Letter from Herbert Friedmann to S. Dillon Ripley

Summary

Letter from US National Museum curator of birds Herbert Friedmann to S. Dillon Ripley informs Ripley that he just received one copy of "The Bird Fauna of the West Sumatra Islands" and when he receives your quota of copies, he will forward by airmail a copy to Ripley. He also understands that Dr. Alexander Wetmore has written to him about Salim Ali's collecting proposition. Friedmann writes about developments in the Division of Birds, including getting a shipment of birds from David Johnson, assistant curator of mammals, who is in the Navy and sent about 30 birds from the Solomons; Duvall who is back at his old job having been mustered out the Army at Walter Reed Hospital, Miss Schmaltz who is doing well after a spinal operation; and that a few former ornithologists in military service drop in now and then to find out what bird it was they saw at the last island or port they visited.

Subject

• Ali, Sálim 1896-1987
• Ripley, Sidney Dillon 1913-2001
• Johnson, David H
• Wetmore, Alexander 1886-
• United States National Museum
• Office of Strategic Services
• United States National Museum Dept. of Biology Division of Birds 1897-1947

Category

Historic Images of the Smithsonian

Notes

Future Secretary S. Dillon Ripley, formerly assistant curator in the Division of Birds, U.S. National Museum, 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 field studies in his free time. Having traveled widely in the South Pacific before the war, he knew the geography, natural history and languages of the region.

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

November 6, 1944

Restrictions & Rights

No restrictions

Topic

• WW II
• Animals
• Publications
• Letters
• Collectors and collecting
• Smithsonian Institution
• Personnel management
• Birds
• Employees
• Field work
• Museums
• World War, 1939-1945
• Ornithologists
• Ornithology--Field work
• Museum curators
• Smithsonian Institution--Employees

Place

• Sri Lanka
• Washington (D.C.)

Form/Genre

• Document
• Paper

ID Number

SIA2010-0576

Physical description

Number of Images: 1; Color: Black and white; Size: 7.90w x 10.69h; Type of Image: Document; Medium: Paper

Full Record

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