Descriptive Entry

These records consist of correspondence of the members of the staff of the Division of Fishes, 1922, 1927-1965. Most of the correspondence is from domestic and foreign ichthyologists, aquarists, collectors, colleges and universities, museum officials, and the general public. The correspondence generally concerns the identification, exchange, and distribution of specimens; collecting work; publications; requests for information; professional societies; and museum administration. Most of the correspondence is directed to the curatorial staff of the Division of Fishes, with lesser amounts to scientific and museum aids. Subjects of special interest that are documented in the correspondence include: Robert Rush Miller's work on the Fish and Wildlife Survey of Guatemala, 1946-1947; Miller's work on the Smithsonian Arnhem Land Expedition, 1948; and Leonard Peter Schultz's activity as a member of the Bikini Scientific Survey, 1946, and Resurvey, 1947. A small amount of correspondence directed to George Sprague Myers and Leonard Peter Schultz predates their careers at the United States National Museum.

Curators and other staff members of the Division of Fishes represented by correspondence in those records include Earl D. Reid, aid, 1925-1938, and senior scientific aid, 1939-1945; George Sprague Myers, assistant curator in charge, 1933-1936; Leonard Peter Schultz, assistant curator in charge, 1936-1938, curator, 1938-1965, and senior scientist and associate, 1965- ; Robert Rush Miller, associate curator, 1944-1948; Marie Poland Fish, scientific aid, 1944-1946; Donald S. Erdman, scientific aid, 1946-1950; Loren P. Woods, associate curator, 1947-1948; William T. Leapley, scientific aid, 1947-1953; Robert H. Kanazawa, museum aid and museum specialist, 1951- ; William Ralph Taylor, associate curator, 1956- ; Victor Gruschka Springer, associate curator, 1963-1967, and curator, 1967- ; Robert H. Gibbs, associate curator, 1963-1969, and curator, 1969- ; and Stanley H. Weitzman, associate curator, 1963-1968, and curator, 1968- .