Natural Resources

The natural resources collections offer centuries of evidence about how Americans have used the bounty of the American continent and coastal waters. Artifacts related to flood control, dam construction, and irrigation illustrate the nation's attempts to manage the natural world. Oil-drilling, iron-mining, and steel-making artifacts show the connection between natural resources and industrial strength.

Forestry is represented by saws, axes, a smokejumper's suit, and many other objects. Hooks, nets, and other gear from New England fisheries of the late 1800s are among the fishing artifacts, as well as more recent acquisitions from the Pacific Northwest and Chesapeake Bay. Whaling artifacts include harpoons, lances, scrimshaw etchings in whalebone, and several paintings of a whaler's work at sea. The modern environmental movement has contributed buttons and other protest artifacts on issues from scenic rivers to biodiversity.

This pen-and-ink comic art drawing by Rube Goldberg from 1924 features the concept of using “windy” political speeches as free energy.Rube Goldberg (1883-1970) was an engineer before he was a comic artist.
Description (Brief)
This pen-and-ink comic art drawing by Rube Goldberg from 1924 features the concept of using “windy” political speeches as free energy.
Rube Goldberg (1883-1970) was an engineer before he was a comic artist. After receiving an engineering degree, he started his career designing sewers for the City of San Francisco, but then followed his other interest and took a job as a sports cartoonist for the San Francisco Chronicle. After moving to New York in 1907 Goldberg worked for several newspapers, producing a number of short-lived strips and panels—many of which were inspired by his engineering background, including his renowned invention cartoons. In the late 1930s and 1940s he switched his focus to editorial and political cartoons and in 1945 founded the National Cartoonists Society. The Reuben, comic art’s most prestigious award, is named after him.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1924-10-31
original artist
Goldberg, Rube
ID Number
GA.23492
catalog number
23492
accession number
299186
Torsion balances are used to measure weak natural forces. Torsion balances generally consist of a straight rod with masses attached to each end, suspended from a wire. It is then encased in metal to isolate it from temperature or wind disturbance.
Description
Torsion balances are used to measure weak natural forces. Torsion balances generally consist of a straight rod with masses attached to each end, suspended from a wire. It is then encased in metal to isolate it from temperature or wind disturbance. All mass near or far has an influence on the rod, but the wire resists this force and twists in the opposite direction, producing through its twisting the measurements of the forces imposed upon it.
The Humble Oil and Refining Co. purchased this photographic torsion balance in 1926—this was just four years after Americans began making gravimetric surveys for prospecting purposes—and used it for oil exploration in Texas, New Mexico, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama until the introduction of gravimeters in 1936. Although this instrument has no signature, it was probably made by Askania, in Friedenau, Germany. Askania opened a sales office in Houston, Texas in the 1920s.
The Schweydar Bamberg instrument is an Eötvös torsion balance with a photographic arrangement for recording the results automatically. The form was described in 1921 by Wilhelm Schweydar, a German geophysicist, and produced by Carl Bamberg. It was publicized in the United States by C. A. Heiland, a German geophysicist who worked for Askania in Houston and who taught at the Colorado School of Mines.
Ref: Askania Bulletin Geo 103E
W. Schweydar, "Die Photographische registrierende Eötvössche Torsionswage der Firma Carl Bamberg in Berlin-Friedenau," Zeitschrift fur Instrumentendekunde 41 (1921): 175-183.
C. A. Heiland, "Schweydar-Bamberg Types of Eötvös Torsion Balance" Bulletin of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists 10 (1926): 1201-1209.
C. A. Heiland, Directions for the Use of the Askania Torsion Balance (Houston, 1933).
date made
1926
maker
Askania
ID Number
AG.MHI-P-7680
catalog number
MHI-P-7680
accession number
230370
This photograph of a blue ash tree is one of forty-nine framed black and white photographic prints bequeathed to the Smithsonian by William F. Bucher of Washington, D.C.
Description
This photograph of a blue ash tree is one of forty-nine framed black and white photographic prints bequeathed to the Smithsonian by William F. Bucher of Washington, D.C. The collection represents a labor of love for Bucher, a cabinetmaker, who framed each photograph in wood of the same species as the tree depicted in the print. Bucher explained the philosophy behind his collection in a 1931 letter to the Museum: "'Old World' trees have gathered about them so much folklore and poetry, I thought it would be interesting to show by pictures and wood, that many of our American trees have attained by their own merits, an equal right to a place in the 'hall of fame.'"
The tree depicted in this photograph was located in Kentucky and the image was made by the United States Forest Service. The frame is solid ash. It was displayed with Bucher's other framed photographs of living trees in a special exhibition, Our Trees and their Woods at the United States National Museum in 1931. The collection stands as a romantic reminder of America's diverse forestry resources and landscapes in the early years of the 20th century.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1929
frame maker
Bucher, William F.
photographer
U.S. Department of Agriculture. Forest Service
ID Number
AG.115767.22
catalog number
AG*115767.22
accession number
115767
maker number
25
This photograph of Peirce Mill is one of forty-nine framed black and white photographic prints bequeathed to the Smithsonian by William F. Bucher of Washington, D.C. Bucher, a cabinetmaker, framed each photograph in wood of the same species as the tree depicted in the print.
Description (Brief)
This photograph of Peirce Mill is one of forty-nine framed black and white photographic prints bequeathed to the Smithsonian by William F. Bucher of Washington, D.C. Bucher, a cabinetmaker, framed each photograph in wood of the same species as the tree depicted in the print. The photos were displayed in a special exhibition, Our Trees and their Woods at the United States National Museum in 1931.
The oak tree depicted in this photograph was located by Peirce Mill in Rock Creek Park, and the image was made by William Bucher. The frame is made from oak taken from the sluice box of the mill that had been in the water for more than 100 years.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1927
frame maker
Bucher, William F.
photographer
Bucher, William F.
ID Number
AG.115767.19
catalog number
AG*115767.19
accession number
115767
maker number
22
This canvas miner’s cap has a leather lamp bracket secured to its front with six metal nails. Two union buttons attached to right side. A Lehigh Navigation Coal Company label is attached to the front of the cap.
Description (Brief)
This canvas miner’s cap has a leather lamp bracket secured to its front with six metal nails. Two union buttons attached to right side. A Lehigh Navigation Coal Company label is attached to the front of the cap. The larger button with the American Flag and numbers "11" and "1928" in center reads: "UNITED MINE WORKERS OF AMERICA / WORKERS UNION". The smaller button of red, white, and blue reads: "THRIFT ARMY / LIEUTENANT / CARBON CO. / SCHOOLS." The label has writing from the donor that reads “My first mine cap. / before safety helmet / with Working uniform button / to be worn to so[sic] that / member paid dues / that month.” The hat was owned by John Miller who lived on 160 West Church Avenue in Nesquehoning, Pennsylvania.
Location
Currently not on view
associated date
1928
ID Number
AG.MHI-MN-9457
catalog number
MHI-MN-9457
accession number
277980
This photograph of California redwoods is one of forty-nine framed black and white photographic prints bequeathed to the Smithsonian by William F. Bucher of Washington, D.C.
Description (Brief)
This photograph of California redwoods is one of forty-nine framed black and white photographic prints bequeathed to the Smithsonian by William F. Bucher of Washington, D.C. Bucher, a cabinetmaker, framed each photograph in wood of the same species as the tree depicted in the print. The photos were displayed in a special exhibition, Our Trees and their Woods at the United States National Museum in 1931.
The trees depicted in this photograph were located in California and the image was made by A. Gaskill, courtesy U.S. Forest Service. The frame is made of solid California redwood.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1929
frame maker
Bucher, William F.
photographer
U.S. Department of Agriculture. Forest Service
ID Number
AG.115767.38
catalog number
AG*115767.38
accession number
115767
maker number
41
These four photographs of pine trees are one of forty-nine framed black and white photographic prints bequeathed to the Smithsonian by William F. Bucher of Washington, D.C.
Description (Brief)
These four photographs of pine trees are one of forty-nine framed black and white photographic prints bequeathed to the Smithsonian by William F. Bucher of Washington, D.C. Bucher, a cabinetmaker, framed each photograph in wood of the same species as the tree depicted in the print. The photos were displayed in a special exhibition, Our Trees and their Woods at the United States National Museum in 1931.
The upper left photo shows a white pine tree in the Adirondack Mountains of New York that was taken by A. Varela. The upper right photo is a loblolly pine from North Carolina taken by “Lindsey.” The lower left photo is of a longleaf pine tree near Ocilla, Georgia taken by E. Block. The bottom right photo shows a balsam pine and white spruce that was taken by H.H. Chapman. All photographs come courtesy of the U.S. Forest Service. The frame is made from four woods; the top is made of white pine, the bottom is made of long leaf pine, the left hand side of common pine, and the right side is made of spruce.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1926
frame maker
Bucher, William F.
photographer
Bucher, William F.
U.S. Department of Agriculture. Forest Service
Lindsey
Varela, A.
Block, E.
ID Number
AG.115767.32
catalog number
AG*115767.32
accession number
115767
maker number
35

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