Panorama of the Canadian Rockies
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Landscape view of the Canadian Rockies. Over the tops of mountain ridges and peaks, there are clouds in the sky despite sunny conditions. Patches of snow are left in shady areas and trees are visible in a valley beyond the ridge in the foreground of the image.
Historic Images of the Smithsonian
Charles Doolittle Walcott (1850-1927), fourth Secretary of the Smithsonian (1907-1927), was a paleontologist whose research focused on North American Cambrian fossils. He conducted field work in the United States and Canada, and, in 1909, while in the Canadian Rockies near Field, British Columbia, discovered what has come to be known as the Burgess Shale. The shale contained fossils that provided the foundation for study of the Cambrian Period in Western North America. Neither Walcott nor the scientific community realized the importance of this discovery, but the Burgess Shale came to be recognized as one of the most important geologic findings of the 20th century. Walcott is equally well-known for his method of photographing topographies for scientific documentary purposes, producing stunning images of these majestic landscapes.
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 7004, Box 44, Folder: 17
Institutional History Division, Smithsonian Archives, 600 Maryland Avenue, SW, Washington, D.C. 20024-2520, SIHistory@si.edu
c. 1910s
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SIA2009-3551 or Walcott 724
Number of Images: 1; Color: Black and White; Size: 8w x 5.9h; Type of Image: Exterior; Landscape Medium: Photographic print