Records
These records were primarily created by the Office of Exhibits, 1954-1969; the Office of Exhibits Programs, 1969-1973; and the Office of Exhibits Central, 1973-1979. They document a period of intense exhibition activity at the Smithsonian Institution and its bureaus. Especially well represented are permanent and special exhibitions at the National Museum of Natural …
African Postcard Collection
This collection includes postcards from 45 African countries. Subjects include agriculture; animals; artists; body arts; cityscapes; cultural landscapes; dance; education; expeditions; flora; industry; leaders; marketplaces; medicine; military; missionaries; music; portraits; recreation; rites and ceremonies; and transportation, among many other topics.
Eugene Irving Knez papers
The Knez papers include material concerning many aspects of his career up to the time he retired from the Smithsonian. Of particular strength is the documentation of Asian exhibits, both temporary and permanent ones installed during his time at the Institution. There is also considerable material concerning specimens and collections acquired earlier. Material concerning Knez's work as a field researcher, bibliographer, and editor are also among the papers. After his retirement, Knez became involved in a study of Buddhism among the Tibetans living in India. Copies of film made for this study have been deposited in the Human Studies Film Archives. It should be noted that the papers represent only a portion of the Knez papers, for he has retained some of them.
Gordon Davis Gibson papers
This collection is comprised of the professional papers of Gordon D. Gibson. The collection contains his correspondence, field notes, research files, museum records, writings, photographs, sound recordings, and maps.The bulk of the collection consists of Gibson's southwestern Africa research. This includes his field notes, film scripts, photographs, sound recordings, and grant proposals he wrote in support of his fieldwork in Botswana, Namibia, and Angola. In addition, the collection contains his research notes, maps, drafts, publications, and papers presented at conferences. While most of his research focused on the Herero and Himba, the collection also contains his research on the Ovambo and Okavango and other southwestern African groups. In the collection is a great deal of photocopies and microfilms of literature on southwestern African ethnic groups, many of which are in Portuguese and German and which he had translated for his files. He was also interested in African material culture, especially Central African headgear. His research on African caps is well-represented in the collection, and includes photos of caps at various museums, source materials, research notes, and textile samples of knots and loop work. Gibson's files as the curator of African ethnology at the National Museum of Natural History also make up a significant portion of the collection. Among these records are his files for the museum's Hall of African Cultures and other African exhibits; his files on the museum's African collections, early donors and collectors of the collections; his personnel files; documents relating to his committee work; department and museum memos; meeting minutes; and his records as head of the Old World Division and acting chair of the department. The collection also documents the efforts to establish the Smithsonian's National Anthropological Film Center, now the Human Studies Film Archives, as well as his work on the planning committee to establish the Museum of Man at the Smithsonian. Memos and minutes relating to the Smithsonian's Center for the Study of Man are also present in the collection. In addition to Gibson's field photos, the collection also contains African photos taken by others. Among these are Herbert Friedmann's photos of Kenya; Hausmann's Libya photos; photos by Ralph Kepler Lewis during the Morden Africa Expedition in Kenya; and photos by Lawrence Marshall, Volkmar Wentzel, Alfred Martin Duggan Cronin, and Father Carlos Estermann. There are also photos of the exhibit cases from the Hall of African Cultures; photos of Smithsonian and non-Smithsonian African artifacts; and copies of photographs he obtained from different archives, including the National Anthropological Archives. Other materials in the collection include his files as film reviews editor for the American Anthropologist during the 1960s and 70s and his activities in different organizations.
Correspondence
These records document the history of the Smithsonian from 1872-1927. Most of the records concern the tenure of Samuel P. Langley, the third Secretary, who served from 1887-1906. There is also some material dating from as early as 1866 to as late as 1927 in the collection. This record unit is the last to …
Correspondence
This accession consists of the professional correspondence of Tom Simkin, Curator of Petrology and Volcanology, 1972-2003, and Senior Geologist and Volcanologist, 2003-2009. Simkin also served as Geologist, Smithsonian Oceanographic Sorting Center, 1967-1972. Major topics covered in this accession include the creation and revision of This Dynamic Planet - World Map of Volcanoes, Earthquakes, and …
MS 4408 Jesse Walter Fewkes papers
This collection consists principally of Fewkes's archeological and ethnological field notebooks, 1890-1927. It also includes correspondence, 1873-1927; lectures, circa 1907-1926; and unpublished manuscripts by Fewkes and others, circa 1893-1923.
William Babcock Hazen Papers
Garfield, James A. (James Abram), 1831-1881
Greely, Adolphus Washington
Hayes, Rutherford Birchard, 1822-1893
More …
Papers document General William Babcock Hazen's military career, primarily through correspondence, photographs, and publications.
Russell E. Train Africana collection
Russell E. Train Africana Collection (Smithsonian. Libraries)
Manuscript and printed textual material, photographic prints and negatives, slides, audio tapes, film, original and reproduction artwork, maps, scrapbooks, and historical and natural artifacts related to the history of African exploration and natural history, dating primarily from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Includes correspondence, drafts of publications, diaries, account books, ephemera, posters, newsclippings, biographies, memoirs, portraits, and the former personal property of selected explorers, big game hunters, missionaries, pioneers, and naturalists in Africa.
Waldo R. Wedel and Mildred Mott Wedel papers
Wedel, Waldo R. (Waldo Rudolph), 1908-1996
bulk 1930-1993
51 Linear feet (115 document boxes, 2 card file boxes, 1 5x6x2.5" box, and 1 record storage box)
While these papers primarily consist of Waldo's archeological work in the field and his many publications, the collection also contains Mildred's correspondence and manuscripts, most of which concern her ethnohistorical and archeological work, conferences in which she participated, and her publications, particularly those on La Harpe. Most of the material …