Posts tagged with: Miscellaneous Adventures
Miscellaneous Adventures into Standard Forms at the Smithsonian
For the next installment of “Miscellaneous Adventures,” we’ve taken a dive into blank standardized forms once used at the Smithsonian, found in Record Unit 65, Smithsonian Institution Chief Clerk, Forms, Circulars, Announcements, 1846-1933, Box 14, Folder Miscellaneous Forms – Assorted. And these forms are certainly assorted! The contents range from memorandum forms to employment applications used in the late 1800s. They provide a fascinating look into the way business was conducted more than 120 years ago.
One of the first documents in the folder was a form letter signed by the second Smithsonian Secretary, Spencer Fullerton Baird (1823-1887), that appears to be a crowdsourcing effort for the most current methods for archiving.
Dated January 26, 1882, the letter seeks to “ascertain the methods employed in public and private offices, for filing and indexing letters and manuscripts.” Clearly, the proper management and arrangement of our collections has always been a high priority for the Smithsonian, and we are always looking for the most up-to-date methods to do so!
Another form found within this folder gives us one indication how research was conducted at the Institution during the 1890s, when Samuel Pierpont Langley (1834-1906) was the third Secretary of the Smithsonian.
This document was used to request books from the Library of Congress for the use of the Smithsonian Institution. The form uses the language “send by bearer,” which means by porter or carrier. A porter would deliver the request to the Library of Congress, retrieve the requested books and return to the Smithsonian. This process hasn’t significantly changed over the years – minus the use of porters. However, with the development of electronic books and records, the access to much of this information is now available at our fingertips.
A task many of us are familiar with is applying for jobs. What if a job application was a simple one-page form? Take a look at this Application for Employment used by the Smithsonian Institution beginning in 1884.
While some of the fields look similar to what we find on today’s job applications – name, address, qualifications, and references, several fields we don’t commonly see anymore. Additionally, an applicant isn’t given much space to make their case on this form. While it’s become more common today for job applicants to use a curriculum vitae that provides multiple pages of extensive detail on past employment, this application only provides one line for present or past employment. Imagine condensing pages of information into one line!
Take a look at the rest of the forms found in this folder here.
To see what other miscellaneous mysteries exist in our collections, comment below, or message us on Facebook or Twitter to:
Vote Folder A for Record Unit 401, Archives of American Art, Records, 1954-1985, with related records from 1917, Box 2, Folder 14 Miscellaneous Memos
OR
Vote Folder B for Record Unit 61, Smithsonian Institution International Exchange Service, Records, 1849-1953, Box 48, Folder 1 Miscellaneous Letters – Great Britain, 1886-1889
Related Resources
Miscellaneous Adventures, The Bigger Picture, Smithsonian Institution Archives
The Miscellaneous Materials of Oscar Cartwright
For our next Miscellaneous Adventure, you voted to open Record Unit 7338, Oscar L. Cartwright Papers, 1929-1979 and undated, Box 16, Folder Miscellaneous Reports, Publications, and Photographs, 1951-1979 (2 folders).
Among the various items in the first folder was a set of materials relating to the Cosmos Club in Washington, D.C. The Cosmos Club is a private social club founded in 1878 with the goal of advancing its members in science, art, and literature. According to a list found in the folder, in 1966, Oscar Cartwright was admitted to membership, along with other notable figures, like biochemist Seymour Kaufmann and forester Charles H. Stoddard. Cartwright was a coleopterist who specialized in scarab beetles, and a curator in the Department of Entomology at the National Museum of Natural History from 1963 to 1970.
Cartwright’s interest in scarab beetles explains why there are numerous photographs and drawings of beetles scattered through these two miscellaneous folders. These is also a work order request placed with the Photographic Services Division for copies of a photograph of “unknown scats containing many insect remains.”
The second miscellaneous folder in this box primarily contains materials relating to the Entomological Society of America and Entomologists in the Pacific Science Association, but there is an article towards the back that I found interesting. The article, titled “A Batch of Bug Finders,” is from the March 20, 1970 edition of Life magazine, and it talks about the discovery of eight new species of bugs by three Arizona State University students. What was interesting about the article was that it talked about how rare it was for a student or nonprofessional to discover a new species, let alone for three such people to make discoveries within months of each other.
To see what other miscellaneous mysteries exist in our collections, comment below, or message us on Facebook or Twitter to:
Vote Folder A for Record Unit 65, Smithsonian Institution Chief Clerk, Forms, Circulars, Announcements, 1846-1933, Box 14, Folder Miscellaneous Forms - Assorted.
Or
Vote Folder B for Record Unit 7079, Philosophical Society of Washington (Washington, D.C.), Records, 1871-1968 and undated, Box 37, Folder Miscellaneous Photographs.
Related Resources
- Miscellaneous Adventures, The Bigger Picture, Smithsonian Institution Archives
Miscellaneous Adventures: Fosberg
For our next Miscellaneous Adventure, you voted to open Accession 94-043, F. Raymond Fosberg Papers, c. 1945-1993, Box 6, Miscellaneous Ceylon materials, 1974-1976. This folder contains miscellaneous correspondence and materials from Raymond Fosberg’s research on the flora of Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon). Most of the contents have to do with the logistics of collecting speciems and conducting research overseas, but there are a few items that caught my attention.
First, there are several loose stamps in the folder, depicting the various places of origin for the letters Fosberg received. Having an uncle who is an avid philatelist, these piqued my interest. One of the stamps is an image of S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, the Prime Minister of Ceylon from 1956 to 1959, who appeared on a series of postage stamps in 1973 and 1974. There are also two stamps depicting the Library of Fundazium de Planta in Samedan, Switzerland. The most colorful stamps found in this folder appear on an envelope from K. L. D. Amaratunga, Systematic Botantist at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sri Lanka, to Dr. Fosberg. The first stamp is of a rare rhododendron found in the highlands of Sri Lanka, and the second one is of a pair of black ruby barbs typically found in streams around Sri Lanka.
In addition to the stamps, the folder contained a number of newspaper articles from the Washington Post. A few of these articles related to finances at the Smithsonian, including a request by S. Dillion Ripley for more funding and an investigation into how money was being spent. There was also an obituary for psychiatrist Dr. Edward A. Houghton, which was published in the Washington Post on September 27, 1976.
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Vote Folder A for Record Unit 515, Hirshhorn Office of the Registrar, Loan and Exhibition Records, circa 1970-1985, Box 6, Folder Miscellaneous - Indianapolis Museum of Art
Or
Vote Folder B for Record Unit 7338, Oscar L. Cartwright Papers, 1929-1979 and undated, Box 16, Folder Miscellaneous Reports, Publications, and Photographs, 1951-1979 (2 folders)
Related Resources
Around the World in 60 Years: The Traveling Field Books of F. Raymond Fosberg, The Field Book Project
Miscellaneous Adventures, The Bigger Picture, Smithsonian Institution Archives
Miscellaneous Adventures in Ballooning
For our next Miscellaneous Adventure, you voted to open Record Unit 351, National Air and Space Museum, Photographs, 1922-1958, 1963-1966, Box 1, Folder Miscellaneous Photographs. There are actually four folders titled Miscellaneous Photographs in Box 1, so I chose to open the first folder. This folder essentially can be divided into two parts. The first half of the folder contains photographs of a balloon, and the second half contains images of Secretary Carmichael and assorted visitors in the aeronautics exhibits at the Arts and Industries Building.
The images of the balloon caught my eye the moment I saw them, but there were no captions on the back, only credit line stamps relating to the U.S. Signal Corps. However, located at the very back of the folder were two pages of a letter containing descriptions for each of the numbered photographs, allowing me to dig a little deeper. It turns out, these photos are of war balloons used by the United States Army Signal Corps, including one used for aerial reconnaissance during the Battle of Santiago in 1898. The idea was that the balloon could be taken to the desired location and inflated, used to determine the whereabouts of enemy troops from the air, and then report those locations to allied troops on the ground. Although the crew did successfully locate enemy troops during the Battle of Santiago, the balloon gave away the location of the allied ground troops and presented an easy target for enemy fire. The bullet holes combined with insufficient fuel for multiple inflations made it so that the balloon could not be used again during the battle.
The use of balloons in the Army was encouraged by Brigadier General Adolphus Washington Greely who saw the importance aeronautics could play in wartime tactics. Once he realized the downsides to balloons, he pushed the Army to consider other options, which included providing Samuel P. Langley, third Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, with $50,000 to build his aerodrome.
To see what other miscellaneous mysteries exist in our collections, comment below, or message us on Facebook or Twitter to:
Vote Folder A for Accession 94-043, F. Raymond Fosberg Papers, c. 1945-1993, Box 6, Miscellaneous Ceylon materials, 1974-1976 (2 folders)
Or
Vote Folder B for Accession 91-176, Wurdack, J. J, John J. Wurdack Papers, c. 1949-1986, Box 3, Folder Miscellaneous 1950-1959
Related Resources
Signal Corps Regimental History, United States Army
Miscellaneous Adventures, The Bigger Picture, Smithsonian Institution Archives
Miscellaneous Adventures: Unpublished Larval Notes and Sketches
For our next Miscellaneous Adventure, you voted to open Record Unit 7399 – Hahn William Capps Papers, 1939-1964, Box 1, Folder Miscellaneous Larval Notes, Sketches, etc. (Unpublished). This folder is pretty thin, so I have to admit I was a little disappointed when I first opened it thinking it was going to be a bust. However, tucked between other miscellaneous notes, I discovered what I was hoping to find: a set of notes with hand-drawn larval sketches.
Hanh Willam Capps was an Entomologist with the United States Department of Agriculture from 1938 to 1964 and primarily focused on the study of Lepidoptera. While this folder came from his papers, the set of notes I found particularly interesting were actually written by Frederick M. Bayer. Bayer was a curator at the National Museum of Natural History, and a marine biologist who specialized in the study of soft corals, which makes his notes about caterpillars even most interesting. Also, attached to the notes was a memorandum from Austin H. Clark suggesting that the notes were worth keeping because it was the only known description of the early stages of this particular species in Florida.
Frederick Bayer’s notes that were found in this particular folder appear to be written about a month before his 17th birthday in his hometown of Riviera, Florida. The notes cover the early life cycle of a Florida species of caterpillar, and are very detailed. They start with date and time information for when and where the egg was initially deposited, as well as a description of the egg itself. Once the larva begins to emerge, Bayer describes its length and color, and he includes a sketch of the larva. He continues his accounts through the molting stages with the descriptions and drawings becoming lengthier and more detailed each time. Bayer ends his notes with a drawing of the chrysalis.
To see what other miscellaneous mysteries exist in our collections, comment below, or message us on Facebook or Twitter to:
Vote Folder A for Record Unit 7388, Oscar Ling Cartwright Papers, 1929-1979 and undated, Box 16, Miscellaneous Reports, Publications, and Photographs, 1951-1979 (2 folders)
-or-
Vote Folder B for Record Unit 351, National Air and Space Museum, Photographs, 1922-1958, 1963-1966, Box 1, Folder Miscellaneous Photographs
Related Resources
- Past Miscellaneous Adventures posts, The Bigger Picture blog, Smithsonian Institution Archives
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