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.
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Holidays 1939-1949
- Description (Brief)
- photo album with soiled, cream colored leather cover with "Photo Album" on front and a sticker that reads "Holidays 1939-1949'; black paper pages; photographs and postcards, most adhered to page using black photo corners; travel to florida, new york; beach; Belonged to Patricia Anne Cohen, formerly actor Patricia English
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1939-1949
- ID Number
- 2017.0225.0003
- accession number
- 2017.0225
- catalog number
- 2017.0225.0003
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
certified proof
- Crowdsourcing
- Transcribed by Smithsonian digital volunteers
- Location
- Currently not on view
- BEP certification date
- 1909-02-18
- plate date
- 1902-02-11
- series date
- 1902
- issuing authority
- U.S. Department of the Treasury
- Treasurer of the United States
- Roberts, Ellis Henry
- Register of the Treasury
- Lyons, Judson Whitlocke
- issuing bank
- Fauquier National Bank of Warrenton
- depicted
- McKinley, William
- McCulloch, Hugh
- manufacturer
- Bureau of Engraving and Printing
- ID Number
- NU.297219.042955
- catalog number
- 297219.042955
- accession number
- 297219
- bank charter number
- 6126
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
5 Dollars, Confederate States of America, 1862
- Description
- Between the winter of 1860 and the spring of 1861, eleven Southern states broke away from the United States to form a new country, the Confederate States of America (CSA). As a fledgling nation, the Confederacy faced two obstacles: to create a sense of national unity and to arm its troops to wage a modern war. Money connected both issues—it would celebrate the new nation and finance the war. On March 9, 1861, the CSA authorized a national currency.
- Between 1861 and 1865, the new government issued Confederate currency on eight separate occasions. Each issuance pumped millions of dollars into circulation. Counterfeiters added to the deluge with freshly made fakes. The result was a staggering amount of paper money and massive inflation. The CSA responded to the problem by recalling, cancelling, and burning old notes to remove them from circulation. The first official recall on February 17th, 1864, came after two years of less harsh—but unsuccessful—efforts to reduce the volume of currency in circulation.
- The problem of what to do with all of the recalled money fell to the Confederate Treasury Department, which enlisted the help of banks and depositories. Historian and numismatist Douglas Ball identified three primary strategies used to cancel currency. Machine-powered circular punches were preferred by the Treasury, while banks canceled currency by striking it with bank hammers, which left two x-shaped slices on the note. Depositories also used bank hammers, but sometimes opted to cut the notes with scissors, leaving two small triangles along the bottom edge.
- Once cancelled, all notes were sent to the Confederate Treasury in Richmond, Virginia, to be burned. Some notes escaped destruction. At war’s end, the Union Army confiscated the notes along with Confederate government records to investigate a possible connection between the Confederacy and President Abraham Lincoln’s assassination.
- Today, researchers examine Confederate Currency seeking clues about the economic, social, and technological underpinnings of the South during the Civil War. Smithsonian curator and historian Richard Doty has discovered physical evidence of some of the extraordinary measures people undertook to keep their money in circulation. Stitches, postage stamps, pieces of newsprint, and even fragments of love letters were used to reinforce torn notes.
- The careful repair of Confederate currency was done for reasons that had nothing to do with simple economics. Money has always been seen as an emblem of sovereignty. So if people simply allowed their money to disintegrate –and some must have been tempted in that direction, as the value of their money had shrunk almost to the vanishing point by the final months of the war– what did that say about their belief in the Cause?
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1862
- ID Number
- 1998.0063.0694
- accession number
- 1998.0063
- catalog number
- 1998.0063.0694
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Confederate States
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1976 - 1981
- engraver
- Williams, Gary
- maker
- Hanover Brass Foundry
- ID Number
- 1985.3020.045
- catalog number
- 1985.3020.045
- nonaccession number
- 1985.3020
- catalog number
- 85206M
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Sergeant's Shampoo Soap
- Description
- The indications or uses for this product as provided by the manufacturer are:
- Soap for Scalp and Hair
- Location
- Currently not on view
- maker
- Polk Miller Products Corp.
- ID Number
- 1980.0698.115
- accession number
- 1980.0698
- catalog number
- 1980.0698.115
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
5 Dollars, Confederate States of America, 1862
- Description
- Between the winter of 1860 and the spring of 1861, eleven Southern states broke away from the United States to form a new country, the Confederate States of America (CSA). As a fledgling nation, the Confederacy faced two obstacles: to create a sense of national unity and to arm its troops to wage a modern war. Money connected both issues—it would celebrate the new nation and finance the war. On March 9, 1861, the CSA authorized a national currency.
- Between 1861 and 1865, the new government issued Confederate currency on eight separate occasions. Each issuance pumped millions of dollars into circulation. Counterfeiters added to the deluge with freshly made fakes. The result was a staggering amount of paper money and massive inflation. The CSA responded to the problem by recalling, cancelling, and burning old notes to remove them from circulation. The first official recall on February 17th, 1864, came after two years of less harsh—but unsuccessful—efforts to reduce the volume of currency in circulation.
- The problem of what to do with all of the recalled money fell to the Confederate Treasury Department, which enlisted the help of banks and depositories. Historian and numismatist Douglas Ball identified three primary strategies used to cancel currency. Machine-powered circular punches were preferred by the Treasury, while banks canceled currency by striking it with bank hammers, which left two x-shaped slices on the note. Depositories also used bank hammers, but sometimes opted to cut the notes with scissors, leaving two small triangles along the bottom edge.
- Once cancelled, all notes were sent to the Confederate Treasury in Richmond, Virginia, to be burned. Some notes escaped destruction. At war’s end, the Union Army confiscated the notes along with Confederate government records to investigate a possible connection between the Confederacy and President Abraham Lincoln’s assassination.
- Today, researchers examine Confederate Currency seeking clues about the economic, social, and technological underpinnings of the South during the Civil War. Smithsonian curator and historian Richard Doty has discovered physical evidence of some of the extraordinary measures people undertook to keep their money in circulation. Stitches, postage stamps, pieces of newsprint, and even fragments of love letters were used to reinforce torn notes.
- The careful repair of Confederate currency was done for reasons that had nothing to do with simple economics. Money has always been seen as an emblem of sovereignty. So if people simply allowed their money to disintegrate –and some must have been tempted in that direction, as the value of their money had shrunk almost to the vanishing point by the final months of the war– what did that say about their belief in the Cause?
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1862
- ID Number
- 1998.0063.0685
- accession number
- 1998.0063
- catalog number
- 1998.0063.0685
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
jar
- Location
- Currently not on view
- ID Number
- CE.393210
- catalog number
- 393210
- accession number
- 208457
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
La Ballata Dei XIV Giorni Di Masaniello
- Location
- Currently not on view
- referenced
- Bread and Puppet Theater
- ID Number
- 2018.3010.018
- nonaccession number
- 2018.3010
- catalog number
- 2018.3010.018
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
portrait of woman in window
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- after 1907
- ID Number
- 1986.3048.1382
- nonaccession number
- 1986.3048
- catalog number
- 1986.3048.1382
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Georgia State Militia
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1976 - 1981
- engraver
- Williams, Gary
- maker
- Hanover Brass Foundry
- ID Number
- 1985.3020.098
- catalog number
- 1985.3020.098
- nonaccession number
- 1985.3020
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Sergeant's Intestinal Astringent for Dogs
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- c.1926+
- maker
- Polk Miller Products Corp.
- ID Number
- 1985.0460.167
- accession number
- 1985.0460
- catalog number
- 1985.0460.167
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Steamer "Dixie" Chesapeake Bay Trip to Seaside Park, Md.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- after 1907
- ID Number
- 1986.3048.1642
- nonaccession number
- 1986.3048
- catalog number
- 1986.3048.1642
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
I May Never Pass This Way Again
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1957
- depicted (sitter)
- Earl, Robert
- Lotis, Dennis
- Mason, Glen
- lyricist; composer
- Melsher, Irving
- maker
- Chappell and Co.
- ID Number
- 2018.3010.178
- nonaccession number
- 2018.3010
- catalog number
- 2018.3010.178
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Korak Son of Tarzan No. 52
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1973-06
- maker
- National Periodical Publications, Inc.
- ID Number
- 2018.3010.093
- nonaccession number
- 2018.3010
- catalog number
- 2018.3010.093
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
certified proof
- Crowdsourcing
- Transcribed by Smithsonian digital volunteers
- Location
- Currently not on view
- BEP certification date
- 1909-03-08
- plate date
- 1904-06-07
- series date
- 1902
- issuing authority
- U.S. Department of the Treasury
- Treasurer of the United States
- Roberts, Ellis Henry
- Register of the Treasury
- Lyons, Judson Whitlocke
- issuing bank
- Mount Jackson National Bank
- depicted
- McKinley, William
- McCulloch, Hugh
- manufacturer
- Bureau of Engraving and Printing
- ID Number
- NU.297219.042755
- catalog number
- 297219.042755
- accession number
- 297219
- bank charter number
- 3209
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Fir Tree, Blue Ridge Mountains
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1955
- maker
- Erwitt, Elliott
- ID Number
- PG.72.13.71
- accession number
- 2001.0310
- catalog number
- 72.13.71
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Ambition: America's Moral Strength
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1961
- associated dates
- 1961 01 01+ / 1961 01 01+, 1961 12 31- / 1961 12 31-
- associated date
- 1966 - 1973
- printer
- U.S. Government Printing Office
- ID Number
- 1979.0219.005
- catalog number
- 1979.0219.005
- accession number
- 1979.0219
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
certified proof
- Crowdsourcing
- Transcribed by Smithsonian digital volunteers
- Location
- Currently not on view
- BEP certification date
- 1908-11-28
- plate date
- 1895-04-13
- issuing authority
- U.S. Department of the Treasury
- Treasurer of the United States
- Morgan, Daniel Nash
- Register of the Treasury
- Tillman, James Fount
- issuing bank
- First National Bank of Lexington
- manufacturer
- Bureau of Engraving and Printing
- ID Number
- NU.297219.042805
- catalog number
- 297219.042805
- accession number
- 297219
- bank charter number
- 4314
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Pot
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1820 - 1830
- ID Number
- DL.64.0110
- catalog number
- 64.0110
- accession number
- 251851
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
View of a Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia
- Description
- Glass plate negative made by Walter J. Hussey, circa 1890. The Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia with trees, a fence, and graves with the names 'Neal' and 'Walker'.
- The collection in the Photographic History Collection consists of over two hundred glass plate negatives made by Walter J. Hussey (1865-1959). These glass plate negatives consist of daily life in and around Mount Pleasant, Ohio, Mr. Hussey's friends and family, studio portraits, his trips to the Washington, D.C. area, and Florida.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1890
- maker
- Hussey, Walter J.
- ID Number
- 2011.0090.11
- accession number
- 2011.0090
- catalog number
- 2011.0090.11
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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