Natural Resources - Overview
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.
"Natural Resources - Overview" showing 15 items.
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Engraved printing plate "Pleiodus strigirostris"
- Description
- William H. Dougal (1822–1895) of New York and Washington, D.C., (after 1844) engraved this copper printing plate after a drawing by Expedition Naturalist Titian Ramsey Peale. The image depicts the Pleiodus strigirostris (now Didunculus strigirostris, Tooth billed pigeon or Samoan Pigeon). The engraved illustration was published as Plate 34 in Volume VIII, Mammalogy and Ornithology, by John Cassin, 1858.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1858
- publisher
- Wilkes, Charles
- original artist
- Peale, Titian Ramsay
- graphic artist
- Dougal, William H.
- printer
- Sherman, Conger
- author
- Cassin, John
- ID Number
- 1999.0145.414
- catalog number
- 1999.0145.414
- accession number
- 1999.0145
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Engraved printing plate "Scolopax meridionalis, Zaporina umbrina"
- Description
- William H. Dougal (1822–1895) of New York and Washington, D.C. (after 1844) engraved this copper printing plate after drawings by William E. Hitchcock. The image depicts the Scolopax meridionalis (now Galinago shicklandii, or Cordilleran snipe) and Zapornia umbrina (now Porzana porzana, or Spotted Crake). The engraved illustration was published as Plate 35 in Volume VIII, Mammalogy and Ornithology, by John Cassin, 1858.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1858
- publisher
- Wilkes, Charles
- original artist
- Hitchcock, W. E.
- graphic artist
- Dougal, William H.
- printer
- Sherman, Conger
- author
- Cassin, John
- maker
- Peale, Titian Ramsay
- ID Number
- 1999.0145.415
- catalog number
- 1999.0145.415
- accession number
- 1999.0145
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Engraved printing plate "Procellaria nivea"
- Description
- The firm of Rawdon, Wright, Hatch and Edson (1830s–1850s) of New York City prepared this copper printing plate after a drawing by Expedition Naturalist Titian Ramsey Peale. It depicts the Procellaria nivea (now Pagodroma nivea or Snow Petrel). The engraved illustration was published as Plate 42 in Volume VIII, Mammalogy and Ornithology, by John Cassin, 1858.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1858
- publisher
- Wilkes, Charles
- original artist
- Peale, Titian Ramsay
- graphic artist
- Rawdon, Wright, Hatch and Edson
- printer
- Sherman, Conger
- author
- Cassin, John
- maker
- Peale, Titian Ramsay
- ID Number
- 1999.0145.422
- accession number
- 1999.0145
- catalog number
- 1999.0145.422
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Lithographic printing stone "Australian Fossils Pl. 4"
- Description
- The firm of Sarony & Major of Philadelphia, working between 1846 and 1857, prepared this lithographic printing stone after a drawing by Expedition Mineralogist James Dwight Dana (1813–1895) depicting Australian fossils. The lithographic illustration was published as Plate 4 in U.S. Exploring Expedition Volume X, Geology, by James D. Dana, 1849.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1849
- publisher
- Wilkes, Charles
- original artist
- Dana, James Dwight
- graphic artist
- Sarony & Major
- printer
- Sherman, Conger
- ID Number
- 1999.0145.458
- accession number
- 1999.0145
- catalog number
- 1999.0145.458
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Lithographic printing stone "Australian Fossils, Plate 9"
- Description
- The firm of Sarony & Major of Philadelphia, working between 1846 and 1857, prepared this lithographic printing stone after a drawing by James Dwight Dana (1813–1895) depicting Australian fossils. The lithographic illustration was published as Plate 4 in U.S. Exploring Expedition publication Volume X, Geology, by James D. Dana, 1849.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1849
- publisher
- Wilkes, Charles
- original artist
- Dana, James Dwight
- graphic artist
- Sarony & Major
- printer
- Sherman, Conger
- ID Number
- 1999.0145.462
- accession number
- 1999.0145
- catalog number
- 1999.0145.462
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center