Measuring & Mapping - Overview
Where, how far, and how much? People have invented an astonishing array of devices to answer seemingly simple questions like these. Measuring and mapping objects in the Museum's collections include the instruments of the famous—Thomas Jefferson's thermometer and a pocket compass used by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark on their expedition across the American West. A timing device was part of the pioneering motion studies of Eadweard Muybridge in the late 1800s. Time measurement is represented in clocks from simple sundials to precise chronometers for mapping, surveying, and finding longitude. Everyday objects tell part of the story, too, from tape measures and electrical meters to more than 300 scales to measure food and drink. Maps of many kinds fill out the collections, from railroad surveys to star charts.
"Measuring & Mapping - Overview" showing 5 items.
Lewis and Clark Expedition Pocket Compass
- Description
- In the spring of 1803, Meriwether Lewis began to purchase scientific and mathematical instruments for a pending expedition into the northwestern region of North America. Among the items he purchased from Philadelphia instrument maker Thomas Whitney were three pocket compasses for $2.50 each, and this silver-plated pocket compass for $5. It has a mahogany box, a silver-plated brass rim that is graduated to degrees and numbered in quadrants from north and south, a paper dial, two small brass sight vanes, and a leather carrying case. Whether Lewis purchased the silver compass for himself or intended it as a special gesture for William Clark is not known.
- Following the instructions of President Thomas Jefferson, the Corps of Discovery, under the leadership of Lewis and Clark, ascended the Missouri River in May 1804 to obtain detailed information on the natural resources of the region, to search for a northwest passage, and to make official diplomatic contact with Indian leaders.
- By the time they returned to St. Louis in September 1806, few of the instruments that were purchased for the trip had survived the journey. The pocket compass, however, was kept by Clark as a memento. He later gave the compass to his friend, Capt. Robert A. McCabe, whose heirs donated it in 1933 to the Smithsonian Institution.
- Date made
- ca 1804
- user
- Clark, William
- maker
- Whitney, Thomas
- ID Number
- PL*038366
- catalog number
- 38366
- accession number
- 122864
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Chromolithograph of bird species "Phalacrocorax Brasilianus"
- Description
- Thomas Sinclair (c.1805–1881) of Philadelphia printed this lithograph of “Phalacrocorax brasilianus [GM]” or Neotropic cormorant, from an original sketch by William Dreser (c.1820–after 1860) of Philadelphia (1847–1860) and New York (1860). The illustration was printed in 1855 by A.O.P. Nicholson in Washington, D.C. as Plate XXVIII in the “Birds” section of volume II of The United States Naval Astronomical Survey to the Southern Hemisphere, written by John Cassin (1813–1869).
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date of book publication
- 1855
- graphic artist
- Sinclair, Thomas
- original artist
- Dreser, William
- publisher
- United States Navy
- printer
- Nicholson, A. O. P.
- author
- Cassin, John
- Gilliss, James Melville
- ID Number
- 2008.0175.02
- accession number
- 2008.0175
- catalog number
- 2008.0175.02
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Chromolithograph of "Fort Massachusetts at the Foot of the Sierra Blanca Valley of San Luis"
- Description
- Thomas Sinclair (c.1805–1881) of Philadelphia printed this chromolithograph of “Fort Massachusetts at the Foot of the Sierra Blanca Valley of San Luis” originally drawn by R.H. Kern (1821–1853) of Philadelphia and drafted by John M. Stanley (1814–1872) of Detroit (1834–1840, 1864–1872) and Washington, D.C. (1850–1860). The illustration was printed in the “Report, by Lieutenant E. G. Beckwith, Third Artillery, upon the Route near the Thirty–Eighth and Thirty–Ninth Parallels, Explored by Captain J. W. Gunnison, Corps Topographical Engineers” of volume II of Reports of Explorations and Surveys, to ascertain the most practicable and economical route for a railroad from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean. The volume was printed in 1855 by Beverley Tucker in Washington, D.C.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1855
- engraver
- Stanley, John Mix
- artist
- Kern, Richard H.
- printer
- Sinclair, T.
- publisher
- U.S. War Department
- author
- Beckwith, Edward Griffin
- Gunnison, John Williams
- printer
- Tucker, Beverley
- publisher
- U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Topographic Command
- ID Number
- GA*10729.27
- accession number
- 1918.62261
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Lithograph of bird species "Ericornis Melanura and Scytalopus Fuscus"
- Description
- Thomas Sinclair (c.1805–1881) of Philadelphia printed this chromolithograph of “Ericornis melanura [Gray] adult and Scytalopus fuscus [Gould],” now "Chilia melanura" (Crag chilia), and "Scytalopus fuscus" (Dusky tapaculo), from an original sketch by William Dreser (c. 1820–after 1860) of Philadelphia (1847–1860) and New York (1860). The illustration was published in 1855 by A.O.P. Nicholson in Washington, D.C. as Plate XXI in the “Birds” section of volume II of The United States Naval Astronomical Survey to the Southern Hemisphere, written by John Cassin (1813–1869).
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date of book publication
- 1855
- graphic artist
- Sinclair, Thomas
- original artist
- Dreser, William
- printer
- Nicholson, A. O. P.
- publisher
- United States Navy
- author
- Cassin, John
- Gilliss, James Melville
- ID Number
- 2008.0175.05
- accession number
- 2008.0175
- catalog number
- 2008.0175.05
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Lithograph of "Indian Antiquities" pottery artifacts
- Description
- P.S. Duval and Company (c.1840s–1858) of Philadelphia printed this lithograph of “Indian Antiquities,” depicting South American woodenware, from an original sketch by John M. Stanley (1814–1872) of Detroit (1834–1840, 1864–1872) and Washington, D.C. (1850-1860). The illustration was published in 1855 by A.O.P. Nicholson in Washington, D.C. as Plate X in the “Indian remains” section of volume II of The United States Naval Astronomical Survey to the Southern Hemisphere, written by Thomas Ewbank (1792–1870).
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1855
- original artist
- Wallis, O. J.
- Dreser, William
- Herbst, Francis
- graphic artist
- Sinclair, Thomas
- Dougal, William H.
- Duval, Peter S.
- printer
- Nicholson, A. O. P.
- publisher
- United States Navy
- original artist
- Richard, John H.
- Stanley, John Mix
- Siebert, Selmar
- author
- Cassin, John
- Ewbank, Thomas
- Baird, Spencer Fullerton
- Gilliss, James Melville
- ID Number
- 2007.0204.01
- accession number
- 2007.0204
- catalog number
- 2007.0204.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center