Press "Enter" to skip to content

Category: Biodiversity Heritage Library

Harrison Dyar: Personal meets Professional

Erin Rushing
May 20, 2016
Leave a Comment
http---sirismm.si.edu-siahistory-imagedb-SIA2011-0103.jpg
Harrison G. Dyar, Jr., third from right, with Entomology staff of the U.S. National Museum in 1905. Courtesy of Smithsonian Institution Archives.

From May 13-20th, the Smithsonian Libraries is participating in the #DigIntoDyar campaign – encouraging the public to transcribe the field books of this remarkable entomologist in the Smithsonian Transcription Center and to learn more about his life and work. This post was written by Marc Epstein, Research Associate at the National Museum of Natural History and author of Moths, Myths and Mosquitos:The Eccentric Life of Harrison G. Dyar, Jr.. You can read Marc’s first post about Dyar here and second here.

Harrison Dyar’s scientific legacy has been overshadowed because he dug extensive underground labyrinths and because of his known bigamy (both explored in-depth in this Washington Post series).  His family wealth allowed him to either work gratis or for a pittance at the Smithsonian from 1897-1929.

Continue ReadingHarrison Dyar: Personal meets Professional

Harrison Dyar: Lepidoptera and Blue Books

Erin Rushing
May 16, 2016
1 Comment

figure 5From May 13-20th, the Smithsonian Libraries is participating in the #DigIntoDyar campaign – encouraging the public to transcribe the field books of this remarkable entomologist in the Smithsonian Transcription Center and to learn more about his life and work. This post was written by Marc Epstein, Research Associate at the National Museum of Natural History and author of Moths, Myths and Mosquitos:The Eccentric Life of Harrison G. Dyar, Jr.. On May 17th, you can learn more about Harrison Dyar with our Google Hangout with Marc or in person during his Smithsonian Associates lecture.

 

Continue ReadingHarrison Dyar: Lepidoptera and Blue Books

Salad Days (and Months) in Rare Books

Julia Blakely
May 6, 2016
Leave a Comment
Salad Days (and Months) in Rare Books

My salad days, when I was green in judgement

This common, if well-worn, phrase first appeared in Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra of 1606. At the end of Act One of the play, recalling a youthful affair with Julius Caesar, Cleopatra refers to a time of innocence, silliness or indiscretions. Since May is National Salad Month, let us celebrate the greens by looking at the work of another Englishman, John Evelyn (1620-1706). His Acetaria: a discourse of sallets, printed in London in 1699, was the first book devoted to salads.

 

Continue ReadingSalad Days (and Months) in Rare Books

When New England was New

Julia Blakely
April 26, 2016
Leave a Comment

This post was first featured on the Biodiversity Heritage Library blog.

 

Map of eastern North America. Detail of engraved map by Nicolaes Jansz Visscher, made about 1655, not long after Josselyn’s first journey to the New World. Note the prominent, plump turkey. Courtesy of Graphic Arts Collection, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution. Gift of Mrs. Francis P. Garvan.

 

It is a small book, palm-size, with pages of less-than-fine paper, the well-worn letters of the type sometimes carelessly inked. The sparse woodcut illustrations are child-like in their simplicity and straight-forwardness. Yet John Josselyn’s New-Englands rarities discovered, printed in London in 1672, drew me in as I went about cataloging the work. Intrigued by the title and the early date of publication, I found myself reading an account of the landscape of my past, from Boston, “down east” (that is, up the coast as represented in the illustration above) to my place of birth, and points all around. That great bibliography, The Hunt Botanical Catalogue, notes that this book is “particularly interesting to people who are fond of Maine.” Indeed. The text provides a sense of place from the 17th century.

Continue ReadingWhen New England was New