Introduction

This finding aid was digitized with funds generously provided by the Smithsonian Institution Women's Committee.

Descriptive Entry

The majority of these records document the research and administrative activities of John F. Eisenberg as Assistant Director for Animal Programs, and Dale L. Marcellini and Devra G. Kleiman as Acting Assistant Directors for the Office. Included are general correspondence and subject files, budgets, personnel actions, research proposals and reports, and grant requests; information on American and foreign zoos, conferences and research trips, and NZP and Friends of the National Zoo (FONZ); and administrative correspondence and memoranda from various NZP and Smithsonian offices. These records also include files concerning the acquisition, exchange, breeding, and exhibition of animal collections at NZP and other zoos. Staff participation in American Association of Zoological Parks and Aquariums meetings and committees is also documented in these records. This record unit also contains files created by Jaren G. Horsley as Executive Assistant to the Office of Animal Programs.

A small amount of material in the record unit dates from before the 1979 establishment of OAP. These records are from either OAP's predecessor, the Office of Animal Management, or are from Eisenberg's earlier position as Resident Scientist in the Department of Scientific Research at NZP. Some of Eisenberg's work on the Smithsonian-Venezuela Research Project is documented in these records. For additional material pertaining to Eisenberg's earlier work at NZP, see the John F. Eisenberg Papers, record unit 7411.

Historical Note

The Office of Animal Programs (OAP) was established in 1979, replacing the Office of Animal Management at the National Zoological Park (NZP). John F. Eisenberg was named Assistant Director for Animal Programs, responsible for all animal and education programs at NZP. Eisenberg resigned in 1982, and Dale L. Marcellini became Acting Assistant Director for Animal Programs. Devra G. Kleiman assumed Marcellini's position in 1983. In 1984 Kleiman's title was changed to Assistant Director for Zoological Research and Educational Activities. Her title was changed again in 1985 to Assistant Director for Research.