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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Alaska Ocean Coveralls
- Description
- Fish processors, laboratory staff, inspectors, supervisors, and others who work in the factory aboard the Alaska Ocean wear royal blue coveralls like these when on duty. These polyester coveralls are worn over other clothing to maintain standards of hygiene in the factory. Some processors change their coveralls several times during their daily 12-hour shift, which can extend to kicker shifts of an additional three hours. Because clean coveralls are always in demand, the factory’s laundry crew keeps the industrial washers and dryers running continuously. The coveralls, with the words Alaska Ocean emblazoned across the back, zip up the front and are typically worn tucked into boots.
- date made
- 2006
- Associated Date
- 2007
- used
- McFarland, Thelma
- maker
- Fristads
- ID Number
- 2007.0178.20
- catalog number
- 2007.0178.20
- accession number
- 2007.0178
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Framed Photograph of Peirce Mill
- 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
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Engraved woodblock of the "View of Marble Canyon (from the Vermillion Cliffs)"
- Description
- This engraved woodblock of a “View of Marble Canyon (from the Vermillion Cliffs)” was prepared by the Government Printing Office in Washington, D.C.; the image was published as Figure 63 (p.180) 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). The image depicts the “Colorado River [and] the Eastern Kaibab Displacements, appearing as folds [and] faults.”
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1875
- 1875
- publisher
- Bureau of American Ethnology
- printer
- Government Printing Office
- author
- Powell, John Wesley
- graphic artist
- Nichols, H. H.
- block maker
- V. W. & Co.
- ID Number
- 1980.0219.1355
- catalog number
- 1980.0219.1355
- accession number
- 1980.0219
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Rain Pants
- maker
- Dutch Harbor Gear
- ID Number
- 2007.0178.10
- catalog number
- 2007.0178.10
- accession number
- 2007.0178
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Chromolithograph of "Metamorphic Rocks-Borders of the Desert"
- Description
- This chromolithograph of “Metamorphic Rocks — Borders of the Desert” was originally drawn by William P. Blake (1826–1910), the mineralogist and geologist of the expedition. It was printed as "Geology Plate XIII" in the geological report of volume V of Reports of Explorations and Surveys, to ascertain the most practicable and economical route for a railroad from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean, “Routes in California, to Connect with the Routes near the Thirty–Fifth and Thirty–Second Parallels, Explored by Lieutenant R. S. Williamson, Corps of Topographical Engineers, in 1853” by William P. Blake. The volume was printed in 1857 by Beverley Tucker in Washington, D.C.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1856
- publisher
- U.S. War Department
- printer
- Tucker, Beverley
- graphic artist
- unknown
- original artist
- Koppel, Charles
- author
- Blake, William Phipps
- Williamson, Robert Stockton
- publisher
- U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Topographic Command
- original artist
- Koppel, Charles
- ID Number
- GA.10729.37
- accession number
- 62261
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Framed Photograph of an Andaman Padauk Tree
- Description (Brief)
- This photograph of an Andaman padauk tree 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.
- This photo was taken by the Forest Research Institute in Dehra Dun, India. The frame has a veneer made of Andaman padauk on a tulip poplar back, the glass bead is satin wood and the back bead is stained black Andaman padauk.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1908
- 1932
- frame maker
- Bucher, William F.
- photographer
- Forest Research Institute
- ID Number
- AG.124450.02
- catalog number
- AG*124450.02
- accession number
- 124450
- maker number
- 14
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Engraved woodblock of "Light House Rock in the Canyon of Desolation"
- Description
- This engraved woodblock of “Light House Rock in the Canyon of Desolation” was prepared by Henry Hobart Nichols (1838-1887) and the Government Printing Office in Washington, D.C.; the print was published in 1875 as Figure 17 (p.49) 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
- graphic artist
- Nichols, H. H.
- ID Number
- 1980.0219.0068
- accession number
- 1980.0219
- catalog number
- 1980.0219.0068
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Framed Photograph of American Linden
- Description (Brief)
- This photograph of an American linden 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 tree depicted in this photograph was located on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., and the image was made by William Bucher. The frame is made of linden wood.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1929
- frame maker
- Bucher, William F.
- photographer
- Bucher, William F.
- ID Number
- AG.115767.35
- catalog number
- AG*115767.35
- accession number
- 115767
- maker number
- 38
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Engraved woodblock of "Climbing the Grand Canyon"
- Description
- This engraved woodblock of “Climbing the Grand Canyon” was prepared by F. S. King and the Government Printing Office in Washington, D.C.; the print was published in 1875 on page 98 of John Wesley Powell's 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. Thomas Moran (1837-1926) was the original artist.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1875
- 1875
- publisher
- Bureau of American Ethnology
- printer
- Government Printing Office
- author
- Powell, John Wesley
- original artist
- Moran, Thomas
- graphic artist
- King, Francis Scott
- maker
- V. W. & Co.
- ID Number
- 1980.0219.0474
- accession number
- 1980.0219
- catalog number
- 1980.0219.0474
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Factory Processor’s Gloves
- Description
- Despite automation of basic fish processing functions like gutting and filleting, there is still a lot of handwork to be done aboard a factory trawler like the Alaska Ocean. And work around cold water, fresh fish, and heavy machinery means that gloves are a crucial part of a factory worker’s outfit.
- These heavy vinyl gloves were worn by a female fish processor during the summer fishing season in 2007. An estimated 1200 to 1400 pairs of these gloves were being used, cleaned, and reused aboard the Alaska Ocean in 2007.
- In addition to these heavy work gloves, the onboard laundry operation oversaw the distribution of 5,000 pairs of lighter rubber gloves, 800 pairs of cotton gloves, and 1200 pairs of wool gloves. The crew working in the freezer hold, known as the “pain cave,” wore thick, insulated gloves, and lab workers used disposable gloves when conducting tests on products for quality control.
- date made
- 2007
- worn
- 2007
- ID Number
- 2007.0178.16
- catalog number
- 2007.0178.16
- accession number
- 2007.0178
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Engraved woodblock of an "Australian grave and carved trees"
- Description
- This engraved woodblock of an “Australian grave and carved trees” was prepared by the Government Printing Office in Washington, D.C.; the image was published as Figure 37 (p.76) in an article by Garrick Mallery (1831-1894) entitled “Pictographs of the North American Indians: a preliminary paper” in the Fourth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian, 1882-83.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1886
- publisher
- Bureau of American Ethnology
- printer
- Government Printing Office
- author
- Mallery, Garrick
- block maker
- J. J. & Co.
- ID Number
- 1980.0219.1206
- catalog number
- 1980.0219.1206
- accession number
- 1980.0219
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Factory Processor’s Apron
- Description
- This vinyl bib apron was worn by fish processor Thelma McFarland over her coveralls and rain pants during her work shifts aboard the factory trawler Alaska Ocean in the summer of 2007. Processors like McFarland stand at long tables or conveyor belts and encounter considerable water and fish parts as they work. Processors typically wear aprons of one sort of another for protection.
- Although the on-board laundry crew takes care of cleaning workers’ coveralls, rain pants, gloves, and plastic sleeves, each worker is responsible for cleaning his or her apron. McFarland, who is about 5 feet tall, adjusted her apron to suit her small frame by cutting off the lower portion. She also personalized it by writing her name in permanent marker across the bib.
- date made
- 2007
- used
- 2007
- used
- McFarland, Thelma
- ID Number
- 2007.0178.18
- catalog number
- 2007.0178.18
- accession number
- 2007.0178
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Ship Model, Containership Emma Mærsk
- Description
- At launching in 2006, the Emma Mærsk was the world’s largest containership, a distinction held until her seven sister ships Estelle, Ebba, Edith, Eleonora, Elly, Evelyn, and Eugen Mærsk, were launched in 2007–08. Built at the Odense Steel Shipyard in Denmark, the ships are owned by the A. P. Moller-Maersk Group, the world’s largest global shipping company, whose beginnings date to 1904. Emma Mærsk is named for the late wife of Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller, the son of the company’s founder, who served as the CEO from 1965 to 1993 and on its board until 2003.
- Containers are standardized, reinforced steel boxes that can be packed with a wide array of products and materials and transported on ships, trains, and trucks. Loaded into the vast holds and onto the massive decks of containerships, they can be used time and again to carry goods between manufacturing centers and consumer markets around the world.
- As globalized commerce expanded in the last half of the 20th century and into the first years of the 21st, ocean carriers grew as well. The first containerships in the 1950s were adapted freighters, the largest of which could carry about 800—1,000 containers. The standard designation for containers is teus—twenty-equivalent-units—or containers measuring either 20 or 40 feet in length. Ships specially constructed in the 1970s to carry containers in cellular sections of the hold could carry between 1,000 and 2,500 teus.
- The third generation ships were built to the maximum size that could be accommodated by the Panama Canal, an important throughway on global shipping routes. Built in the 1980s, these ships, called Panamax vessels, could carry between three and four thousand teus. Subsequent generations—the Post Panamax vessels of the 1990s (4,000–5,000 teus) and the Post Panamax Plus ships built between 2000 and 2005 (5,000–8,000 teus)—are too large to travel through the Panama Canal. With the increasing volume of global shipping during this period, other ocean routes became more important, especially those connecting Asian ports with the U.S. West Coast. However, as containerships increased in size, the number of ports worldwide that could accommodate them also decreased.
- The Emma Mærsk represents the sixth generation of containership, also called the New Panamax class, because it will be able to travel through the new Panama Canal after it opens around 2014. The vessel, with a capacity of 11,000 teus, is the first to be launched in Maersk’s PS-class. The ship has a waste heat recovery system, which uses exhaust gasses to generate some of the electricity needed aboard the vessel. Its hull is also covered with silicone-based paint, which improves fuel efficiency. The Emma Mærsk entered service on the Europe to Asia route in 2006.
- date made
- 2007
- ship launched
- 2006
- late wife of founder and CEO of the company
- Maersk, Emma
- ship's namesake
- Maersk, Emma
- built the ship
- Odense Steel Shipyard
- maker
- Modelos Navales Riera, S.L.
- ID Number
- 2008.0039.01
- catalog number
- 2008.0039.01
- accession number
- 2008.0039
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Factory Processor’s Rain Pants
- Description
- Fish processors aboard trawlers like the Alaska Ocean wear waterproof pants over their coveralls and other clothing to protect themselves from the water and fish slime that are constant companions in the factory. This pair is dark blue, the same as those worn by deck hands. These pants are small and were worn by processor Thelma McFarland in the summer 2007 season.
- date made
- 2007
- used
- 2007
- used
- McFarland, Thelma
- maker
- Helly Hansen
- ID Number
- 2007.0178.21
- catalog number
- 2007.0178.21
- accession number
- 2007.0178
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Fisherman’s Boots
- Description
- Deck hands working aboard most commercial fishing vessels require protective clothing from head to toe. Non-slip, waterproof footwear is essential, and on the Alaska Ocean factory trawler, the deck hands, as well as the people who work in the factory, wear “Xtratuf” boots. Manufactured in the United States, these neoprene boots are made for “severe fishing, farm, and work conditions.” This pair was worn by a deck hand aboard the Alaska Ocean in summer of 2007.
- date made
- 2007
- 2006-2007
- Associated Date
- 2007
- maker
- Norcross Safety Products, L. L. C.
- ID Number
- 2007.0178.01
- accession number
- 2007.0178
- catalog number
- 2007.0178
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Engraved woodblock of "Marble Canyon"
- Description
- This engraved woodblock of "Marble Canyon” was prepared by engraver Edward Bookhout (1844-1886) and the Government Printing Office in Washington, D.C.; the print was published in 1875 as Figure 26 (p.77) 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). Thomas Moran (1837-1926) accompanied Powell on his expedition and drew the original image.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1875
- 1875
- original artist
- Moran, Thomas
- publisher
- Bureau of American Ethnology
- printer
- Government Printing Office
- author
- Powell, John Wesley
- graphic artist
- Bookhout, Edward
- block maker
- V. W. & Co.
- ID Number
- 1980.0219.0259
- catalog number
- 1980.0219.0259
- accession number
- 1980.0219
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Block Pan for Freezing Fish
- Description
- This shallow, metal pan was used for freezing processed fish aboard the factory trawler Alaska Ocean. Operating in the North Pacific and the Bering Sea, the Alaska Ocean is one vessel in the fleet that catches and processes pollock, hake, and whiting.
- In the factory the fish are gutted and filleted by German-made filleting machines, which can be calibrated to remove the bones and skin according to a customer’s preference. Onboard engineers adjust the angles of the knives within a quarter of a millimeter to provide a product with a small amount of fat, or no fat at all, depending on the customer’s specifications.
- After the initial filleting, workers in the factory load pans like this with fish fillets, fish roe, or minced fish. A conveyor belt carries the filled pans to other workers who load them into plate freezers. After about two hours, when the freezing is complete, the pans are unloaded from the freezer, and the blocks of frozen fish are removed and packed for shipment. The packed blocks of product are stacked in the ship’s large freezer hold until they can be offloaded ashore.
- The Alaska Ocean carries two sizes of pans, a block pan like this and a slightly larger size for surimi, a type of fish paste used in making imitation crabmeat. The vessel carries a total of 2800 pans, 1400 of each size. The factory has 16 plate freezers aboard, 8 for single pans and 8 for doubles. A single-pan plate freezer can hold 102 surimi pans and 119 block pans at a time.
- The wax lining in this pan facilitates removing the frozen product. This one is marked “M” for mince, a ground fish product used in making fish sticks and fish fingers.
- date made
- 2000-2005
- Associated Date
- 2007
- ID Number
- 2007.0178.29
- catalog number
- 2007.0178.29
- accession number
- 2007.0178
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Lithograph of "Indian Antiquities" pottery artifacts
- Description
- P.S. Duval and Company (c.1840s–1858) of Philadelphia printed this lithograph of “Indian Antiquities,” depicting South American woodenware, from an original sketch by John M. Stanley (1814–1872) of Detroit (1834–1840, 1864–1872) and Washington, D.C. (1850-1860). The illustration was published in 1855 by A.O.P. Nicholson in Washington, D.C. as Plate X in the “Indian remains” section of volume II of The United States Naval Astronomical Survey to the Southern Hemisphere, written by Thomas Ewbank (1792–1870).
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1855
- original artist
- Wallis, O. J.
- Dreser, William
- Herbst, Francis
- graphic artist
- Sinclair, Thomas
- Dougal, William H.
- Duval, Peter S.
- printer
- Nicholson, A. O. P.
- publisher
- United States Navy
- original artist
- Richard, John H.
- Stanley, John Mix
- Siebert, Selmar
- author
- Cassin, John
- Ewbank, Thomas
- Baird, Spencer Fullerton
- Gilliss, James Melville
- ID Number
- 2007.0204.01
- accession number
- 2007.0204
- catalog number
- 2007.0204.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Chromolithograph of "Mirage on the Colorado Desert"
- Description
- This chromolithograph of “Mirage on the Colorado Desert” was originally drawn by William P. Blake (1826–1910), the mineralogist and geologist of the expedition. It was printed as "Geology, Plate XII" in the geological report of the second part of volume V of Reports of Explorations and Surveys, to ascertain the most practicable and economical route for a railroad from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean, “Routes in California, to Connect with the Routes near the Thirty–Fifth and Thirty–Second Parallels, Explored by Lieutenant R. S. Williamson, Corps of Topographical Engineers, in 1853” by William P. Blake. The volume was printed in 1857 by Beverley Tucker in Washington, D.C.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1856
- publisher
- U.S. War Department
- printer
- Tucker, Beverley
- expedition leader
- Williamson, Robert Stockton
- author
- Blake, William Phipps
- original artist
- Blake, William Phipps
- graphic artist
- unknown
- publisher
- U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Topographic Command
- ID Number
- GA.10729.32
- accession number
- 62261
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Factory Processor’s Bump Hat
- Description
- The factory inside a large trawler like the Alaska Ocean is filled with equipment for filleting, processing, freezing, and packing enormous quantities of fish. Workers are trained in safety procedures and also wear protective headgear and earplugs as they work. While not required to wear certified safety helmets like the fishermen on the weather deck, they wear bump hats molded from high-density polyethylene for protection from minor bumps and bruises.
- This yellow bump hat was worn by Thelma McFarland, a fish processor, who was working her third season aboard the Alaska Ocean in 2007. She wore it over a disposable hairnet, which covered and held her hair in place, a requirement for maintaining sanitary conditions in the factory. There are typically four factory shifts, and the bump hats are color-coded according to each shift—blue for A, yellow for B, green for C, and orange for D shift. The color-coding allows managers to quickly assess the number of workers that will be needed on extra kicker shifts. The lead managers in each area wear red bump hats.
- date made
- 2007
- Associated Date
- 2007
- used
- McFarland, Thelma
- maker
- Bullard
- ID Number
- 2007.0178.13
- catalog number
- 2007.0178.13
- accession number
- 2007.0178
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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