Bohumil Shimek Papers, 1878-1936

Description

The materials cataloged from this collection include diaries (with illustrations and sketches), maps, and photographs pertaining to his work in geology, botany, paleontology, and zoology. Notebooks include a broad variety of information: listing personal names of those to whom Shimek sent his publications on loess, geology, and botany; a notebook containing names of Czech-Americans; a notebook containing personal names listed under the counties of Iowa; field notes and diaries documenting Shimek's scientific field explorations throughout the Midwest, the Atlantic coastal states, the South, the Southwest, Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Nicaragua; photographs showing mostly geological features and flora; a scrapbook on the geology of several counties of Iowa; a class book kept by Shimek while he was an instructor at the University of Nebraska; notes on field work completed during and after his work as an exchange professor of Charles University in Prague; maps of different localities in Iowa and Nebraska; bibliographical cards on geological formations, shells, loess, and botany, arranged by subject and alphabetically thereunder; newspaper clippings, journal articles, and speeches, probably on soil erosion and prevention, and on foreign immigration. |Several things should be kept in mind when looking at Shimek's field notes. Many of his observations of area geology were conducted among cuts into terrain during the construction of railway lines. Related notebooks often include lists on the front of locations covered, though these are not always field work sites. Several of his notebooks include extended sections written in Czech, some of the content may relate to field work, including work on Willows while in Prague. He consistently crosses out notes in field books, sometimes indicating he has copied this information to another location.

Date Range

1878, 1878-1936

Access Information

Many of SIA's holdings are located off-site, and advance notice is recommended to consult a collection. Please email the SIA Reference Team at osiaref@si.edu.

Topic

• Plantae
• Mollusca
• Animalia
• Plants
• Mollusks

Place

• North Carolina
• United States
• Austria-Hungary
• South Dakota
• Nebraska
• Prague
• Iowa
• Mississippi
• Czech Republic
• Nicaragua
• Bohemia
• Missouri
• Germany

Form/Genre

Collection record

Accession #

SIA RU007082

Extent

206 items (field books, illustrations, maps, sketches, black-and-white photographs)

Physical Location

Smithsonian Institution Archives