Descriptive Entry

This accession consists of the research materials of Neal Griffith Smith (1937-2012), an ornithologist and tropical biologist who received his Ph.D. from Cornell University in 1963 and then spent his entire career working for the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI). Particularly well documented is Smith's graduate research on Arctic birds on White, Southampton, and Baffin Islands in the Northwest Territories (now known as Nunavut). Other research topics include urania (Uraniidae) hawks, vultures, and peripatus (Onychophora). Much of his research was performed on Barro Colorado Island and other areas of Panama. This accession also includes research materials and other documents that had originally been maintained by James Zetek, an entomologist and the first resident director of the Canal Zone Biological Area (also known as the Barro Colorado Nature Monument), and later maintained by Smith. Materials include field notes, journals, photographs, audiovisual materials, observation sheets, species lists, notes, correspondence, reference materials, and related materials.