The New Hospital, La Central, Coiba Island

ID: SIA2009-4278 or Wetmore Negative Number 6055

Creator: Wetmore, Alexander 1886-

Form/Genre: Photographic print

Date: January 13, 1956

Citation: Smithsonian Institution Archives, Alexander Wetmore Papers, Record Unit 7006, Box: 183, Folder Album: Panama and Coiba, 1956

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Summary

The New Hospital, La Central, Coiba Island, Panama on January 13, 1956. A road in the foreground leads to the new hospital. Two unidentified men are walking on the road toward the white hospital building. The road is lined with power lines and palm trees. The palm tree trunks are painted white at the bottoms. There are two other buildings visible to the left of the hospital. At the far left of the image, the shore and dock are visible.

Category

Historic Images of the Smithsonian

Notes

  • The image was taken by Smithsonian Secretary and ornithologist Alexander Wetmore while on a scientific expedition to Panama and to Coiba Island on the Pacific Ocean side of Panama. Wetmore Negative Number 6055.
  • From 1919 to 1991, Coiba Island was a penal colony. Fear of the prison and its inmates deterred visitors from the island. As such, about 80% of the natural areas on the island remain undisturbed. The island is also host to many endemic species. Both of these factors made the island ideal for Wetmore's scientific expedition. The officers and convicts pictured in Wetmore's images from the expedition were part of the penal colony. Some even assisted the expedition through labor. Today, the island is no longer a penal colony. Instead, it is one of 38 islands composing Coiba National Park, a World Heritage Site.

Contained within

Smithsonian Institution Archives, Alexander Wetmore Papers, Record Unit 7006, Box: 183, Folder Album: Panama and Coiba, 1956

Contact information

Institutional History Division, Smithsonian Archives, 600 Maryland Avenue, SW, Washington, D.C. 20024-2520, SIHistory@si.edu

Date

January 13, 1956

Restrictions & Rights

No restrictions

Topic

  • Docks
  • Landscapes
  • Hospitals
  • Architecture
  • Electric power
  • School field trips
  • Palm trees
  • Islands
  • Penal colonies
  • Light sources
  • Power transmission
  • Hospitals--Panama
  • Buildings--Panama
  • Panamanians
  • Field trips

Place

  • Panama
  • Coiba Island (Panama)

Form/Genre

  • Photographic print
  • Exterior
  • Landscape

ID Number

SIA2009-4278 or Wetmore Negative Number 6055

Physical description

Number of Images: 1; Color: Black and white; Size: 4.75w x 4.5h; Type of Image: Exterior; Landscape; Medium: Photographic print

Full Record

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