For National "Joe" Day, the Libraries would like to feature some digital collections from its Joseph F. Cullman 3rd, Library of Natural History:
The Art of African Exploration presents a selection of drawings, book illustrations, and other objects from the The Russell E. Train Africana Collection in the Joseph F. Cullman 3rd Library of Natural History. The compelling images that emerged from the early european exploration of Africa tell the story of Africa as it was first seen by Western eyes, and the impact it had on a fascinated public.
Nouvelle description du Cap de Bonne-Espérance, Carel Frederik Brink 1758-1784,
Amsterdam, Chez J.H. Schneider, 1778.
Smithson's 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. This site provides a listing of those 126 titles, along with selected digitized images from some of the titles.
Louis Benjamin Fleuriau de Bellevue, Meḿoire sur les pierres météoriques,
et notamment sur celles tombées près de Jonzac, au mois de juin 1819, 1821.
United States Exploring Expedition In one very important way, the work of the United States Exploring Expedition was only beginning when the ships returned to Washington after almost four years at sea. In addition to Captain Wilkes himself who recorded ocean and weather data and surveyed island groups and coastlines, the Expedition had carried a civilian group of scientists who had collected specimens, artifacts, and observations through the whole voyage. Called the "scientific corps," or just the "scientifics," they were Horatio Hale, ethnographer & linguist; Charles Pickering and Titian R. Peale, naturalists; J.P. Couthouy, conchologist; James D. Dana, mineralogist; William Rich and William D. Brackenridge, botanists; and Alfred T. Agate and Joseph Drayton, artists.
Vol. 20 Herpetology (Girard/Baird 1858) Plate 12, Callirhinus patagoniensis; Dendrophis prasinus.
Wonder Bound Wonder-rooms and curiosity cabinets appeared in the 1500s, as wealthy Europeans displayed objects and specimens collected during trading voyages and exploring expeditions. Books-such as these-allowed scientists and collectors to share their observations. Why are centuries-old natural history books vital to scientific research? Our scientists consult early printed materials to compare historical descriptions with modern specimens. These researchers use the rare book collection of the Smithsonian Institution Libraries' new Joseph F. Cullman, 3rd, Library of Natural History.
J. J. Ernst , Papillons d'Europe, peints d'après nature … ,
Paris: Chez P. M. Delaguette [etc.], 1779-1792. 8 v. in 3 : ill. + atlases (3 v. : col. ill.).
—Elizabeth Periale
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