G. Arthur Cooper Papers, 1923-1993 and undated

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Description

This record describes only series 5 and 6 of Smithsonian Institution Archives Record Unit 007318, G. Arthur Cooper Papers, 1923-1993 and undated, which contain Cooper's field notes and photographs of his field work. Cooper's field work focused on paleontology and geology. Records describing items in this collection focus on paleontological subject matter. Field notes were taken by Cooper during trips to collect fossils. The notes span Cooper's career. Included are extensive notes from his early work on the Hamilton formation and his later work in the Glass Mountains of West Texas. All the field notes were arranged in groups with numbered pages; subsequent references to the field work refer to these page numbers. The numerical sequence often continues across multiple seasons, but each separate group of localities has its own numerical sequence. For instance, the Glass Mountains field notes consist of a virtually complete numerical series from 0070 to 1043 even though more than twenty trips are represented. Each folder consists of one of these groups, and the folder list below identifies the endpoint for that sequence; however, missing numbers are frequent. Also, for many of the notes, the date is not readily apparent, and many groups clearly represent several collecting trips. Thus, the page notation sequence may not provide a chronologically accurate series. The photographs and slides in series 6 complement the field notes for some of these localities. Photographs of specimen are not included in this series; photographs of specimen are with the specimen collections in the Department of Paleontology at the National Museum of Natural History. Cooper's field notes provide extremely detailed descriptions of localities, often noting miles, paces, feet, or other measurements from landmarks. Specimen collected during Cooper's trips include a wide range of marine fossils including but not limited to brachiopoda, corals, sponges, mollusks, gastropoda, cnidaria, fusulinids and other foraminifera, and trilobites (arthropoda). Geological periods covered include but are not limited to the Devonian, Pennsylvanian, Cambrian, Jurassic, Ordovician, Permian, and Cretaceous periods.

Date Range

1927-1970

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

  • Brachiopoda
  • Arthropoda
  • Cnidaria
  • Gastropoda
  • Fusulinidae
  • Anthozoa
  • Porifera
  • Animalia
  • Bivalves
  • Mollusks
  • Brachiopods
  • Trilobites
  • Cnidarians
  • Fusulinids
  • Coral
  • Sponges
  • Gastropods
  • Arthropods
  • Devonian
  • Pennsylvanian
  • Permian
  • Cambrian
  • Jurassic
  • Ordovician
  • Cretaceous

Place

  • New York
  • Gaspé
  • United States
  • Quebec
  • Utah
  • Michigan
  • Canada
  • Iowa
  • New Mexico
  • Texas
  • Missouri
  • Hamilton
  • Glass Mountains
  • Virginia
  • Nevada

Form/Genre

Collection record

Accession #

SIA RU007318

Extent

60 field books

Physical Location

Smithsonian Institution Archives