san diego

In 1941, Max Miller financed an expedition the length of the Baja Peninsula with two natural history scientists from the San Diego Natural History Museum, Frank Gander and Laurence Huey. Miller mentions briefly and ominously of the Japanese submarine presence in Magdalena Bay on the Baja Peninsula in the months prior to Pearl Harbor. 

Despite dying at only 28, Edward M. Haight (1863-1891) established a busy career as an enthusiastic naturalist, collector, taxidermist, and publisher. The Golden State Scientist is one of three serials that he edited in the late 1880s, and it is by far the scarcest. This was the only issue ever published, and only 450 copies made it into print, owing to “the many blunders made in the advertisements." Only about a dozen copies survive in libraries today.

Le Royaume de l'Air, or the “Kingdom of the Air,” was published in Paris in 1909, during the first decade of machine-powered aircraft flight. It was written for young readers and includes plentiful illustrations and photographs documenting the historical development of aeronautics and contemporary innovations in this new technology. There are very few copies in libraries, and the Smithsonian is fortunate to have two in its collection. This copy is in need of extensive preservation treatment.

This 1967 commemorative newspaper issue documented the 40th anniversary of Charles Lindbergh’s 1927 solo flight across the Atlantic in the Spirit of St. Louis monoplane. It features photos of a replica of the Spirit of St. Louis and of pilot Frank Tallman, cofounder of Tallmantz Aviation, which built the replica. The replica was flown to Paris by the U.S. Air Force to be displayed during the 1967 Paris Air Show.

More than six decades before the Panama Canal, a trans-Isthmian railroad carried thousands of travelers every month between the Atlantic and the Pacific. Crossing in this manner represented a third option to people (and freight) traveling to California (recently added to U.S. territory as a result of the war with Mexico) from the eastern United States. They could now avoid the perilous voyage around the Cape of Good Hope as well as the long trek across the great plains and Rocky Mountains.

Large Marine Ecosystems (LMEs)—a socio-biological term—are large (≥200,000 km²) regions of the world's oceans tied to coastal areas and related to “Exclusive Economic Zones” (EEZs). LMEs include the river basins and estuaries that feed into a coastal area and extend out to the continental shelf and beyond, to the edges of deep open water. Ninety-five percent of the biomass yields from oceans are produced within or near EEZs. To keep our oceans healthy, it is important to manage and conserve these areas of our planet properly.

This is an anniversary compendium of Ryan Airplanes (1925-1975), the company that built the Spirit of St. Louis—the airplane Charles Lindbergh flew across the Atlantic—as well as many other commercial and military aircraft. The book details the many aircraft Ryan produced, and includes photos, advertisements, promotional brochures, and even a comic strip. It is an informative overview of an aircraft manufacturer that made a substantial contribution to aviation history and technology.

Written by former National Air and Space Museum curator for rocketry Frank H. Winter, this Smithsonian publication is considered to be the first comprehensive history of the use of rockets as artillery in the late-18th and 19th centuries. Englishmen William Congreve and William Hale developed and refined the rocket as a piece of technology. Gunpowder rockets have been used in a variety of military and non-military applications, including life-saving (rescues at sea), whaling, and torpedoes.

Imagine climbing into a small, metal submersible, closing the hatch, and dropping into the ocean. The light will quickly fade as the metal around you grinds ever-so-slightly, adjusting to the changes in pressure. But you’re not afraid – no, of course not, not when Richard Ellis is by your side regaling you with tales of giant squid attacking bait traps, discovering vent fields at the bottom of the ocean, and the sudden appearance of a prehistoric, formally extinct fish. This is exactly what reading this book is like. In it, Mr.

While the pleasure of most coffee-table books lies in their exquisite photographs, the true delight of this book lies in Elisabeth Mann Borgese’s succinct and moving narrative. Among the brilliant, saturated photos are long essays detailing the origins, breadth, and depth of the oceans, those who use them, and the particular threats facing them. Prior to her death in 2002, Ms.

In the decade before the American Civil War, the United States was preoccupied by efforts for interoceanic communication. The Isthmus of Tehuantepec represented the shortest distance between the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean, and prior to the opening of the Panama Canal, was a major shipping route. It was during negotiations to end the Mexican war of 1846-1848 that the United States began discussing ways in which the route could be accessed or purchased. Nicolas P.