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Since its establishment in 1846, the collections and research of
the Smithsonian Institution have been enriched by many historic
expeditions. The Smithsonian Institution Libraries presents here
facsimile editions of important printed works about expeditions,
as well as critical or annotated compendia of expedition source
documents such as journals, fieldnotes, maps, photographs and even
film footage.
Currently
two online Smithsonian Institution Libraries Expeditions publications
are available; others are in development:
By
Aeroplane to Pygmyland: Revisiting the 1926 Dutch and American Expedition
to New Guinea
This
online publication, By Aeroplane to Pygmyland: Revisiting the
1926 Dutch and American Expedition to New Guinea, aims to "revisit"
a historically important scientific expedition from today's perspective
of 80 years later. It does this through interpretive essays accompanied
by the publication, for the first time, of two expedition diaries
by the American participants and a wealth of additional expedition
records that had never before been published, including over 700
original photographs and about two hours of original film footage,
in an annotated and inter-connected multimedia format allowing
comparison among multiple sources.
The
United States Exploring Expedition, 1838-1842
In
one very important way, the work of the United States Exploring
Expedition was only beginning when the ships returned to Washington
after almost four years at sea. In addition to Captain Wilkes
himself who recorded ocean and weather data and surveyed island
groups and coastlines, the Expedition had carried a civilian group
of scientists who had collected specimens, artifacts, and observations
through the whole voyage. Called the "scientific corps,"
or just the "scientifics," they were Horatio Hale, ethnographer
& linguist; Charles Pickering and Titian R. Peale, naturalists;
J.P. Couthouy, conchologist; James D. Dana, mineralogist; William
Rich and William D. Brackenridge, botanists; and Alfred T. Agate
and Joseph Drayton, artists.
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