Category: Smithsonian History
Fostering Collaboration for the Public Good: Sphagnum Moss and WWI
One hundred years ago, World War I was touching the lives of millions of people around the world, including the staff of the Smithsonian. Living in Washington, D.C., Smithsonian staff watched as the United States mobilized its armed forces as never before and the country joined the fray in Europe. Staff across the Smithsonian found ways to use their expertise to aid the war effort in everything from naval intelligence to even the creative uses of moss.
William Maxon, a curator from the Department of Botany, was one such employee tapped to help the war effort. In December 1917, he received a shipment of specimens that had been identified by a fellow botanist and specialist in mosses. The moss specialist, A. LeRoy Andrews, suggested that several types of moss had been used successfully as surgical dressings on the front lines of the war. With no end of the fighting in sight and resources running thin, a low-cost, naturally occurring, and plentiful source of wound dressings would be a welcome discovery. Research published just months earlier in The Lancet, a leading medical journal, had suggested that sphagnum moss, properly gathered and cleaned, made a superior wound dressing than cotton gauze. The moss could absorb up to seven times its weight in fluid and it had naturally occurring antiseptic properties that fought infection better than cotton gauze. Coordinated gathering of sphagnum moss quickly began in Scotland and by 1917 had spread across the United Kingdom and across Canada.
Maxon took this information and immediately brought it to his colleagues attention. Dr. Leonhard Stejneger, the head curator of the Department of Biology, found Maxon’s suggestion of serious enough interest that he suggested it be brought to Smithsonian Secretary Charles Doolittle Walcott's attention.
Just a few days later, Secretary Walcott wrote a letter to the Surgeon General of the US Army to bring sphagnum moss’s possible medical use to his attention. The US Army quickly put Secretary Walcott in touch with Mr. E.C. Crossett of the American Red Cross, who was leading the United States investigation into the use of sphagnum moss for surgical dressings. As it turned out, Crossett was bringing an expert in sphagnum moss to Washington the next month, to investigate its use thorughout the US Armed Forces. Crossett made sure that the information provided by the Smithsonian would be included in the investigations.
The wide breadth of knowledge covered at the Smithsonian facilitated discoveries like this. Curators routinely acted on their mission to increase and diffuse knowledge by making sure their academic insights were conveyed not only to the scientific community, but also to the public at large – and especially to those who could put it to use for the public good. Located in Washington, D.C., the Smithsonian was uniquely situated to help bring scientific resources and the academic community’s knowledge to help in the war effort. With the Red Cross and the Office of the Surgeon General, the Smithsonian made sure the best information available was put to use to aid the soldiers on front lines of WWI.
Related Resources
- Smithsonian in Wartime, Smithsonian Institution Archives
- The Smithsonian Sent Healing Wheels to WWI, The Bigger Picture, Smithsonian Institution Archives
- Smithsonian Staff Work Together to Help During World War I, The Bigger Picture, Smithsonian Institution Archives
Happy Anniversary to the Smithsonian Latino Center!
2017 marks the 20th anniversary of the establishement of the Smithsonian Latino Center! The Center's aim is to advance the knowledge and understanding of Latino contributions to U. S. history and culture, especially through Latino representation within the Smithsonian and its exhibitions, studies, programs, and research. On their anniversary, here's a look back at the history of the Center.
In May 1993 the Task Force on Latino Issues was established by Secretary Robert McCormick Adams and Under Secretary Constance Ernestine Berry Newman because of the recognition of the inadequacy of Latino respresenation at the Smithsonian Institution. The Task Force was composted of fifteen Latino professionals from outside the Smithsonian and whose chair was Raul Yzaguirre and vice chair was Mari Carmen Aponte.
The Task Force issued a report, "Willful Neglect: The Smithsonian Institution and U.S. Latinos" in May 1994. The report looked into Latino presence at the Smithsonian and made recommendations for the implementation and oversight of improvements. As a result of the report, a new Counselor to the Secretary position was created as well as a smaller body of Latinos was organized to continue the work of the Task Force. The Counselor would convene and serve on this group, called the Latino Oversight Committee, a fifteen-member body with a two-year life span (1995-1995).
Miguel A. Bretos became Counselor to the Secretary for Latino Affairs in May 1994 and worked with the Latino Oversight Committee to produce the report, "Toward a Shared Vision: U.S. Latinos and the Smithsonian Insitution" in October 1997. The report built upon the general recommendations of the Task Force and created a more detailed vision and roadmap for inclusion and accountability.
Just a few months before the release of the report, the Smithsonian Center for Latino Initiatives (SCLI) was established by the Smithsonian Board of Regents on May 5, 1997 and opened in 1998. With the creation of the SCLI, the Counselor position ceased to exit as such and Bretos became Senior Scholar at the Center, serving from 1998-2001. Refugio I. Rochin was the founding Director of the Center, serving 1998-2003; Anna E. Cabral succeeded him as Director, 2003-2004; Luben Montoya, Acting Director, 2004-2005; Pilar O'Leary, Director, 2005-2008; Daniel Edward Sheehy, Acting Director, 2008; and Eduardo Díaz, Director, 2008- . In February of 2006 SCLI changed its name to the Smithsonian Latino Center.
Related Collections
- Smithsonian Latino Center and Smithsonian Center for Latino Initiatives records at the Smithsonian Institution Archives
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