Smithsonian Institution Archives Annual Report for FY2001

The Institutional History Division (IHD) advances knowledge and understanding of the history of the Smithsonian Institution through research, publications including documentary editions, public programs, exhibitions, and its oral history program. IHD reached new audiences in January of 2001 when “The Smithsonian at the Turn of the Century,”was moved to the north hall of the Arts and Industries Building. Prepared by Jennifer Nichols, the exhibit gave a glimpse of the Institution and its activities in the year 1900. During the year, the staff of the Joseph Henry Papers Project completed the manuscript for volume 9 which covers the years 1854 to 1857.

At the close of the year, Nichols prepared a new exhibit for the SIA entrance, “Greetings from the Smithsonian: A Postcard History of the Smithsonian Institution.” Nichols also created web versions of the exhibits. Nichols and Pamela Henson participated in several programs to train K-12 teachers to use primary sources in the classroom, and Nichols created a web site, “Smithsonian Scrapbook: Letters, Diaries and Photographs from the Smithsonian Archives,” that makes digital images of historic documents and photographs available to classroom teachers.

The Oral History Collection was augmented by oral history interviews with several retired staff members. As part of the preservation program for the Oral History Collection, deteriorating original recordings were digitized and re-mastered on analog tape. Nichols completed processing the Paul E. Garber Interviews, which document the career of the founding curator of the National Air and Space Museum (NASM).

Nichols continued work on the Smithsonian Digital Library Project, an effort to make Smithsonian photographs and other images available on the Institution’s web site. Some 900 images with linked text records were digitized, for a planned Smithsonian Institution Research Information System (SIRIS) catalog. The Historian’s Office staff and volunteers continued to add entries to the IHD’s SIRIS databases on the Oral History Collection, Smithsonian Chronology and Smithsonian Bibliography. Henson continued work on the Smithsonian Legal Documents Project, with assistance from a volunteer and interns. Research was completed on the Statutes at Large from the 1830s through 2000. Nichols created a database so that records can be created for each legal document. At the close of the year, funding was secured to proofread and correct the electronic version of The Smithsonian Institution: Documents Relative to Its Origin and History, by William Jones Rhees, published in 1879 and 1901. Two Smith College interns, Kristen Halloran and Christy E. Hawkins, completed fine research projects. Doris Jensen, former librarian at the Supreme Court of the United States, continued to volunteer her expertise in locating and summarizing various legal documents.

Joseph Henry Papers Project

The staff of the Joseph Henry Papers Project (JHPP) completed the manuscript for volume 9 of The Papers of Joseph Henry. Documenting Henry’s life from 1854 through 1857, the volume is dominated by a struggle between Henry and his subordinates over the mission and future of the Smithsonian. Battles between Henry’s supporters and detractors were fought at Regents’ meetings, in the press, and in Congress. In the end, Henry’s vision of the Smithsonian as a research institute survived public scrutiny and Congressional investigation. However, Henry ultimately paid a steep price for victory. Needing additional funds for the meteorological research program, Henry struck a bargain with the Patent Office. In exchange for the funds for research, Henry agreed to take responsibility for the national collections then held in the Patent Office Building. Volume 9 ends with Henry, Congress, and members of the cabinet pondering the legal ramifications of the establishment of the National Museum at the Smithsonian.

In addition, the staff selected documents and began text editing for volume 10, which will cover the Civil War years. Frank Millikan continued to expand the information on the Henry Papers Project web site, with web pages on Joseph Henry Namesakes and "’Interruptions and Embarrassments’: The Smithsonian Institution during the Civil War.”

The staff of the Joseph Henry Papers Project sought a new publisher to replace the Smithsonian Institution Press, which had developed publishing priorities that fell outside the realm of Institution history and documentary editions. By the year’s end, SIA was in negotiation with Science History Publishers, Associated to publish and market the remaining three volumes of The Papers of Joseph Henry.

Oral History and Videohistory Programs

There were ninety-eight reference requests for the Oral History and Smithsonian Videohistory Collections.

Oral history interviews of Smithsonian staff and associates continued to be recorded, researched, transcribed, and made available to the public. Henson completed a series of interviews of Walter A. Shropshire, Jr., formerly of the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, about his research in photobiology. She also initiated and completed interviews of Roxie C. Laybourne, an ornithologist who worked for both NMNH and the Fish and Wildlife Service and created the field of forensic ornithology. She recorded the first of a series of interviews with I. Michael Heyman, former Secretary of the Smithsonian. Michele Gates-Moresi, former SI fellow, recorded an interview with Cynthia A. Hoover, Curator of musical instruments at NMAH, for her dissertation on exhibitions of African Americans at the Smithsonian.

The Paul E. Garber Interviews were final processed and made available for research use by Nichols. Transcription was completed on two David Challinor interviews, the Hoover interview, two Laybourne interviews and eight Shropshire interviews.

In FY 1999, Nichols found that some audiotapes were deteriorating. IHD established a preservation plan for re-mastering the Oral History Collection and Videohistory Collection, based on a preservation survey conducted during 2000. With SIA funding, the Program continued to digitize and re-master older tapes, following the plan. Two sets of tapes were digitized, nine reels of tape and nine cassettes, totaling 17.5 hours. This project will continue on an annual basis to ensure that the collection does not deteriorate.

In FY 2001, thirteen interviews totaling twenty-three hours of tape were recorded for the oral history collection. Eleven interview sessions totaling 14.5 hours were transcribed on contract. The collection now consists of 692 interview sessions totaling 933.5 hours of audio and videotape interviews of 624 individuals, of which 762 hours have been transcribed and 505 hours have been made available for research use. The Processing Procedures Manual was distributed to numerous individuals interested in learning about oral history from such diverse places as The Sandy Springs Museum and Accokeek Heritage Project, both in Maryland, The Society of Women Geographers in Washington, D.C., and the Friday Harbor Marine Laboratories near Seattle, Washington. The Smithsonian Videohistory Collection Catalog was distributed to a wide range of scholars, producers, and others interested in the collection.

Research Associates and Collaborators, Fellows and Interns

Research Associate Albert E. Moyer, chair of the Department of History at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, died after a long illness on 19 December 2000. Among his many accomplishments, Moyer was the author of Joseph Henry, a critical biography of the Smithsonian’s first Secretary.

Research Collaborator Francis M. Greenwell continued his research on the history of taxidermy, especially its techniques, throughout the centuries. He resumed teaching taxidermy conservation techniques to individuals and a few local schools. Throughout the year, he exchanged correspondence with Melle Amandine Pequignot from the Museum National D’Histoire Naturelle in Paris and Dr. Estorgio Mendez from the National Museum in the Republic of Panama, while he also remained in contact with taxidermists in New York, Maryland, Virginia, and the West coast. Also during 2001, Frank and his wife Pat continued to host colonial homes, like 18^th century Sotterley Plantation in St. Mary’s County, Maryland, in their colonial and Victorian period costumes designed by Pat Greenwell from research that she did at the Smithsonian.

Henson and Marc Rothenberg provided information and advice to numerous students and scholars. Henson served as advisor to several Smithsonian fellows. Eve Elizabeth Buckley of the University of Pennsylvania completed her graduate student fellowship studying botanical expeditions to northeastern Brazil and their impact on agriculture in the twentieth century. Juliet M. Burba of the University of Minnesota continued her predoctoral fellowship tenure; her research will focus on theories that were put forth from the 1890s to the 1903s on the peopling of the Americas, looking especially at how the Smithsonian portrayed these theories at international expositions. Denise Meringolo of the George Washington University completed her predoctoral research on how public history took root in the federal government, especially the National Park Service and its collaborations with the Smithsonian, during the 1930s. James Todd Uhlmann of Rutgers University completed predoctoral research on the transition from Victorianism to modernism, using the Smithsonian as a window to popular views of the exotic. Henson also provided advice to NMAH fellows, including Paul Sutter, who began his postdoctoral fellowship to research concepts of disease in the tropics, especially Panama, at the turn of the century, and Bernard Unti, who is writing a dissertation on the history of animal protection before World War II.

The IHD sponsored three interns during the year. Kristen Halloran (fall of 2000) and Christy E. Hawkins (fall of 2001) of Smith College conducted research on the legal history of the Smithsonian for the Smithsonian Legal Documents Project. Mary McKinney conducted research in newspapers for the period 1858-1865 and conducted research for annotations for Volume 10 of The Papers of Joseph Henry during the summer.

Volunteers

Legal librarian Doris J. Jensen continued her work with Henson on the legal history of the Smithsonian, by training staff and interns and conducting research and preparing entries for a database on Smithsonian legislation. Zoe Martindale continued to add entries to the image database and edit existing entries, in preparation for placing the database on-line in SIRIS. Carole J. Poling continued to prepare entries for the bibliography on the history of the Smithsonian. With their assistance, IHD was able to make significant progress on these projects. Venka Venkatesan began volunteering in July for the Joseph Henry Papers Project, conducting small research projects related to the project.

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