Posts tagged with: Field Book Project
Scientific Snack Breaks: Picnics in the Field Books
July is National Picnic Month, but when you are a Smithsonian scientist on expedition, enjoying a meal in the great outdoors is a year-round occurrence. Like other daily happenings, stopping for a picnic was something worth recording in a field book. Thanks to the Smithsonian Transcription Center, the details of these field books—from the big discoveries, to a more mundane break for a picnic lunch—are searchable and easily navigable. So, pack your favorite snack and let’s take a picnic trip through the field books!
While occasionally a picnic area or table was used as a land-marker in scientific notes (like in paleobiologist G. Arthur Cooper’s, or in bird observations written by James W. Eike), stopping for a break to eat was often part of the day-to-day narratives of the field books.
For example, entomologist Richard Blackwelder often noted his favorite picnic spots while traveling for research (in the West Indies, it was High Point in St. Johns on the island of Antigua), or taking a Studebaker out with colleagues to find a picnic spot with a good view.
The same was true for naturalist and collector David Crockett Graham, who emphasized the social aspect of a picnic outing. While collecting birds, insects, mammals, and reptiles throughout China in 1924, he mentions enjoying a “picnic supper” with his family on a hot August evening.
For others, stopping for a picnic meant stopping to collect natural history specimens along the way. On National Zoo Director William Mann’s 1937 expedition to the Dutch East Indies, with his wife, Lucile, picnics were frequent. Often, the team would stop for a picnic by the side of the road, or by a pool or stream, as they trekked through the mountains. Lucile’s descriptions of the picnics offer a unique insight into the expedition’s travel conditions:
“At noon we were near another train into the same jungle, and stopped by the roadside to have a picnic lunch before we started working again. The only place where we could sit down off the road and out of the swamp, was a gravel pit, so there we sat, in the broiling heat, only a few miles from the Equator and almost at sea level, and wondered why so many of our tinned supplies and cheeses had gone bad. Anything that rides on the back of our car must be simply cooked and re-cooked long before we get it. We had our canteens filled, fortunately, and divided the drinking water. Also we had two coconuts to drink, for we were all more thirsty and hungry.”
The Mann expedition group often collected or observed species as they picnicked, as did the National History Museum’s Robert Gibbs, who took a lunch break while taking notes on dragonflies. After his picnic, he details an elaborate, 2.5 hour “chase” and triumphant capture of a dragonfly:
Now that you are ready for a lunch break, what do you pack? Take some sandwich inspiration from this menu from a Buenos Aires restaurant, visited by the Mann’s in 1939.
Related Resources
Where in the World Is That Field Book?, The Bigger Picture, Smithsonian Institution Archives
Scientific field work and food, Field Book Project
Smithsonian Institution Archives projects, Smithsonian Transcription Center
Aww: Cute Baby Animals and Other Field Book Surprises
What’s cuter than a baby monkey? How about a baby monkey hugging a baby tiger? There’s always some lovely surprise within the Smithsonian’s field notes. Since I’ve joined the Field Book Project, I’ve digitized Smithsonian Secretary Alexander Wetmore's sketches of birds, watercolors of sea slugs, and now an album full of baby animal photos.
This photo album was compiled for Lucile Mann, a zoologist and writer, and wife of National Zoo Director William Mann. The snapshots were taken during the National Geographic Society-Smithsonian Institution Expedition to the Dutch East Indies in 1937.
Related Resources
- A Life on the Wild Side: Lucile Quarry Mann, The Bigger Picture, Smithsonian Institution Archives
- An Undersea Invertebrates Update: Treatment Progress on Bartsch’s Nudibranchs Field Book, The Bigger Picture, Smithsonian Institution Archives
- Field Book Project, National Museum of Natural History
An Undersea Invertebrates Update: Treatment Progress on Bartsch’s Nudibranchs Field Book
When last we left Paul Bartsch’s field book of marine invertebrates—nudibranchs—from the oceans surrounding the Philippines, initial stabilization had been completed so that the volume could be digitized. Stabilizing the volume included removing the original interleaving tissue, which had begun to deteriorate and discolor adjacent pages, and replacing it with archival interleaving; fully disbinding the field book by removing remnants of sewing thread and spine linings; and making an inventory of the specimen illustrations to ensure all drawings remained accounted for throughout treatment. For ease of handling, folders made from archival paper were prepared for each gathering of pages.
Since our first post, digitization has been completed, and I have turned my attention to the volume’s continuing treatment.
As noted above, the original interleaving had been removed, and while new archival interleaving tissue was cut to size and prepared, it had not been adhered in place to facilitate clear imaging of the specimen illustrations. Thus, the first step in the continued treatment was to attach these using cast-out films of an acrylic adhesive, Lascaux 498HV. Attaching these first allowed the interleaving to perform its protective function throughout the duration of the treatment. Small pieces of the films were cut to size, mimicking the size and shape of the original spots of adhesive used to attach the original interleaving, placed, and reactivated with a heated spatula applied through silicon release paper. Any spots where the illustrations had become detached from the book’s pages were treated in the same manner.
A handful of illustrations, with one in particular, had become damaged over time. Due to the delicate nature of the paper on which these drawings were executed, treatment options were carefully weighed. Too much moisture could distort the paper, and many heat-set tissues would diminish its transparency. I ultimately selected a solvent-set tissue, one which has been coated with an adhesive that is reactivated when wetted with a solvent; since this will evaporate more quickly than water, there is less chance for distortion. I carried out the treatment atop a light box, to better align the torn edges of the paper. I chose a very thin tissue, which allowed me to shape and place the repair paper in situ, coated side facing down, then apply the solvent from the uncoated side of the solvent-set tissue. The solvent wicked into the paper and began the adhesion process, and then I allowed it to dry under weight.
The next step was to mend broken pages throughout the volume. This was carried out using medium-weight Japanese tissue in a matching tone, with wheat starch paste as the primary adhesive. The majority of the broken pages were split along the spine folds of the gatherings; these were “guarded,” meaning they were mended or reinforced along this fold, in order to be both intact and strong enough to support new sewing when the book is reassembled. Edge tears and cracks were also mended or reinforced as necessary.
With these tasks completed, the next step is to resew the book and recreate a functional volume. Stay tuned for another post with a final update!
Related Resources
- Coming Soon to the Transcription Center: Department of Invertebrate Zoology, The Bigger Picture, Smithsonian Institution Archives
- Conservation, Smithsonian Institution Archives
Sketching with William Henry Holmes
As the Smithsonian's William Henry Holmes notes in the introduction to his Random Records of a Lifetime: "I was born on the same day with the Institution and have been associated more or less closely with all its people from Professor Henry down, and have come to regard myself as an original predestined member of the family. These imperfectly edited volumes of fragments, together with a number of paintings, are all that I have to contribute personally and unofficially to the Institution's diversified and fast multiplying heritage."
And what a contribution—much of which is now transcribed, thanks to the hard work of the volunteers at the Smithsonian Transcription Center! Holmes spent his decades-long career with the Smithsonian as an artist, archaeologist, and anthropologist, merging a scientific mind and an artist's eye. There is no better example of this unique blend than Holmes' field notes, peppered throughout with detailed sketches of Mayan ruins, artifacts, and other sights from his travels. Holmes, who began his career as an artist, also went on to serve as curator of the Smithsonian's National Gallery of Art (now the Smithsonian American Art Museum).
What better way to honor Holmes' legacy than by trying your hand at some scientific sketching? We have created coloring pages from drawings in his field notes. Download the PDF, add your own colorful details, and tag us on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram to share your #ManyHatsOfHolmes creation!
Related Resources
William Henry Holmes, The Bigger Picture, Smithsonian Institution Archives
William Henry Holmes and the Early Days of His National Gallery of Art, Unbound, Smithsonian Libraries
Celebrating Our Man of Many Hats: William Henry Holmes, Unbound, Smithsonian Libraries
Note: In order to access these PDFs, you must have the Adobe Acrobat Reader software which is available free of charge.
Spooky, Scary Page Frights!
Beware! This October cultural institutions around the world will be getting a little spooky and scary for Page Frights! Led by our partner, the Biodiversity Heritage Library, along with the New York Academy of Medicine, Yale University’s Medical Historical Library, and the Smithsonian Libraries, Page Frights is a month-long look at our creepiest collection finds. Whether you’re petrified of parasites or don’t look down when you’re climbing up high, there are some scary sights in the pages of our field books and other archival material!
Share your favorite frightening finds with us using #PageFrights on Twitter or Facebook! You can also use some of our scary scenes as inspiration for your Halloween celebrations—we’ve provided a few jack-o-lantern patterns using images from our collections. Happy Halloween and beware of the Page Frights!
Related Resources
Pumpkin Patterns, Page Frights
Smithsonian Institution, Flickr
Page Frights Collections, Biodiversity Heritage Library
Note: In order to access these PDFs, you must have the Adobe Acrobat Reader software which is available free of charge.
- 1 of 8
- next ›
Produced by the Smithsonian Institution Archives. For copyright questions, please see the Terms of Use.
