INTRODUCTION
This finding aid was digitized with funds generously provided by the Smithsonian Institution Women's Committee.Joseph Henry's first major project for the Smithsonian was his plan to
obtain weather reports from a countrywide network of voluntary observers; his
plan is detailed in the 1848 annual report of the Institution. Voluminous
reports, maps, tables, and charts were prepared and published on all phases of
the work--rainfall, snowfall, temperatures, barometric pressure, storms,
meteors, auroras, and other phenomena. In 1869, when Congress established the
Weather Bureau of the United States Signal Service, the Smithsonian system of
meteorological reports was turned over to the new bureau. The Smithsonian
continued to work on the material collected up to the time of transfer,
however, and over the next few years issued reports, tables and maps. A part
of this record unit was published in the 1873 annual report, pages 84-131,
"Classified Record of Monthly Meteorological Reports Preserved in the
Smithsonian Institution," and other segments of this unit were published
elsewhere. Completely unpublished, however, is meteorological incoming and
outgoing correspondence. These records were created after 1850, but contain
meteorological information dating back to 1820. This record unit
consists of papers and records regarding the Smithsonian's meteorological
observation projects in the eighteen-fifties and analysis and publication of
meteorological data in the eighteen-seventies; incoming correspondence to the
Smithsonian, circa 1852-1873, from observers and others working on
meteorology; another series of correspondence, reports and notes, 1853-1875,
and undated; outgoing correspondence, 1853-1854, of Lorin Blodget, an
assistant at the Smithsonian for meteorological affairs; a manuscript copy of
part of the 1873 Smithsonian Annual Report on meteorological data preserved at
the Smithsonian; data on mean temperatures, annual rainfall, and barometric
pressures in the United States and other countries of the Americas, mostly for
the years 1850 through 1873, and prepared for publication; a small and uneven
collection of clippings on meteorology, 1856-1873; records of meteorological
observations and loan of instruments, 1856-1873; and miscellaneous and
fragmentary original records of meteorological observations. Correspondence received by the Smithsonian on meteorological matters, filed chronologically. The following persons important in meteorological work are included among the correspondents: James Henry Coffin, James Pollard Espy, Arnold Henry Guyot, Joseph Henry, Elias Loomis, and Charles Anthony Schott. Each volume is indexed separately. The records are related to records in the National Archives. Box 1 of 20
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Box 7 of 20
Correspondence sent from the Smithsonian by Lorin Blodget, an employee assigned to meteorological work. Box 8 of 20
Boxes 9-11 of 20
Box 12 of 20
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Box 15 of 20
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Box 17 of 20
Box 18 of 20
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Revised: March 3, 2003 DESCRIPTIVE ENTRY
SERIES DESCRIPTIONS
SERIES 1.
INCOMING CORRESPONDENCE, 1852-1861, 1868.
SERIES 2.
MISCELLANEOUS CORRESPONDENCE, NOTES, REPORTS, 1853-1875, CIRCA 400 PIECES, SOME WITH NOTATIONS BY JOSEPH HENRY.
SERIES 3.
LORIN BLODGET'S OUTGOING CORRESPONDENCE, 1853-1854.
SERIES 4.
MANUSCRIPT FOR "CLASSIFIED RECORD OF MONTHLY METEOROLOGICAL REPORTS PRESERVED IN THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION," ANNUAL REPORT, 1873.
SERIES 5.
RECORDS RELATING TO STUDIES OF MONTHLY AND ANNUAL MEAN TEMPERATURES IN THE UNITED STATES AND ELSEWHERE IN THE AMERICAS, DATA FROM EIGHTEEN TWENTIES THROUGH EIGHTEEN SEVENTIES.
SERIES 6.
RECORDS RELATING TO STUDIES OF MONTHLY AND ANNUAL RAINFALL IN THE UNITED STATES AND ELSEWHERE IN THE AMERICAS, DATA FROM THE EIGHTEEN TWENTIES THROUGH THE EIGHTEEN SEVENTIES.
SERIES 7.
RECORDS RELATING TO ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE, DATA FROM EIGHTEEN FIFTIES THROUGH ABOUT 1875.
SERIES 8.
RECORDS OF OBSERVERS AND USE OF SMITHSONIAN INSTRUMENTS,1850-1873.
SERIES 9.
CLIPPINGS ON METEOROLOGY, 1853, 1855, 1857, 1858, 1867, 1872, 1873.
SERIES 10.
MISCELLANEOUS METEOROLOGICAL RECORDS, 1849-1875.
SERIES 11.
PUBLISHED METEOROLOGICAL MAPS.
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