For information regarding the total number of researchers, see Appendix F: Reference Service Statistics. The following is a summary of highlights from SIA's many reference and research activities during the fiscal year.

Use by SIA Staff and Associates

Ted Rivinus, Research Associate, pursued his work on nineteenth-century Smithsonian administrator George Brown Goode. SIA Fellows included Catherine A. Christen, Johns Hopkins University, who continued her work on post-WWII tropical field science; Patrick Wirtz, University of Southern California, who looked at the history of NZP as an urban landscape; Michelle Gates-Moresi, The George Washington University, who worked on the representation of African-Americans at SI; and John Fiege, Pennsylvania State University, who studied the history of NZP and the evolution of human attitudes towards nature. Other associated researchers were Hannah Shell, an intern from Harvard University, who did research on William T. Hornaday and buffalo conservation; and Martha Rosen, volunteer, who did research on "The World Is Yours," a Smithsonian radio program, 1936-1942.

The Historian's Office conducted specialized research on the history of the Institution for Smithsonian administrators and researchers, outside scholars and the general public. Henson and Nichols assisted the Office of Membership and Development, the Office of Public Affairs, Visitor Information and Associates Reception Center, and the Smithsonian magazine with several inquiries on the history of the Institution. The image database was used to quickly locate photographs for a variety of users, including the Office of Architectural History and Historic Preservation and Dr. Antonio Pedron Toro, photo historian from Caracas, Venezuela, who looked for photographs of people and places in 19th and early 20th century Venezuela.

Use by Smithsonian Staff

The Archives Reference Staff assisted many Smithsonian offices and staff members with their questions about the Institution's history and other subjects. These offices included the Office of the Provost, the Office of Public Affairs, The Smithsonian Associates, the Office of the General Counsel, the Office of Architectural History and Historic Preservation, and the Registrar of the National Zoological Park. Areas of inquiry included hoaxes (particularly those perpetuated by the Internet), the Enola Gay controversy, SI relations with France, and the history of Smithsonian Civil Service status.

Smithsonian staff conducting scholarly research included Lisa Graddy, NMAH Political History Collections, who studied the use of American propaganda posters at the Smithsonian during WWII; Jane Walsh, NMNH Department of Anthropology, who prepared an exhibition tracing the activities of USGS surveyors in Mexico through photograph scrapbooks in the SIA Nelson-Goldman Collection; Dennis Griffin, an NMNH Fellow, who studied the correspondence between William H. Dall and Henry Collins; Dan Nicolson, NMNH Department of Botany, who used the Richard Sumner Cowan papers to prepare an obituary for Cowan; Michael Lawson, an NMNH Fellow, who studied the history of the Smithsonian Bureau of American History; Michael Neufeld, NASM Aeronautics Division, looked at Werner von Braun correspondence in the Whipple papers; Scott Derrickson of SERC studied USFWS biological surveys; Joanne Gernstein London, NASM Aeronautics Division, studied military museums in Washington for her dissertation; Robert Post, NMAH curator emeritus, conducted research on the changing approaches to exhibitions at that Museum; Steve Lingafelter, NMNH Systematic Entomology Lab, traced past transactions between the Smithsonian and a university entomology collection; Stephen Loring, NMNH Department of Anthropology, used the Mark Dall papers in SIA to study field research in Alaska; Steven Garber, a student working out of NASM, studied the controversial aspects of the WWI exhibition at that Museum; Toner Stevenson, a visiting fellow with SITES from an Australian museum, studied past SITES exhibitions; David Roberts, NMAH fellow, studied the history of American math education as reflected in Smithsonian activities; Joan Boudreau and Helena Wright, NMAH Graphic Arts Collection, studied the history of their department; Boudreau also conducted research for an exhibition on the Audubon Naturalists Society; Therese Heyman and Sanders Hearne, NMAA Curatorial Department, did research on the Smithsonian's George Catlin collection; Doug Ubelaker, NMNH Department of Anthropology, used SIA holdings to prepare a presentation on the career of T. Dale Stewart; Joe Delci, a Fellow from the Office of Museum Programs, worked on the history of SI pre-Columbian collections; and Frank Greenwell, NMNH Taxidermist, studied the history of the mammal hall at NMNH.

Use by Outside Researchers

The topics studied by public users of the Archives during FY 1998 reflected the broad range of subjects represented in the holdings. Kenneth Johnson, The George Washington University, studied the career of Howard Chapell, former NMAH curator for maritime history; Albert Wing, Council of Energy Resource Tribes, Denver, CO, studied the relationship between Native Americans and federal agencies; John Clagett, IV, of Maryland studied Oliver Morris Bryan; Stuart Wheeler of the University of Richmond used the U.S. National Museum accession files to prepare a biography of Sophia Schliemann, widow of the archaeologist who discovered the site of Troy; Sarah Amsler, George Mason University, did research on representations of class in NMAH exhibitions; Matthew Funk, architectural student, studied drawings of the proposed Enola Gay exhibition; Katherine Livingston independent researcher, studied the career of T. S. Kuhn as reflected in the records of the History of Science Society; Nathan Hendrie, television producer, used SIA photograph collections to prepare a documentary on John Wesley Powell for the "American Experience" PBS series; John Sandwick, a descendant of Samuel P. Langley, studied the papers of his ancestor; Ronald Rainger, Texas Tech University, studied "Operation Crossroads" using the Henry Ladd papers; Ellen Thomson of the Bailey/Howe Library, University of Vermont, obtained photocopies of correspondence between Baird and George Perkins Marsh as part of a project to convert selected Marsh papers to electronic form and publish them on the Internet; James Cassidy, Saint Anselm College, studied the Hayden-Baird relationship; Michael Krenn, University of Miami, studied international cultural exchanges during the Cold War; Mark Barrow, Department of History, Virginia Tech, used the American Ornithologists' Union records in his history of that organization; Scott Bruton, University of Oklahoma, studied the social and cultural history of archaeology and anthropology in St. Louis; Kurk Dorsey, University of New Hampshire, worked on the diplomacy of whaling, 1930-present; Carol Maryan-George, studied the history of the production and use of audio-visual material at the Smithsonian; Mike Kohl, Clemson University, looked at correspondence between Leo Lesquereux and Arthur Lakes; Alan Leviton and Michele Aldrich, California Academy of Sciences, studied the relationship between the Academy and SI, 1906-1963; staff from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service staff made photocopies of records from the Pacific Ocean Biological Survey Program records for a bird project in Hawaii; and an archivist from the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago consulted with SIA staff about museum archives.

Researchers from abroad included Marc Kaeser of the University of Neuchatel, Switzerland, who studied SI relationships with Eduard Desor and Swiss archaeology in the 19th century; Adelheid Voskuhl, University of Oldenburg, Germany, who studied Charles Abbot and the Solar Constant; Andrea Loettgers, Institute for the History of Science, University of Gottingen, Germany, who used the Abbott papers and other material to study the development of scientific instruments in the 19th century; Hyungsook Kim, affiliated with the University of Maryland, who used the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden records to study education in art museums; Wakao Nakamura, graduate student from Tokyo, who studied the Enola Gay exhibition; Kirill Rossianov of the Russian Academy of Sciences, who used Science Service records to study the history of primate research, 1920s-30s; and Julia Kupina, NMNH Fellow, and staff of the Russian Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg, Russia, who examined early Soviet collecting policies, and collection-sharing between Russian and Smithsonian museums.

With assistance provided by the IHD staff, several outside researchers made use of SIA's oral history and videohistory materials. Greystone Communications requested use of the 20th Century Small Arms Videohistory Collection for use in a History Channel program. The ENIAC Videohistory Interview was used in the "Who Built America?" CD and the "History Matters" website prepared for history educators. The Medical Imaging Videohistory Collection was used in ceremonies surrounding a national technological achievement award given to Robert Ledley in late 1997 and an article about him in the Blue and Gray magazine. The Horton H. Hobbs, III, oral history interviews were excerpted for a biographical article on him in the Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. The Fred L. Whipple oral history interviews were used by several researchers, including Dr. Howard Plotkin of the University of Western Ontario.

Domestic and foreign researchers also made use of the data maintained by the Joseph Henry Papers Project, typically requesting information on Henry correspondence with a specific individual or organization. Most come from the United States, but last fiscal year queries were received from Sweden, Brazil, the United Kingdom, and Japan. Among the database reports prepared in response to public queries were those on Jefferson Davis, the Leander McCormick Observatory of the University of Virginia, Abraham Lincoln, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Other Collections Use

U.S. Information Agency personnel examined material from the records of the Office of Program Support, NMAA (RU 321) to declassify any classified records found therein; SIA reference staff assisted the Cooper-Hewitt Museum Registrar's Office in reformatting SIA microfilm copies of the Museum's accession ledgers, using grant funds; Sam Rainey, the Archivist of the Botanical Society of Washington, examined the Society's records at SIA prior to creating a website on the history of the Society; Claire Dekle, an SIL Conservator, began a project to process the records of the Washington Conservation Guild in SIA.

During his six month work detail at NAA, Alan Bain provided assistance to Chun, Kyung-Soo, Professor of Anthropology, Seoul National University, who is writing a history of the Korean Anthropology Association; Moon, Eileen Jahee, President of Taein Cultural Event Production, who is curating an exhibition of photographs on Korea, 1919-1920; and Genka, Yoko, Ph.d. candidate, George Mason University, researching the political effects of the USNM 1962 exhibition, Okinawa – Continued Tradition.

SIA was also the focus of several projects for classes taught by Smithsonian staff members Barney Finn and Steve Lubar, and The George Washington University faculty. Class topics included how to conduct research in primary material, exhibition controversies at the Smithsonian, the use of videohistory collections to study work methods in different industries, and the ethnography of work. Other topics of interest included African-American sculptor Isaac Scott Hathaway; Japanese interest in the Enola Gay and America's Smithsonian exhibitions, and Robert Dale Owen and other New Harmony figures.