Field Notes, Zapotec Isthmus
Field Notes, Zapotec Isthmus, October 2013–May 2014 and Field Notes, Zapotec Isthmus, April 2014–September 2014
These two field books document plant collecting conducted from 2013 to 2014 as part of the project “Documentation and Revitalization of the Language and Traditional Ecological Knowledge of the Isthmus Zapotec Community,” launched under the Smithsonian Grand Challenge “Understanding and Sustaining a Biodiverse Planet.” Collecting occurred in La Ventosa, Oaxaca, Mexico, and was led by Gabriela Pérez Báez of the Department of Anthropology at the National Museum of Natural History. Botanical collections and their related documentation, including a dictionary of Zapotec and scientific names for specimens, were deposited in the museum's Department of Botany and are now available on the National Ethnobotanical Herbarium Online pilot website.
Discover more about these field books in this collection.
The field books present two different structures—one is sewn like a pamphlet or composition book and has extensive damage to the cover along the spine from use, while the other has a bulky metal spiral binding and associated issues as notebook pages are caught and folded beneath the spiral. Treatment will focus on ameliorating damage and creating suitable housing for the individual volumes. Ink analysis may also help determine future steps as media fade, bleed, or discolor.
