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 675 items.
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Environmental Button
- Description
- This button was produced for a campaign against the Walt Disney Company, which planned to build a “history theme park” in rural Virginia in the 1990s. The park was opposed because of concerns about its environmental impact on the area.
- ID Number
- 1999.0248.79
- catalog number
- 1999.0248.79
- accession number
- 1999.0248
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Environmental Button
- Description
- The National Association of Audubon Societies was founded in 1905 to protect birds whose populations were being decimated by hunters for the plume (feather) trade. The organization was named after John James Audubon, a 19th century naturalist and artist who produced the book series Birds of America, published between 1827 and 1838. In 1940 the Association changed its name to the National Audubon Society, and since that time it has become engaged with a broad array of environmental concerns.
- ID Number
- 2003.0014.0143
- accession number
- 2003.0014
- catalog number
- 2003.0014.0143
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Environmental Button
- Description
- The universal symbol for recycling is shown on this button. The symbol, a mobius loop formed by three arrows, was designed as part of a contest in 1970 by University of Southern California student Gary Anderson.
- maker
- Badge-A-Minit
- ID Number
- 2003.0014.0273
- accession number
- 2003.0014
- catalog number
- 2003.0014.0273
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Environmental Button
- Description
- The slogan on this button can be taken two ways. It can be a warning that if we don’t recycle the millions of tons of trash we produce, we’ll be buried under it eventually. Or it can be taken as a tongue-in-cheek threat by the wearer, who’ll kill you if you don’t recycle. Either way it tells us where the wearer stands on the issue and invites comments.
- ID Number
- 2003.0014.0282
- accession number
- 2003.0014
- catalog number
- 2003.0014.0282
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Environmental Button
- Description
- Few episodes in United States history helped forge today’s culture of environmental awareness more than a controversial proposal to build dams within Grand Canyon National Park.
- The Grand Canyon’s unique beauty and immense scale have impressed generations of Americans, making the Northern Arizona landmark one of the nation’s most symbolically rich natural landscapes.
- The Canyon is formed by the Colorado River, a water system running from the Rocky Mountains into the Gulf of California. The Colorado is one of the largest sources of fresh water and hydro-electric power available to arid portions of the western United States. The river’s resources have been taxed by ever-increasing populations. Dams had already been built on much of the Colorado when the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation proposed erecting new dams within the Grand Canyon in the mid 1960s. The dams were proposed despite the Grand Canyon’s designation as a federally protected National Park (1919.)
- maker
- Big Ed's Buttons
- ID Number
- 2003.0014.0522
- accession number
- 2003.0014
- catalog number
- 2003.0014.0522
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Environmental Button
- Description
- Water is one of our most precious natural resources. Having a ready supply of water for drinking and irrigation is of paramount concern to society, even to those living in comparatively water rich regions such as New York City. This button was produced by the city’s Department of Environmental Protection to encourage water conservation.
- ID Number
- 2003.0014.0565
- catalog number
- 2003.0014.0565
- accession number
- 2003.0014
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Environmental Button
- Description
- Water is one of our most precious natural resources. Having a ready supply of water for drinking and irrigation is of paramount concern to society. Water conservation is a great concern to those living in arid regions of the western United States, such as Nevada, where this button was produced.
- ID Number
- 2003.0014.0571
- catalog number
- 2003.0014.0571
- accession number
- 2003.0014
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Environmental Button
- Description
- The National Wildlife Federation (NWF) produced this button for its 2001 annual meeting in Washington, D.C. The NWF was founded in 1936 amid widespread concern about declining waterfowl populations. It sought to educate citizens about wildlife conservation and natural resources management. As this button cleverly suggests, the NWF engages the federal government over these matters. For the last 40 years, the NWF has been the nation’s largest conservation organization.
- ID Number
- 2003.0014.0777
- catalog number
- 2003.0014.0777
- accession number
- 2003.0014
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Environmental Button
- Description
- On March 24, 1989 the oil tanker Exxon Valdez ran aground in Prince William Sound, off the coast of Alaska. Almost 11 million gallons of crude oil spilled into the sea, the largest oil spill in United States history. The resulting oil slick contaminated 1,300 miles of coastline and killed over 200,000 sea birds and sea mammals such as otters, seals, and killer whales. The clean-up cost over 2.2 billion dollars.
- Environmental disasters are often used to galvanize public support for reform; the Exxon Valdez accident is a perfect example. This button was produced to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the event.
- maker
- Badge-A-Minit
- ID Number
- 2003.0014.0831
- accession number
- 2003.0014
- catalog number
- 2003.0014.0831
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Environmental Button
- Description
- In 1982 eight grassroots activist groups concerned with coastal issues banded together to form the nonprofit North Carolina Coastal Federation. They saw a need for a clearer vision of long-term coastal management. The establishment of wetland water quality standards and the restoration of estuaries were just two of the concerns addressed by this group.
- ID Number
- 2003.0014.0836
- catalog number
- 2003.0014.0836
- accession number
- 2003.0014
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
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