Smithsonian Institution Archives

Edward William Nelson and Edward Alphonso Goldman Collection, circa 1873-1946 and undated

Summary

Collection ID:
SIA.FARU7364
Creators:
Dates:
circa 1873-1946 and undated
Languages:
English
Physical Description:
21.66 cu. ft. (34 document boxes) (7 12x17 boxes) (11 3x5 boxes)
Repository:
Smithsonian Institution Archives

Descriptive Entry

Descriptive Entry
This collection consists primarily of papers documenting the professional career and personal life of Edward William Nelson. A smaller amount of material was created by Edward Alphonso Goldman and relates to both professional and private matters. Apparently, Goldman assumed control of Nelson's papers after the latter's death, probably for reference in his continuing work summarizing the results of their Mexico field investigations. Due the pair's close professional relationship, it was decided to keep the collection intact. The papers of each individual have been kept distinct and reside in separate series, with the exception of photographs, which mostly document the Mexico field work. Other photographic materials have been placed in the same series as a matter of convenience.
Nelson's papers are valuable in documenting his work as a field naturalist, particularly in Alaska and Mexico; his administrative career with the Bureau of Biological Survey and consequential involvement in conservation issues of the day; his research on birds and mammals; his participation in professional societies and conservation organizations; personal and family matters; and commercial ventures, especially his ownership of fruit-growing businesses in California and Arizona.
The papers include a large file of incoming and outgoing correspondence that relates to all aspects of his professional life, but is particularly important in documenting his administrative tenure with the Bureau of Biological Survey, 1914-1927. The letters provide information on the role of the Biological Survey in conservation issues of the era, as well as Nelson's own attitudes on the matters--attitudes that sometimes clashed with other conservationists, including William Temple Hornaday. He corresponded extensively with most of the major figures in the conservation movement including Hornaday, John B. Burnham, Charles Sheldon, George Bird Grinnell, and John C. Phillips. Especially well represented by correspondence are the negotiations for the passage of the Migratory Bird Treaty between the United States and Great Britain, 1916, and the protracted fight over the Public Shooting Grounds-Game Refuge Bill during the 1920s. The correspondence also relates Nelson's role in the formative periods of several professional societies and conservation organizations including the American Society of Mammalogists, the American Game Protective Association, and the American Wild Fowlers.
Nelson's career as an explorer and field worker is documented in a series of journals and notebooks maintained between 1877 and 1930. The journals kept during his landmark work in Alaska and Mexico provide a running narrative of his daily activities and include notes on the fauna, flora, and physiography of the areas explored; information on specimens and artifacts collected; observations on native peoples and their cultures; and sketches of people, villages, fauna, and natural phenomena. The journals from his Alaska work are relatively complete; however, journals from the Mexico investigations from 1903 to 1906 are missing. Also included is a journal from the Death Valley Expedition, 1890-1891, and journals and notebooks kept during many of Nelson's official trips for the Bureau of Biological Survey.
The collection includes a series of records documenting Nelson's private life and business affairs. Especially well represented is his involvement with the Nelson-Goldman Orchard Company, 1911-1933, and the Arizona Orchard Company, 1921-1923. Also included is a voluminous correspondence with his brother, Fred W. Nelson, which concerns family and business matters; and various records concerning health issues, investments, real estate, and other financial matters.
Nelson's research is documented in a large series of notes, lists, manuscripts, newspaper clippings, photographs, and publications. Most of the material concerns his work on birds and mammals. The file also contains collected materials on many of the conservation issues of the day.
The papers of Edward Alphonso Goldman found in this collection are just a fragment of the material generated during his long career with the Bureau of Biological Survey. They are most valuable in documenting his biological survey of Mexico with Nelson. Included is an incomplete series of journals which contain a chronological narrative of Goldman's activities. Specific volumes are devoted to notes of birds and mammals observed and collected. Other papers of Goldman include correspondence, mostly with Nelson, and his brothers, George and Luther; and materials documenting his research on mammals.
The collection contains a series of photographs, photograph albums, and glass plate negatives documenting the careers of both men. Most of the material relates to their biological investigations of Mexico, 1892-1906. Included are images of areas visited, native peoples, and flora and fauna. Many of the photographs are unidentified. Also included are photographs of Nelson and Goldman; photographs of colleagues; and photographs taken in France during Goldman's service in World War I.
The collection also contains some papers of the conservationist Charles Sheldon, a close personal friend of Nelson. Apparently, Nelson acquired the papers when he was writing a biographical memorial on Sheldon. They consist of correspondence, notes, photographs, manuscripts, and related materials documenting Sheldon's work in conservation and natural history.
Finally, the collection includes a manuscript (with Nelson's annotations) of George Shiras' "Hunting Wild Life with Camera and Flashlight; A Record of Sixty-Five Years' Visits to the Woods and Waters of North America," and a few pieces of correspondence concerning the manuscript.
Additional materials documenting field work of Nelson and Goldman can be found in Smithsonian Institution Archives Record Unit 7176, Field Reports of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, 1860-1961, Field Reports. Voluminous field notebooks, lists, and other specimen related records for both men are housed in the Division of Birds and the Division of Mammals, National Museum of Natural History.

Historical Note

Historical Note
The biological explorations made by Edward William Nelson and Edward Alphonso Goldman in Mexico from 1892 to 1906 have been described as ". . . among the most important ever achieved by two workers for any single country." They conducted investigations in every state in Mexico, collecting 17,400 mammals and 12,400 birds, as well as amassing an enormous fund of information on the natural history of the country. The best account of the work is Goldman's Biological Investigations in Mexico, Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, vol. 115, July 1951.
EDWARD WILLIAM NELSON (1855-1934)
Described by Theodore Roosevelt as ". . . one of the keenest naturalists we have ever had . . .," Edward William Nelson was born in Manchester, New Hampshire. He developed an interest in the outdoors around his boyhood home in New England, and in Chicago where his family moved in 1868. Shortly after enrolling in Cooke County Normal School in 1872, Nelson was invited to join Edward Drinker Cope and Samuel Garman on a fossil collecting trip to the Badlands of Wyoming. After returning to Chicago, his interest in natural history continued to grow as he became acquainted with Joel Asaph Allen, Robert Ridgway, Stephen A. Forbes, Henry W. Henshaw and others.
In the winter of 1876, Nelson traveled to Washington, D.C., to meet Spencer F. Baird, Assistant Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, and enlist his help in securing a position as a field naturalist. Through Baird's influence, Nelson traveled to Alaska as a weather observer in the Signal Corps of the United States Army in April 1877. From June 1877 to June 1881, he was stationed at St. Michael on the Bering Sea coast of Alaska with a charge to ". . . secure an unbroken series of meteorological observations, and, in addition, to obtain all the information possible concerning the geography, ethnology, and zoology of the surrounding region." Nelson made several dog-sled excursions around the region, compiling data on the lives and customs of the native people, and making ethnological and natural history collections for the Smithsonian. The results of his work were published in "Report upon Natural History Collections Made in Alaska between the Years 1877-1881," 1887, and "The Eskimo about Bering Strait," 1900. In June 1881, he accompanied the revenue steamer Corwin on its search for the missing arctic ship Jeannette. The expedition was the first to reach and explore Wrangell Island.
Nelson spent most of the period from 1882 until 1890 in Arizona recovering from pulmonary tuberculosis contracted in Washington, D.C., while preparing his report on the birds of Alaska. In 1890, he accepted an appointment as a Special Field Agent with the Death Valley Expedition under C. Hart Merriam, Chief of the Division of Ornithology and Mammalogy, United States Department of Agriculture. This was the start of a career with the Division and its successor, the Bureau of Biological Survey, that would continue until 1929. In January 1892, Nelson received orders to conduct a three-month field survey in Mexico with Edward Alphonso Goldman, whom he had recently hired as an assistant. The trip evolved into an exhaustive, fourteen-year biological investigation of the entire country.
After concluding the Mexico work, Nelson's duties with the Bureau of Biological Survey gradually shifted from scientific to administrative. He was Chief Field Naturalist, 1907-1912; Assistant in charge of Biological Investigations, 1913-1914; Assistant Chief, 1914-1916; Chief, 1916-1927; and Senior Biologist, 1927-1929. Nelson was also an honorary Research Associate of the Smithsonian Institution from 1930 until his death. During the decade in which he led the Biological Survey, Nelson was actively involved in most of the major conservation issues of the era. He helped negotiate the Migratory Bird Treaty of 1916 with Great Britain and was an enthusiastic supporter of the Public Shooting Grounds-Game Refuge Bill, the Alaska Game Law Bill, and the Migratory Bird Conservation Act. He was also instrumental in developing policies to improve conditions of domestic reindeer herds in Alaska, and the promoting of bird-banding as a method of ornithological research.
In the field, Nelson was an all-round naturalist, observing and collecting most things that he encountered. He was a prolific author, and his bibliography included over two hundred titles, mostly concerning birds and mammals. Over one hundred animals and plants were named in his honor. Nelson Island and Nelson Lagoon, along the coast of the Bering Sea, and Nelson Range, a short mountain range in California, also bear his name. Nelson was President of the American Ornithologists' Union, 1908-1909, the Biological Society of Washington, 1912-1913, and the American Society of Mammalogists, 1920-1923. He received an honorary M.A. from Yale University in 1920, and an honorary Doctor of Science from the George Washington University in the same year.
Nelson was involved with the Goldman family in the operation of fruit orchards in California and Arizona. He was a co-owner and director of the Nelson-Goldman Orchard Company, 1911-1934, and the Arizona Orchard Company, 1921-1923.
For more detailed biographical information on Nelson, see Edward Alphonso Goldman, "Edward William Nelson - Naturalist," The Auk, April 1935, vol. 52, no. 2; Margaret Lantis, "Edward William Nelson," Anthropological Papers of the University of Alaska, December 1954, vol. 3, no. 1; and William W. Fitzhugh and Susan A. Kaplan, Inua. Spirit World of the Bering Sea Eskimo, (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982).
EDWARD ALPHONSO GOLDMAN (1873-1946)
Edward Alphonso Goldman, field naturalist and mammalogist, was born in Mount Carroll, Illinois. His family moved to Tulare County, California, in 1888, and he went to work as a foreman in a vineyard near Fresno at the age of seventeen. After a fortuitous meeting between his father and Edward William Nelson of the Bureau of Biological Survey, Goldman was hired by Nelson in January 1892 to assist his biological investigations of California and Mexico. Thus began an association with Nelson and the Biological Survey that would continue for the remainder of his life. Shortly thereafter, he received appointment as a Field Naturalist with the Biological Survey, and he spent most of the next fourteen years with Nelson collecting in every region of Mexico.
Goldman served in a variety of positions with the Biological Survey. He was Field Naturalist, 1892-1917; Biologist in Charge, Division of Biological Investigations, 1919-1925; Biologist in Charge, Game and Bird Reservations, 1925-1928; and Senior Biologist, Division of Biological Investigations, 1928-1943. Goldman also had an honorary position with the Smithsonian Institution as Associate in Zoology from 1928 to 1946. His service with the Biological Survey was marked by extensive field investigations in every region of the United States.
In 1911-1912, Goldman conducted faunal studies as part of the Biological Survey of Panama during construction of the canal. His results were published in The Mammals of Panama in 1920. During World War I, he was a Major in the Sanitary Corps of the American Expeditionary Forces, in charge of rodent control in France. In 1936, he was chosen to assist the United States Government in negotiations with Mexico for the protection of migratory birds and game mammals.
Goldman's bibliography included more than two hundred titles. He named over three hundred forms of mammals, most of them subspecies. Approximately fifty mammals, birds, reptiles, mollusks, and plants bear his name. Goldman Peak in Baja California was also named in his honor. A member of many professional organizations, Goldman was President of the Biological Society of Washington, 1927-1929, and the American Society of Mammalogists, 1946.
For additional biographical information on Goldman, see Stanley P. Young, "Edward Alphonso Goldman: 1873-1946," Journal of Mammalogy, May 1947, vol. 28, no. 2, pp. 91-109.

Chronology

Chronology
CHRONOLOGY OF THE LIFE OF EDWARD WILLIAM NELSON
1855
Born in Manchester, New Hampshire, May 8
1868
Family moved to Chicago
1872
Assisted Edward Drinker Cope and Samuel Garman on a fossil collecting expedition to the Badlands of Wyoming
1876
Visited Washington, D.C. and met Spencer F. Baird
1877-1881
Weather Observer for the Signal Corps of the U.S. Army at St. Michael, Alaska. Made extensive natural history and ethnology collections and observations of the Bering Strait Eskimos.
1881
Accompanied revenue steamer Corwin on search for missing arctic exploring ship Jeannette. Was a member of the first party to explore Wrangell Island.
1887
"Report upon Natural History Collections made in Alaska between the years 1877-1881" (Arctic Series of Publications Issued in Connection with the Signal Service, United States Army, no. 3)
1890-1891
Special Field Agent, Death Valley Expedition, Division of Ornithology and Mammalogy, United States Department of Agriculture
1890-1907
Field Naturalist, Bureau of Biological Survey
1892-1906
Field investigations of Mexico with Edward Alphonso Goldman
1899
"Revision of the Squirrels of Mexico and Central America" (Proceedings of the Washington Academy of Sciences, vol. 1)
1900
"The Eskimo about Bering Strait" (Eighteenth Annual Report, Bureau of American Ethnology, Pt. 1)
1907-1912
Chief Field Naturalist, Bureau of Biological Survey
1908-1909
President, American Ornithologists' Union
1909
"The Rabbits of North America" (U.S. Bureau of Biological Survey, North American Fauna, no. 29)
1911-1934
Part owner, Nelson-Goldman Orchard Company, Orosi, California
1912-1913
President, Biological Society of Washington
1913-1914
Assistant in charge of Biological Investigations, Bureau of Biological Survey
1914-1916
Assistant Chief, Bureau of Biological Survey
1916-1927
Chief, Bureau of Biological Survey
1918
"Wild Animals of North America" (National Geographic Society; rev. ed., 1930)
1918-1919
Vice-President, American Society of Mammalogists
1920
Honorary Master of Arts, Yale University
1920
Honorary Doctor of Science, George Washington University
1920-1923
President, American Society of Mammalogists
1921-1922
President and Director, Arizona Orchard Company
1922
"Lower California and its Natural Resources" (Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 16)
1927-1929
Senior Biologist, Bureau of Biological Survey
1930-1934
Research Associate, Smithsonian Institution
1934
Death, May 19
CHRONOLOGY OF THE LIFE OF EDWARD ALPHONSO GOLDMAN
1873
Born in Mount Carroll, Illinois, July 7
1888
Family moved to Tulare County, California
1891
Hired by Edward William Nelson as a field assistant, beginning a long professional and personal association
1892-1917
Field Naturalist, Bureau of Biological Survey
1892-1906
Biological investigations of Mexico, mostly with Nelson
1910
Revision of the Wood Rats of the Genus Neotoma (U.S. Bureau of Biological Survey, North American Fauna, no. 31)
1911
Revision of the Spiny Pocket Mice (genera Heteromys and Liomys) (U.S. Bureau of Biological Survey, North American Fauna, no. 34)
1911-1912
Conducted faunal studies as part of the Biological Survey of the Panama Canal Zone
1913-1917
Biological investigations of Arizona
1918
Rice Rats of North America (U.S. Bureau of Biological Survey, North American Fauna, no. 43)
1918-1919
Major, Sanitary Corps, American Expeditionary Forces, in charge of rodent control in France
1919-1925
Biologist in Charge, Division of Biological Investigations, Bureau of Biological Survey
1920
Mammals of Panama (Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, vol. 69, no. 5)
1922-1937
Reserve Major, Sanitary Corps, U.S. Army
1925-1928
Biologist in Charge, Game and Bird Reservations, Bureau of Biological Survey
1928-1944
Senior Biologist, Division of Biological Investigations, Bureau of Biological Survey
1928-1946
Associate in Zoology, United States National Museum
1936 assisted with negotiations of United States-Mexico migratory bird and mammal treaty
1944
"The Wolves of North America," with Stanley P. Young (American Wildlife Institute)
1944-1946
Collaborator, United States Fish and Wildlife Service
1946
President, American Society of Mammalogists
1946
"The Puma: Mysterious American Cat," with Stanley P. Young (American Wildlife Institute)
1946
Death, Washington, D.C., September 2
1951
Biological Investigations in Mexico (Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, vol. 115)

Administration

Author
Finding aid prepared by Smithsonian Institution Archives

Using the Collection

Prefered Citation
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 7364, Edward William Nelson and Edward Alphonso Goldman Collection

More Information

Notes

Personal Papers


Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Nelson, Edward William, 1855-1934 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Goldman, Edward Alphonso, 1873-1946 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sheldon, Charles, 1867-1928 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Shiras, George, 1859-1942 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Merriam, C. Hart (Clinton Hart), 1855-1942 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
United States. Bureau of Biological Survey Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
United States. Army. Signal Corps Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
United States. Department of Agriculture Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
American Ornithologists' Union Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Biological Society of Washington Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
American Society of Mammalogists Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Yale University Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
George Washington University Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
United States. Army. American Expeditionary Forces Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Biological Survey of the Panama Canal Zone (1911-1912) Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Corwin (Ship) Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Death Valley Expedition (1891) Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Mammalogy Topic Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Ornithology Topic Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Orchards Topic Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
World War, 1914-1918 Topic Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Alaska Place Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Mexico Place Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
France Place Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Saint Michael (Alaska) Place Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Wrangell Island (Wrangell, Alaska) Place Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Arizona Place Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
California Place Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Manuscripts Genre/Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Scrapbooks Genre/Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Clippings Genre/Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Glass negatives Genre/Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Black-and-white photographs Genre/Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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