Natural history
The Long Life of a Dead Rhinoceros
How Yellowstone Was Saved by a Teddy Roosevelt Dinner Party and a Fake Photo in a Gun Magazine
A chill rain drizzled over guests arriving at Bamie Roosevelt’s midtown brownstone near the corner of Madison Avenue and East 62nd Street in December 1887. There weren’t many of them, but all had two things in common: they were New York’s most influential and rich social elite, and they all loved hunting big game. All were hand-picked by the h
A 19th Century Encyclopedia Gets a Modern Makeover
Between 1849 and 1851, Johan George Heck published his encyclopedia Bilder-Atlas zum Conversations-Lexicon and the work continues to offer valuable insight into life in the 19th-century.
Meet Serena Katherine “Violet” Dandridge, Suffragist and Scientific Illustrator
Serena Katherine “Violet” Dandridge (1878-1956) was one of the Smithsonian’s first female scientific illustrators and a supporter of women’s suffrage. Dandridge grew up in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, and moved to Washington, D.C. in 1896 to study art.
Notebook kept by Rafinesque on a trip from Philadelphia to Kentucky
Despite his meticulous field work, professional success in France at such an early age, and further studies in Europe and the United States, Constantine Samuel Rafinesque (1783-1840) was largely regarded as eccentric. His often unconventional ideas were hard for his professional peers to embrace. However, contemporary scientists have come to recognize Rafinesque for his field work and avant-garde thinking.
Notes and descriptions of specimens collected on the Philippine Expedition of the Steamer Albatross, circa 1908
Svenska Lafvarnas Färghistoria
Werner's Nomenclature of Colours
The Gold Diggings of Cape Horn
John Randolph Spears (b. 1850) was a well-traveled journalist at turn of the century, eventually writing nearly a dozen books, primarily on nautical and maritime themes. This early title is about the land, sea, flora, fauna, and cultures of South America’s southernmost region. The “gold diggings” from the title are mostly done on the east coast of Tierra del Fuego, where, after heavy storms, gold shows up on the black sands. The quest for gold often creates conflicts with indigenous communities of the area, which Spears takes great care to describe with sensitivity (for the times).
