Smithsonian Libraries

The Art of African Exploration

In the town of Ujiji in what is now Tanzania, Henry Morton Stanley, sent by a New York newspaper to track down the missing Dr. David Livingstone, finally found the man on this day, November 10, in 1871. Many had believed the ailing missionary and explorer to be dead. 

Their meeting has become legendary - even in its day it was the focus of media attention.  African exploration was a hot topic in the Victorian era in both the U.S. and Britain, capitivating the public's imagination with tales of adventure and discovery and paving the way for the West's colonialist claims on the continent. 

In a forthcoming SI Libraries exhibition, set to open December 9th at the National Museum of Natural History, African exploration is examined using an array of visual materials that emerged from that critical and complex time.  All but a few of the items on display come from the Russell E. Train Africana Collection (kept in the Cullman Library), a collection rich in illustrated and original materials.  Included in the exhibit are collectibles and ephemera, lantern slides (like the one shown above), early guide books, scientific illustrations, travel narratives, and actual explorer's sketches and journals, spanning from 18th century accounts of voyages to original field sketches from the early 1900s. 

We hope you'll come out next month to see some of these uncommon and intriguing items.

 

Algonquin Indian Primer

Western Abenaki is an almost extinct form of the Algonquin language indigenous to Quebec on the St. Lawrence River between Montreal and Quebec City.
 
This book is a purchase from the Frank T. Siebert sale.  Siebert was a pathologist and scholar of Penobscot Indian linguistics.  He amassed one of the largest and most complete collections of books on North American Indian linguistics ever known.  His collection was dispersed at auction by Sotheby’s in 1999 after his death in 1998.

Native American Indian linguistics is a subject that Smithsonian Institution Libraries is committed to collecting.  Catalog records for other Indian readers our collection can be found in SIRIS, the Smithsonian Institution Research Information System catalog.

Edward Donovan’s Insects of Australia

Edward Donovan (1768-1837) was a British naturalist and natural history painter, who founded the London Museum and Institute of Natural History largely from his own collections. 

His work on New Holland, New Zealand, and New Guinea is the first systematic and illustrated survey of the insects of Australia based on the collections gathered during the famous first voyage of Captain James Cook throughout the Pacific between 1768 and 1771.  Significantly, a copy of this work was used by scientists as a reference during the United States Exploring Expedition from 1838-1842.

The Cullman Library collects natural history narratives of scientific voyages, and holds the complete works of the three voyages of Captain Cook, as well as the complete works of the United States Exploring Expedition (in both print and digital formats).

More information on these books can be found in SIRIS, the Smithsonian Institution Research Information System catalog.

The Botanist's Desire: Botanica Magnifica Redux

Back in May I posted a story about the exhibition of Botanica Magnifica in the Smithsonian Libraries' exhibition cases in the National Museum of Natural History. Well, in this month's Fine Books & Collections Magazine, Botanical Magnifica is featured in the cover story, "The Botanist’s Desire" by Jonathan Shipley (No. 34, July/August 2008).

In addition to a number of reproductions from the work, the article describes the process used by photographer Jonathan Singer in creating the work. Smithsonian botany curator John Kress also discusses the importance of the work.

Mark Catesby's America

David Elliott, Nancy Gwinn, Leslie Overstreet,
and Cynthia Neal
2008-06-09-dscn4174
Originally uploaded by martin_kalfatovic

Smithsonian Libraries presented "Mark Catesby's America: Symposium and Panel Discussion" on June 9, 2008.

The symposium featured Dr. Storrs Olson (National Museum of Natural History), D. Therese O'Malley (National Gallery of Art), and Leslie Overstreet (Curator of Natural History Rare Books, Smithsonian Institution Libraries).

Dr. Alan Feduccia, professor of Biology and Department Chair at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, presented the keynote address, "Mark Catesby and his Natural History of Carolina ... : an Introduction and perspective."

The event, held at the Freer Gallery of Art, was attended by over 150 guests.

Following the symposium, the audience was treated to the Washington premier of The Curious Mr. Catesby. The documentary film, introduced by producers David J. Elliott and Cynthia Neal. The film, an excellent overview to the life and work of Catesby, features Leslie Overstreet and the Cullman Library.

A reception followed at the Freer Gallery of Art.

View images from the Smithsonian Libraries' copy of Catesby's Natural History.

Botanica Magnifica images at Smithsonian Libraries

In his large-format images, photographer Jonathan Singer captures the essence of plant form, color, and texture, thereby enhancing the viewer’s appreciation of the complexity of the botanical world.  Collaborating with scientists in the Smithsonian’s Department of Botany, the large-format photographs focus on the Smithsonian’s living plant collections.  Each photo was taken with a high-resolution digital camera and printed on hand-made paper with special inks. Jonathan Singer donated the first set of this monumental five-volume work to the Smithsonian Institution’s Department of Botany and the Smithsonian Institution Libraries.

Images from Botanica Magnifica will be on display in the Smithsonian Libraries exhibition case located in the National Museum of Natural History (10th St. and Constitution Ave., NW, Washington, DC), ground floor lobby, through October 2008.

Since the Smithsonian’s copy of the “Botanica magnifica” is held in a research library behind the scenes, visitors who wish to see it are requested to call several days in advance to arrange an appointment: (202) 633-1184.

 

 

Kids Love Our Books

The average reader at the Joseph F. Cullman 3^rd Library of Natural History is somewhere between thirty and sixty years old and is either a researcher, intern, fellow, or visiting post-doc.  So imagine the fun we had hosting a handful of children from the Smithsonian Early Enrichment Center (SEEC), an object-based learning program for kids from nine months to six years old.  As part of a segment on the sea, Josh Beasley’s kindergarten class came in to see an early adventure narrative by the 17^th century pirate, William Dampier; pictures of albatross from John Gould’s Birds of Australia (1840-1848); and Gustave Doré illustrations of a seafaring ship and albatross in Samuel Coleridge’s Rime of the ancient mariner (1889). 

Using their best museum manners, the kids were able to see the books up close and personal.  One of the children’s parents is researcher here at the Smithsonian who went on a modern-day scientific expedition on a boat called the The Albatross so it was especially meaningful to the children.  As for the staff…well we learned that during his travels Dampier had tried squid (calamari, if you will) and didn’t much care for it. My, how tastes change…

Symposium on noted explorer, botanist, scientist and artist Mark Catesby

When: June 9, 2008, 2:00 pm
Where: Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer Auditorium at the Freer Gallery of Art, Jefferson Drive at 12th Street SW

(NOTE NEW TIME AND LOCATION!)

More Information:

The Smithsonian Institution Libraries is pleased to present Mark Catesby’s America, a symposium, followed by the Washington premiere of the film, The Curious Mister Catesby, Monday, June 9, 2008. In 1731, Englishman Mark Catesby began work on the book that would make him famous at home and abroad as an explorer, botanist, scientist and artist. The symposium, which is free and open to the public, will begin at 1:30 in the Baird Auditorium at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, 10th Street and Constitution Avenue Northwest, and will be followed by the film at 4:00. For more information, contact the Libraries’ development office at 202.633.2875.

About the image:
Mark Catesby
The natural history of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama islands: containing the figures of birds, beasts, fishes, serpents, insects, and plants, 1731-43  [1729-48]
"Largest White Bill'd Woodpecker"
More information about this image

The Library of James Smithson on LibraryThing

Thanks to Jeremy Dibbell, SI Libraries own Suzanne Pilsk, and the folks at LibraryThing, we've now added most (113 out of just over 120) of the remaining known books from library of James Smithson, the founder of the Smithsonian Institution.

One of the great things about LibraryThing is the ability to compare libraries. Other famous libraries on LibraryThing include those of Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Samuel Johnson. A quick glance shows us that Smithson shared 4 titles with Jefferson, and one each with Johnson and Adams.

Take at look at Smithson's LibraryThing library. But also be sure to visit the Smithsonian Libraries website, the Galaxy of Knowledge, to learn more about the collection and to see a number of images from the library that include Smithson's annotations: Smithson's Library.

Leslie K. Overstreet, the Smithsonian Libraries Curator of Natural-History  Rare Books, writes of the Smithson Library:

James Smithson (c.1765-1829), an 18th-century gentleman of science, included his library with his bequest to the United States, and those books now reside in the vault of the Smithsonian Institution Libraries’ Joseph F. Cullman 3rd Library of Natural History.     The collection consists of 115 titles, primarily scientific monographs and journal articles, but also history and memoirs, political pamphlets, travel books and museum guides, and a few household items like cookbooks.

To learn more about James Smithson, take a look at the recently published, The Lost World of James Smithson: Science, Revolution and the Birth of the Smithsonian by Heather Ewing (2007).

Image at above:
André Jacques Garnerin
Air ballon & parachute; a circumstantial account of the three last aërial voyages made by M. Garnerin, viz. from Vauxhall Gardens, accompanied by Madame Garnerin and Mr. Glassford, on Tuesday, August 5, 1802, [1802]
http://www.sil.si.edu/ImageGalaxy/imagegalaxy_imageDetail.cfm?id_image=8483