INTRODUCTION
This finding aid was digitized with funds generously provided by the Smithsonian Institution Women's Committee.Fielding B. Meek (1817-1876) was born December 10, 1817, in Madison,
Indiana, of Irish Presbyterian ancestry. His father was an eminent local
lawyer who died when Meek was only three years old. Meek's early education in
Indiana, and later Kentucky, was constantly interrupted due to ill health.
Health problems, including deafness and tuberculosis, continued to plague him
throughout his life. Meek attended good public schools, but was largely
self-educated in the natural sciences. His first practical scientific
experience was gained as an assistant in David Dale Owen's U.S. Geological
Survey of Iowa, Wisconsin, and Minnesota in 1848 and 1849. During 1852-1858
(excepting three summers) Meek was employed at Albany, New York, by the
paleontologist James Hall. The summer of 1853 was spent in the Bad Lands of
Nebraska in association with Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden, while those of 1854
and 1855 were spent with George Clinton Swallow's Geological Survey of
Missouri. Meek's association with Hall was terminated in 1858 when a dispute
arose over the discovery of the occurrence of Permian fossils in North
America. Meek joined the staff of the Smithsonian Institution in 1858 as
the Institution's first full-time paleontologist. In lieu of salary, Joseph
Henry allotted Meek living quarters in the Smithsonian Castle Building. Until
his death, Meek continued to live in the Castle, eventually gaining the title
of resident collaborator in paleontology. At the Smithsonian Meek also renewed
his acquaintance with F. V. Hayden, joining him on many of Hayden's surveys of
the western territories. Meek and Hayden's most notable resulting publication
was Paleontology of the Upper Missouri (1865). Meek also worked for
the Ohio Geological Survey under John Strong Newberry, and with Amos Henry
Worthen on the Geological Survey of Illinois. Although Meek was responsible
for most of the invertebrate fossil work for the Illinois Survey, the reports
were published jointly under the names of Worthen and Meek. Meek's
bibliography contains 106 titles, including those publications written in
conjunction with Hayden, Worthen, and others. His most important publication
was his "Report on the Invertebrate Cretaceous and Tertiary Fossils of the
Upper Missouri Country" (1876). Fielding B. Meek died of tuberculosis in his
quarters at the Smithsonian on December 21, 1876. Box 1 of 10
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Contact us at osiaref@si.edu
Revised: May 21, 2003 HISTORICAL NOTE
DESCRIPTIVE ENTRY
The collection consists of correspondence 1849-1876, mostly incoming,
concerning specimens and geological observations; notebooks, 1846-1872 and
diaries, 1871-1875, resulting from Meek's field work; manuscripts and original
plate illustrations; and miscellaneous personal papers, including a catalogue
of the Meek library made soon after his death.
SERIES DESCRIPTIONS
SERIES 1.
INCOMING AND OUTGOING CORRESPONDENCE, 1849-1876, ARRANGED ALPHABETICALLY.
SERIES 2.
MANUSCRIPTS AND RELATED PAPERS, 1865-1876 AND UNDATED. ARRANGED CHRONOLOGICALLY.
SERIES 3.
MISCELLANY, 1843-1876 AND UNDATED, UNARRANGED.
SERIES 4.
NOTEBOOKS AND DIARIES, 1846-1875, ARRANGED CHRONOLOGICALLY.
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