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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Environmental Button
- 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
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Environmental Button
- 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
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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