Archives Puzzles: A Scientist’s Summer Getaway

Each Monday, sit back, relax, and ease into the work week with puzzles created from images in our collections that have been designated as open access. Anyone can now download, transform, share, and reuse these images as part of Smithsonian Open Access, launched in 2020.

Do you have a little summer getaway planned? Beginning in the late nineteenth century, many Smithsonian scientists participated in summertime stays in Woods Hole Massachusetts, where Assistant Secretary Spencer F. Baird established the Woods Hole Laboratory, the first federal fishes laboratory, in the 1870s. 

Of course, these weren’t the relaxing vacations we have in mind today. They were trips for scientists to research, collect, and learn from colleagues. Baird, who, in addition to his responsibilities at the Smithsonian, was also the first Commissioner of the United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries, welcomed researchers to Woods Hole for the summers and set up spaces in the laboratory for their studies. 

The Puzzle

The Original