Joseph Henry and Spencer Fullerton Baird Provide Instructions for Mexican Boundary Survey

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Summary

First Smithsonian Secretary Joseph Henry and Assistant Secretary Spencer Fullerton Baird provide detailed scientific instructions and equipment for the Mexican Boundary Survey, conducted from 1848 to 1855, and have five field collectors appointed. Although the expedition's primary purpose is to establish the U.S. - Mexican border, over 2,600 specimens are collected and deposited at the Smithsonian.

Subject

  • Baird, Spencer Fullerton 1823-1887
  • Henry, Joseph 1797-1878
  • United States and Mexican Boundary Survey
  • National Collections

Category

Chronology of Smithsonian History

Notes

  • For more information, see http://www.mnh.si.edu/vz/fishes/ichthyology_history/expeditions.html.
  • Kazar, John Dryden, The United States Navy and Scientific Exploration, 1837-1860 (Ph.D diss., The University of Massachusetts, 1973), p. 125.
  • Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian for the year 1850, p. 23.
  • Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian for the year 1851, p. 53.

Contact information

Institutional History Division, Smithsonian Institution Archives, 600 Maryland Avenue, SW, Washington, D.C. 20024-2520, SIHistory@si.edu

Date

1848-1855

Topic

  • Scientific expeditions
  • Scientific apparatus and instruments
  • Collectors and collecting
  • Specimens
  • Expeditions
  • Surveying

Place

  • United States
  • Mexico

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