Handwritten Note Regarding Ripley's Specimen Box

Summary

Handwritten note detailing the shipping arrangements to the Smithsonian Institution of a wooden box containing S. Dillon Ripley's bird specimens that he collected in Ceylon where he was serving with the Office of Strategic Services during World War II.

Subject

• Ripley, Sidney Dillon 1913-2001
• Office of Strategic Services
• Office of Correspondence and Documents

Category

Historic Images of the Smithsonian

Notes

• Future Secretary S. Dillon Ripley, formerly assistant curator in the Division of Birds, volunteered for service during World War II with the Office of Strategic Services, predecessor to the Central Intelligence Agency. Stationed in Ceylon, now Sri Lanka, he continued his ornithological passion with bird watching in his free time. As an avid bird collector, Ripley maintained contact with the Smithsonian and donated bird specimens he collected. He knew the geography, natural history, and languages of the region, having traveled widely in the South Pacific before the war.
• See Neg. Numbers SIA2010-0556, SIA2010-0557, SIA2010-0558, SIA2010-0559, SIA2010-0560, SIA2010-0561, SIA2010-0555 relating to the shipment by S. Dillon Ripley of bird skins from Ceylon, now Sri Lanka, to the Smithsonian during World War II.

Contained within

Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 305, Box 899, Folder: 170221

Contact information

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

Date

April 1945

Topic

• WW II
• Animals
• Secretaries
• Transportation
• Smithsonian Institution
• Personnel management
• Specimens
• Birds
• Employees
• Collecting and collections
• Shipping
• World War, 1939-1945
• Ornithologists
• Ornithology
• Smithsonian Institution--Employees

Form/Genre

• Document
• Paper

ID Number

SIA2010-0562

Physical description

Number of Images: 1; Color: Color; Size: 7.9W X 6.69h; Type of Image: Document; Medium: Paper

Full Record

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