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of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute

Negative number: 45278-A Aerial view of Barro Colorado Island Biological Laboratory, showing docks, tramway, and steps to top of island and laboratory buildings. Opened in 1924, the field station became part of the Smithsonian Institution in 1946. It was renamed the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in 1964.

Negative number: 95-20294 The inauguration of the Barro Colorado Island Biological Laboratory on 29 March 1924. The island was set aside as a preserve for visiting North American naturalists. It was funded by a consortium until 1946 when the Canal Zone Biological Area became part of the Smithsonian. This is the first group of scientists and guests to visit the nature preserve and biological laboratory established on Barro Colorado Island. It is now known as the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.

Negative number: 92-15283 Tower in a clearing on Barro Colorado Island in the Panama Canal Zone, probably the 1930s. Unidentified man is standing at the base of the tower. The Barro Colorado Island Research Station is now part of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.

Negative number: 92-15287 Reconstruction of the main laboratory, using concrete blocks for the siding and for posts, Barro Colorado Island, 26 May 1939. The building was raised about 6 inches to make more convenient for taller people.

Negative number: 92-15292 Barro Colorado Island from Gatun Lake, with a tree stump visible in the water, 1940's. BCI was created when the Chagres River was dammed to create Gatun Lake as a watershed for the Panama Canal. Barro Colorado Island is part of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama.

Negative number: 92-15288 One of the houses for staff of the Canal Zone Biological Area on Barro Colorado Island.

Negative number: 92-15286 U.S. Snook of the Canal Zone Biological Area ferried staff and supplies from the main land to Barro Colorado Island, 1940's - 1950's.

Negative number: 92-16786 Francisco "Chi Chi" Vitola, chief of labor force for the Canal Zone Biological Area, feeding a deer on Barro Colorado Island in the Panama Canal Zone. The BCI is now part of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, 1940's.

Negative number: 90-10887 Dock at Frijoles in the Panama Canal Zone. Staff of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute took a train from Panama City to Frijoles and left from this dock to travel by boat to Barro Colorado Island to conduct research.

Negative number: 92-15291 A ship travelling through Gatun Lake and the Panama Canal on 30 June 1953. This view is from the Main Lab of the Barro Colorado Island Biological Laboratory. Slothia Island is in the middle; Frijoles is visible in the distance. Tree stumps that were flooded when the Chagres River was dammed can still be seen in the water. Photo by Alexander Wetmore.

Negative number: 92-8872 Adela Gomez, administrative officer, and Carl Koford, director of the Canal Zone Biological Area, during Koford's brief tenure as director during the 1960s. They are standing in front of their new office at 5145 Diablo Heights, Canal Zone, under a sign for the CZBA.

Negative number: 90-14500 Administrative offices of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Ancon Building, Panama City, December 1965. Housed in the old Ancon courthouse building, the Panama City office provided administrative and logistical support to the scientists conducting research on Barro Colorado Island, in Gatun Lake in the Panama Canal watershed. This tropical laboratory became a part of the Smithsonian in 1946.

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