Description: Throughout his twenty-five years as a Science Service journalist, Frank Thone maintained an active correspondence with fellow scientists and conservationists. His letters in the Smithsonian Institution Archives both preserve his wit and offer a glimpse at the informal networking that helped shape how Americans perceived the natural world. One of Thone’s correspondents was a
Description: A twentieth century Renaissance man, Louis R. Purnell lived a remarkable life. His career began in the skies above Italy and Germany, where he flew 88 combat missions as an original member of the Tuskegee Airmen. After the war, while working at the National Museum of Natural History, he traveled the world’s oceans collecting marine specimens, taught himself geology and