National Museum of Natural History (U.S.) Pacific Ocean Biological Survey Program, 1961-1973 : Pacific Islands clippings.

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Abstract

The Pacific Ocean Biological Survey Program (POBSP) was initiated in 1962 when the Smithsonian Institution entered into a grant agreement with the Department of Defense. From January 1963 through June 1969 Smithsonian Institution employees undertook biological surveys in an area of the Pacific Ocean spanning the equator and extending from latitude 30 degrees north to 10 degrees south and from longitude 150 degrees east to 180 degrees west, an area dotted with clusters of islands and atolls. The major goals of the program were to learn what plants and animals occurred on the islands, the seasonal variations in their numbers and reproductive activities, and the distribution and population of the pelagic birds of that area. Emphasis was placed on the banding of birds in an effort to determine migration, distribution, and abundance of pelagic sea birds. During the six and a half years of field work 1,800,000 birds were banded; approximately 150,000 observations of pelagic birds at sea were made; and biological surveys of varying intensity were made on several islands. The present folder contains several newspaper clippings on the Pacific islands, along with field notes on pelagic birds of Enderbury Island. The field notes are typed drafts on two sheets. One shows bird banding and recapture data on birds migrating between Enderbury and other islands of the area in 1964; the other shows earlier collections of several bird species on Enderbury. The newspaper clippings range from August 21, 1937 to July 12, 1979. They relate to various events on the Pacific Islands, such as the abandonment of a colonization project for Baker Island, a British H-bomb explosion in the Pacific Ocean, and the establishment of Kiribati.

Date Range

1937-1979

Start Date

1937

End Date

1979

Access Information

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Topic

  • Animals
  • Bird banding
  • Islands of the Pacific--Foreign relations
  • Birds
  • Birds--Migration
  • Birds--Oceania
  • Sea birds
  • Islands of the Pacific--Politics and government
  • Islands of the Pacific--Social conditions
  • Ornithology

Place

  • Baker Island
  • Pacific Islands
  • Pacific Ocean
  • Kiribati

Form/Genre

  • Fieldbook record
  • Field notes
  • Clippings (information artifacts)

Accession #

SIA Acc. 83-126

Collection name

National Museum of Natural History (U.S.) Pacific Ocean Biological Survey Program field research records, 1961-1973

Physical Description

1 folder

Physical Location

Smithsonian Institution Archives

Sublocation

Box 2, folder 49