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
- 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.)
- Location
- Currently not on view
- 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
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Dutchman's Breeches Preserved in Plastic
- Location
- Currently not on view
- ID Number
- AG.A.7577
- accession number
- 198812
- catalog number
- A.7577
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Lithograph of "South End of S. Inez Mountains & S. Buenaventura Valley"
- Description
- This lithograph of “South End of S. Inez Mountains & S. Buenaventura Valley” was originally drawn by A.H. Campbell. It was printed in the first report of volume VII 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, “Report of Explorations for Railroad Routes San Francisco Bay to Los Angeles, West of the Coast Range, and from the Pimas Villages on the Gila to the Rio Grande, near the 32nd Parallel of North Latitude, Lieutenant John G. Parke, Corps of Topographical Engineers, Assisted by Albert H. Campbell, Civil Engineer.” The volume was printed in 1857 by A.O.P. Nicholson in Washington, D.C.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1857
- graphic artist
- A. Hoen & Co.
- original artist
- Campbell, A. H.
- publisher
- U.S. War Department
- author
- Parke, J. G.
- publisher
- U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Topographic Command
- graphic artist
- A. Hoen & Co.
- ID Number
- GA.16332.048
- catalog number
- 16332.048
- accession number
- 1930.110179
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Ship Model, Skipjack Gertrude Wands
- Description
- The skipjack is the last in a long line of sailing craft designed for work in the Chesapeake Bay oyster industry. First built in the late 1800s, this sloop-rigged, single masted vessel was easy to maneuver even in light winds, and its V-shaped hull allowed oystermen to work in shallow waters. This model represents the Gertrude Wands, a skipjack built by John Branford on the Eastern Shore of Maryland in 1899. It is named after a little girl who lived in the community of Inverness.
- Like bugeyes, skipjacks were built for oyster dredging under sail. But unlike the round-bottomed bugeye, the skipjack had a V-shaped hull, which was easier to build and did not require the huge logs of the traditional bugeye. Skipjacks were also smaller than bugeyes, ranging in size from 25 to 50 feet.
- By the early 20th century, skipjacks had replaced bugeyes and were the main dredging craft on the bay. An 1865 Maryland law restricting dredging to sail-powered vessels ensured the continued use of sailing craft for oystering. Only in 1967 was the law amended to allow the use of a gasoline-powered push boat on Mondays and Tuesdays of each week. A push boat is shown on davits at the stern (back) of this model.
- Maryland’s skipjacks are the last commercial fishing boats operating under sail in North America. In 1985, the skipjack was named Maryland’s official state boat. With the steep decline of the oyster population in the Chesapeake Bay, most skipjacks have become floating classrooms for public education programs about the bay. Several have been donated to museums for preservation. Still, many people who live in the Chesapeake region harbor a sense of longing and nostalgia for the days when the large white sails of skipjacks filled the horizon.
- date made
- 1968
- date Gertrude Wands was built
- 1899
- built Gertrude Wands
- Branford, John
- ID Number
- TR.328687
- accession number
- 276670
- catalog number
- 328687
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Ship's Medicine Chest
- Description
- Starting in 1790, American merchant ships larger than 150 tons and with more than 10 crew members were required to have medicine chests with contents assembled by an “apothecary of known reputation.” These had to be accompanied by instructions for the administration of each medicine. Most commonly, either the captain or first mate administered pharmaceutical products to any crew in need.
- This example has labels from the ports of Baltimore, Maryland; Mamaroneck, New York, and Halifax, Nova Scotia, indicating it was replenished more than once over its useful life.
- Date made
- 19th Century
- maker
- Gray Telephone Pay Station Co.
- ID Number
- MG.302606.154
- catalog number
- 302606.154
- accession number
- 302606
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Framed Photograph of a Chestnut Tree
- Description (Brief)
- This photograph of a chestnut 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.
- The tree depicted in this photograph was located in Howard County, Maryland. The image was made by the United States Forest Service. The frame is made of solid chestnut wood.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1914
- 1926
- frame maker
- Bucher, William F.
- photographer
- U.S. Department of Agriculture. Forest Service
- ID Number
- AG.115767.24
- accession number
- 115767
- catalog number
- AG*115767.24
- maker number
- 27
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Red Anemone Preserved in Plastic
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1946
- ID Number
- AG.A.7554
- accession number
- 198812
- catalog number
- A.7554
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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