Smithsonian Institution Office of the Secretary, Records, 1890-1929
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PrintThese records document the administration of the Smithsonian Institution during the tenure of Charles D. Walcott, its fourth Secretary, who served from 1907 to 1927. Cataloged items are from correspondence documenting the Panama Canal Zone Biological Survey Project. Planning for this project began in 1908 and attracted substantial interest from the scientific community and notable amateurs of science of the day. This and following folders document the planning and execution of the work, which was carried out with public and private funds. It was coordinated by the Smithsonian, with the help of the Bureau of Fisheries, Department of Commerce and Labor, and the Biological Survey and Divisions of Botany and Entomology, Department of Agriculture. It may be that the interest and data produced by this effort helped to lay the groundwork for the Institute for Research in Tropical America, the progenitor of the present-day Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (see record units 46, 50, 108, 134, 135).
1890-1929
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Collection record
SIA RU000045
2 folders
Smithsonian Institution Archives