Men on the Shore, Coiba Island, Panama

ID: SIA2010-0513 and Wetmore Neg. # 6117

Creator: Wetmore, Alexander 1886-

Form/Genre: Photographic print

Date: February 2, 1956

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

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Summary

On Coiba Island, Panama, a group of men are standing at the shore of the Pacific Ocean waiting to pull in a large fishing net. The caption on the back of the image reads, "What did we catch?" The image was taken by Smithsonian Secretary Alexander Wetmore while on a scientific expedition to Coiba Island, Panama, to study birds .

Category

Historic Images of the Smithsonian

Notes

From 1919 to 1991, Coiba Island, Panama, was a penal colony. Fear of the prison and its inmates deterred visitors from the island; thus some 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 Smithsonian Secretary Alexander Wetmore's scientific expedition to study birds. The officers and convicts pictured in Wetmore's images from the expedition were part of the penal colony. Some even worked as laborers for the expedition. Today, the island is no longer a penal colony. Instead, it is one of 38 islands composing Coiba Island National Park, a UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) World Heritage site. See also Neg. #2009-4288.

Contained within

Smithsonian Institution Archives, Alexander Wetmore Papers, Record Unit 7006, Box: 183, 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

February 2, 1956

Restrictions & Rights

No restrictions

Topic

  • Correctional institutions
  • Fishing nets
  • Scientific expeditions
  • Landscapes
  • Reformatories
  • Fishing
  • Islands
  • Penal colonies
  • Panamanians

Place

  • Panama
  • Coiba Island (Panama)
  • Pacific Ocean

Form/Genre

  • Photographic print
  • Landscape
  • Group, candid

ID Number

SIA2010-0513 and Wetmore Neg. # 6117

Physical description

Number of Images: 1; Color: Black and white; Size: 4.75 x 4.5; Type of Image: Group, candid; Landscape; Medium: Photographic print

Full Record

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