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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Whaler's Fluke Lance
- Description
- The most dangerous act in the dangerous business of whaling was “spading flukes.” The whaleboat drew up close alongside a desperate, unpredictable whale on the water surface, and a crewman used a boat spade or fluke lance to sever the whale’s tail tendons. This effectively immobilized the prey, for the whale couldn’t swim without its tail.
- According to James Temple Brown, who wrote the 1883 catalog of the Smithsonian’s whaling collection, the fluke lance was exceedingly rare and was regarded as “a monstrosity by all the fraternity”. This rare inscribed example was used aboard the starboard whaleboat of the bark Sea Fox.
- Date made
- ca 1880-1889
- authored whaling reference material
- Brown, James Temple
- maker
- Driggs, James D.
- ID Number
- TR.056358
- catalog number
- 056358
- accession number
- 012298
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Knife
- Description
- A knife was an essential tool on a whaleboat, where the quick cutting of a tangled line snagged on a man’s ankle or on an object in the boat could mean the difference between life or death.
- Date made
- 1880s
- ID Number
- TR.103026
- catalog number
- 103026
- accession number
- 12328
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Whaler's Shoulder or Darting Gun
- Description
- By the later 19th century, guns had replaced most hand harpoons and lances, since they were far more efficient and deadly to the prey. They also could be shot from a safer distance from the prey than the hand tools could be wielded. The darting gun was one of the more popular types. Loaded with different darts, this versatile weapon could be used both for harpooning and killing whales.
- This particular gun was displayed at the 1883 International Fisheries Exhibition in London, England. After the display ended, it was donated to the Smithsonian by its inventor, Capt. Eben Pierce of New Bedford, Mass.
- date made
- 1880s
- guns replaced hand tools
- late 19th century
- displayed at the International Fisheries Exhibition
- 1883
- maker
- Pierce, Eben
- ID Number
- TR.316550
- catalog number
- 316550
- accession number
- 66767
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Sewing Machine Sperm Oil
- Description
- Sperm whale oil is very light and fine, and it has a low freezing point. As a result, it was used to lubricate fine machinery such as clocks, watches, and sewing machines from colonial times into the 20th century.
- Date made
- 1870-1880
- maker
- Donnell Company
- ID Number
- 2007.0084.1
- catalog number
- 2007.0084.1
- accession number
- 2007.0084
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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