Field notes, Harrison and Monona counties, Iowa, 1908 (A)

Box 2 of 9
Field notes, Harrison County, Iowa, 1908 (B)

Field notes, Harrison and Monona counties, Iowa, 1908 (D)

Box 2 of 9
Field notes, Harrison and Monona counties, Iowa, 1908 (E-1)

Field notes, Harrison and Monona counties, Iowa, 1908 (E-2)

Box 2 of 9
Field notes, Iowa, 1909 (F)

Field notes, Iowa, Nebraska, 1909 (G)

Box 2 of 9
Field notes, Iowa, 1909 (H)

Field notes, Iowa, Nebraska, 1909 (I)

Box 2 of 9

Field notes, Iowa, South Dakota, 1910 (#1)

Box 2 of 9
Field notes, Iowa, South Dakota, Nebraska, Missouri, 1910 (#2)

Botany and geology, Iowa, 1910, 1911

Box 2 of 9
Field notes and diary, Iowa, South Dakota, 1911
Field notes and diary, Lake Okoboji, Iowa, 1912

Field notes and diary, Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri, 1912, 1913, 1920

Box 2 of 9
Field notes and diary, Iowa, South Dakota, 1912, 1913

Field notes and diary, Audubon and Shelby counties, Iowa, 1912, 1913

Box 2 of 9

Iowa Avenue Street Plan, Fairfield, Iowa soldiers' records, 1913

Box 2 of 9

Box 3

Field notes and diary, Iowa, 1913, 1914, 1915

Box 3 of 9

Field notes and diary, Iowa, Wisconsin, Ontario, New York, Washington, D.C., 1913, 1915

Box 3 of 9

Field notes and diary, Iowa, 1913, 1915, 1920, 1922

Box 3 of 9

Diary, European trip, 1914 (2 books)

Box 3 of 9

Diary, voyage from Austria-Hungary to the United States, written mostly in Czech

Box 3 of 9

Notes written mostly in Czech, 1914

Box 3 of 9
Notes on studies of willows, University of Prague, 1914

Diary, May 9, 1916

Box 3 of 9
Field notes and diary, Iowa, 1916, 1917

Building inspection trip, Iowa; field notes, Illinois, Indiana, 1916, 1917, 1920, 1921

Box 3 of 9

Field notes and diary, Iowa, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Ohio, Kansas, 1916, 1918

Box 3 of 9

Field notes, Iowa, 1917, 1919

Box 3 of 9

Field notes and diary, Iowa, Nebraska, Tennessee, Missouri, 1917, 1919, 1920

Box 3 of 9

Field notes and diary, Iowa, Nebraska, 1918

Box 3 of 9

Field notes and diary, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Ohio, Wisconsin, 1918, 1919

Box 3 of 9

Field notes and diary, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, New York, 1919

Box 3 of 9

Field notes and diary, Iowa, April-June, 1920

Box 3 of 9
Field notes and diary, Iowa, May-June, 1920
Field notes and diary, Iowa, Missouri, 1920, 1921

Field notes and diary, Iowa; quotations on geology from various sources, January-February 1921

Box 3 of 9

Field notes and diary, Iowa, August-September 1921

Box 3 of 9
Field notes and diary, Iowa, September-November 1921

Field notes and diary, Iowa, October-December 1921; March-May 1922

Box 3 of 9

Field notes and diary, Iowa, March-July 1923

Box 3 of 9

Field notes and diary, Iowa, August-November 1923

Box 3 of 9

Field notes and diary, Iowa, 1923, 1930, 1933

Box 3 of 9

Field notes and diary, 1924

Box 3 of 9

Lists of plants, 1925

Box 3 of 9

Field notes and diary, 1931, 1932

Box 3 of 9

Field notes and diary, 1932, 1933

Box 3 of 9

Box 4

Field notes and diary, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Missouri, Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, Florida, Tennessee, Kentucky, 1933

Box 4 of 9

Field notes and diary, Iowa, 1934 (I-II)

Box 4 of 9

Diary, Iowa, Illinois, 1934, 1935

Box 4 of 9

Field notes and diary, Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wyoming, 1935 (I)

Box 4 of 9
Field notes and diary, Illinois, 1935 (II)

Field notes and diary, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa, 1935

Box 4 of 9

Field notes and diary, Iowa, Louisiana, Texas, Tennessee, Missouri, Mississippi, February-April 1936

Box 4 of 9

Field notes and diary, Iowa, Nebraska, October 1936

Box 4 of 9

Catalogue of Fossils

Box 4 of 9

Descriptions of Lakeside Laboratory at Lake Okoboji, Iowa; and list of Unionidae

Box 4 of 9

Distribution list

Box 4 of 9

Field notes, lists of trees in Iowa

Box 4 of 9

Field notes, and lists of specimens

Box 4 of 9

Lists of botanical specimens

Box 4 of 9

Lists of mollusks

Box 4 of 9

Lists of specimens sent to various persons, 1931-1936

Box 4 of 9

Loess notes (mostly blank pages)

Box 4 of 9

Notes from various sources

Box 4 of 9

Series 5

JOURNAL ARTICLES, NEWSPAPER CLIPPINGS, SCRAPBOOK, AND SPEECH.

Box 4

Journal articles, 1923-1929

Box 4 of 9

Newspaper clippings, 1921-1930

Box 4 of 9

Scrapbook - Davis County, Van Buren County, Wapello County and Jefferson County, Iowa

Box 4 of 9

Speech (probably on soil erosion and prevention, with pages missing). See also notes of Shimek's speech on foreign immigration in Box 1.

Box 4 of 9

Series 6

PHOTOGRAPHS AND COPY NEGATIVES; MAPS; AND BIBLIOGRAPHY CARDS, ARRANGED BY SUBJECT.

Box 4

Photographs - Scenes of various places in Iowa and Louisiana

Box 4 of 9

Photographs - Southern trip, 1936 (13 envelopes)

Box 4 of 9

Map - Graphs of townships, Lyon County, Iowa

Box 4 of 9

Map - Blueprint map of Clear Lake, Cerro Gordo County, Iowa (Iowa State Highway Commission, 1916) (rolled)

Box 4 of 9

Map - Blueprint map of Dan Green Slough, Clay County, Iowa (Iowa State Highway Commission, 1916) (rolled)

Box 4 of 9

Map - Butler County, Nebraska (rolled)

Box 4 of 9

Box 5

Photographs - Geological features - Mounted on cardboard, numbered (approximately 300 3" x 4" photographs)

Box 5 of 9

Box 6

Bibliography cards - Arranged by subject (3 card boxes)

Box 6 of 9

Box 7

Index of plates for publication

Box 7 of 9

Plate illustrations and captions - Contains photographs and typewritten captions in envelopes with notations (4 folders)

Box 7 of 9

My illustrations

Box 7 of 9

Photographs - very rough prairie

Box 7 of 9

Photographs - Bohumil Nemec; Karel Domin

Box 7 of 9

Photographs - Some with notations, in various formats - Typically of geological formation, trees, botanical specimens; with additional images of groups, buildings, railways, and scenes throughout Iowa (Folders 1-9 of 14)

Box 7 of 9

Box 8

Photographs - Some with notations, in various formats - Typically of geological formation, trees, botanical specimens; with additional images of groups, buildings, railways, and scenes throughout Iowa (Folders 10-14 of 14)

Box 8 of 9

Photographs - Cerro Gordo County

Box 8 of 9

Photographs - Cultivated trees, Lyon County

Box 8 of 9

Photograph - B. Shimek

Box 8 of 9

Geological photographs - Shelby and Council Bluff, Iowa

Box 8 of 9

Geological photographs - Lansing, Kansas

Box 8 of 9

Geological photographs - New Harmony, Indiana

Box 8 of 9

Geological photographs - Iowa Counties (Allamakee, Winneshiek, Red Oak, Balfour, Iowa)

Box 8 of 9

Geological photographs - Jackson County, Dubuque County; Helena, Arkansas; Bridgefort, Wisconsin; Galena, Illinois; Hamburg, Iowa; Scott County; Muscatine County, Louisa County; Bruno; Abie; West Pennsylvania; and Seward, Nebraska

Box 8 of 9

Geological photographs - St. Joseph, Missouri; Council Bluff, near Turin, Iowa

Box 8 of 9

Geological photographs - Loveland; Florence, Nebraska; Brenner County, Butler County; Shelby, Harlan, Walnut; Harrison County

Box 8 of 9

Geological photographs - Ft. Adams, Mississippi; Missouri Valley; Crawford County; Johnson County

Box 8 of 9

Geological photographs - Omaha and South Omaha; Carroll County, Iowa

Box 8 of 9

Postcards - Frankfort/Berlin; Heidelberg, c. 1914-1915

Box 8 of 9

Box 9

Copy negatives of photographs

Box 9 of 9

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