hunting

The Large Game and Natural History of South and South-East Africa

Published in 1875, this book is an account of the hunting experiences of W.H. Drummond during roughly five years between 1867-1872. He camped and lived among local tribal populations of South and Southeast Africa and out where the game animals inhabited, rarely visiting colonial settlements. Rather than a list of numbers and kinds of animals killed, Drummond wanted to engage the reader’s “mind’s eye” with vivid details through his stories and anecdotes.

American Big-Game Hunting; the Book of the Boone and Crockett Club

This is the first in a series of books associated with the Boone and Crockett Club, an organization founded by Theodore Roosevelt, George Bird Grinnell, and others. The Boone and Crockett Club was dedicated to balancing both the conservation of wildlife and natural resources and the preservation of hunting traditions.

Survival on Land and Sea

This pocket-sized, waterproof booklet was created by Smithsonian scientists for soldiers and airmen in the Pacific to carry with them during World War II.  It details survival information for stranded servicemen, including how to navigate without instruments, abandon ship, start fires, find water, build shelter, and identify edible and dangerous plants and animals in the tropics, the arctic, and the desert.  Over 1 million booklets were distributed by the end of the war and potentially saved numerous lives.