Natural Resources

Lithograph of

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.

Place: District of Columbia

Engraved woodblock of a “Fault with thrown beds flexed upward”

This engraved woodblock of a “Fault with thrown beds flexed upward” was prepared by the Government Printing Office in Washington, D.C.; the print was published in 1875 as Figure 71 (p.184) in Report of the Exploration of the Colorado River of the West and Its Tributaries.
Description
This engraved woodblock of a “Fault with thrown beds flexed upward” was prepared by the Government Printing Office in Washington, D.C.; the print was published in 1875 as Figure 71 (p.184) in Report of the Exploration of the Colorado River of the West and Its Tributaries. Explored in 1869, 1870, 1871, and 1872, under the direction of the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution by John Wesley Powell (1834-1902).
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1875
1875
printer
Government Printing Office
publisher
Bureau of American Ethnology
author
Powell, John Wesley
ID Number
1980.0219.0101
catalog number
1980.0219.0101
accession number
1980.0219

Environmental Button

Several types of renewable energy sources are available as alternatives to non-renewable, carbon-based fuels. This button advocates the use of solar energy to generate electricity.
Description (Brief)
Several types of renewable energy sources are available as alternatives to non-renewable, carbon-based fuels. This button advocates the use of solar energy to generate electricity. It was distributed in 1978 by Solar Action, the Washington, D.C.-based organization that helped to organize Sun Day (3 May 1978.) For many people, the 1970s energy crisis was a call to action to change how electricity was generated and used. Making the choice to “go solar”—and encouraging others to do the same—reflected growing optimism about the potential of clean, accessible solar energy.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1978
maker
Edward Horn Co.
ID Number
2003.0014.0400
accession number
2003.0014
catalog number
2003.0014.0400

Environmental Button

The Healthy Harvest Society is a clearinghouse for information about organizations, groups, and individuals in the fields of sustainable agriculture and horticulture. It publishes a yearly directory and a geographical index of resources.
Description
The Healthy Harvest Society is a clearinghouse for information about organizations, groups, and individuals in the fields of sustainable agriculture and horticulture. It publishes a yearly directory and a geographical index of resources. The Society produced this button for the 20th anniversary of Earth Day, held in 1990.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1990
maker
Adspecs Inc.
ID Number
1992.3134.043
catalog number
1992.3134.043
nonaccession number
1992.3134

Bill, Boob McNutt, and Boob McNutt's Geography

Camera-ready pen and ink drawings by Rube Goldberg for his comic series Bill, Boob McNutt, and Boob McNutt's Geography dated June 10, 1934.
Description
Camera-ready pen and ink drawings by Rube Goldberg for his comic series Bill, Boob McNutt, and Boob McNutt's Geography dated June 10, 1934. Goldberg drew for the Bill series between 1931 and 1934, for the Boob McNutt series between 1915 and 1934, and for the Boob McNutt's Geography series in 1934.
Bill tries to promote his product Thinneroo to overweight baseball players and inadvertently causes the batter's bat to become thinner and to break. Boob McNutt's Jelly Roll Bus Line takes passengers to what he thinks is Washington, D.C. Boob's Geography comic cell gives clues to the identity of a U.S. state.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
June 10, 1934
publisher
Star Company
original artist
Goldberg, Rube
ID Number
2006.0226.41
catalog number
2006.0226.41
accession number
2006.0226

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