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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Ancient Art Of The Province Of Chiriqui, Colombia, By William H. Holmes
- Description
- Test
- Location
- Currently not on view
- printer
- Government Printing Office
- publisher
- Bureau of American Ethnology
- author
- Holmes, William Henry
- ID Number
- 1980.0219.0001
- accession number
- 1980.0219
- catalog number
- 1980.0219.0001
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Lower Yellowstone Range
- Location
- Currently not on view
- maker
- Moran, Thomas
- lithographer
- Prang, Louis
- ID Number
- GA.00878
- catalog number
- 00878
- accession number
- 13100
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Bill, Boob McNutt, and Boob McNutt's Geography
- Description
- Camera-ready pen and ink drawings by Rube Goldberg for his comic series Bill, Boob McNutt, and Boob McNutt's Geography dated July 22, 1934. Goldberg drew for the Bill series between 1931 and 1934, for the Boob McNutt series between 1915 and 1934, and for the Boob McNutt's Geography series in 1934.
- Bill sends Shoestring out to deliver mail but noone will give him a ride because he's so thin and can't see him. Boob McNutt unknowingly assists a thief and drives him to a rich town. Boob's Geography comic cell gives clues to the identity of a U.S. state.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- July 22, 1934
- publisher
- Star Company
- original artist
- Goldberg, Rube
- ID Number
- 2006.0226.42
- catalog number
- 2006.0226.42
- accession number
- 2006.0226
- 2006.0226
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Caracara Eagle
- Description
- John James Audubon's publication The Birds of America was published in several formats. The first large folio edition was intended for wealthy patrons or institutions. Later editions, produced in the U.S. for a more general audience, included text and smaller, less costly lithographic illustrations.
- Audubon introduced new species and new artistic forms. His dramatic images of birds, pictured life-size in animated poses with realistic backgrounds, represented a departure from the conventions of natural history illustration. His artistic ingenuity, as reproduced in engravings and lithographs, won over new audiences for the subject of nature study.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1840
- date made
- 1843
- graphic artist
- Bowen, John T.
- original artist
- Audubon, John James
- ID Number
- 1998.0117.05
- accession number
- 1998.0117
- catalog number
- 1998.0117.05
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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The Castle Geyser ... Yellowstone ...
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1874
- printer
- Prang, Louis
- original artist
- Moran, Thomas
- ID Number
- GA.01397
- catalog number
- 01397
- accession number
- 20640
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Lower Yellowstone Range
- Location
- Currently not on view
- original artist
- Moran, Thomas
- lithographer
- Prang, Louis
- ID Number
- GA.00878.01
- catalog number
- 00878.01
- accession number
- 13100
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Bill, Boob McNutt, and Boob McNutt's Geography
- Description
- Camera-ready pen and ink drawings by Rube Goldberg for his comic series Bill, Boob McNutt, and Boob McNutt's Geography dated June 10, 1934. Goldberg drew for the Bill series between 1931 and 1934, for the Boob McNutt series between 1915 and 1934, and for the Boob McNutt's Geography series in 1934.
- Bill tries to promote his product Thinneroo to overweight baseball players and inadvertently causes the batter's bat to become thinner and to break. Boob McNutt's Jelly Roll Bus Line takes passengers to what he thinks is Washington, D.C. Boob's Geography comic cell gives clues to the identity of a U.S. state.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- June 10, 1934
- publisher
- Star Company
- original artist
- Goldberg, Rube
- ID Number
- 2006.0226.41
- catalog number
- 2006.0226.41
- accession number
- 2006.0226
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Views of the Great Falls of Niagara
- Description (Brief)
- Color prints of five views of Niagara Falls bound in green marblized cardboard covers.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- n.d.
- publisher
- Stewart, S. M.
- maker
- Kennedy & Lucas
- ID Number
- DL.60.3697
- catalog number
- 60.3697
- 60.3697A
- 60.3697B
- 60.3697C
- 60.3697D
- 60.3697E
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Ivory and Bone Yarn Swift
- Description
- Swifts, or yarn-winders, were used in the home in place of an extra pair of hands. They held skeins of yarn or thread while it was being wound onto spools or rewound into measured lengths. This is a particularly large example, which fastened to the edge of a table with the clamp on the bottom.
- date made
- 19th century
- maker
- unknown
- ID Number
- TE.T03311.000
- catalog number
- T03311.000
- accession number
- 59652
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Oil Painting or Overpainted Print, Capturing a Sperm Whale
- Description
- The most dangerous part of a dangerous job was working in the actual whaleboat, first chasing and then capturing and killing the prey.
- This picture is a copy or an overpainted example of a famous print first issued in 1835, believed to be the first indigenous American whaling print. It is derived from a sketch by whaleman Cornelius Hulsart, who lost an arm on the whaler Superior and subsequently became an artist.
- The original print was one of a pair produced to raise money for Hulsart, and it was dedicated to Superior's owners N. & W.W. Billings of New London, Connecticut. It is a fairly accurate portrayal of the danger in approaching and killing a wounded, enraged whale. As shown by the red, bloody whale spout, the whalers have struck the prey’s lungs or arteries, but the animal was still strong enough to break a boat in half and flip a crewman into the water.
- date or original painting
- 1835
- whaleman and artist
- Hulsart, Cornelius
- owner of the ship Superior
- N & W. W. Billings
- ID Number
- DL.65.0876
- catalog number
- 65.0876
- accession number
- 256396
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Title Missing (Whale boat being capsized by a whale)
- Description (Brief)
- Color print of a whaling scene. A row boat with sail capsizes on the back of a huge whale. Its six occupant are attempting to grasp at the boat as they are thrown overboard. Their harpoons and hats are disappearing in the waves while gulls fly above.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- n.d.
- maker
- unknown
- ID Number
- DL.60.3247
- catalog number
- 60.3247
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Bill
- Description
- Camera-ready pen and ink drawings by Rube Goldberg for his two comic series Bill and Boob McNutt dated June 12, 1932. Goldberg drew for the Bill series between 1931 and 1934, and the Boob McNutt series between 1915 and 1934.
- Bill and girlfriend Sally try to recover stolen jewels with the help of old Captain Jim. Boob and Mike and Ike are thought to have been killed while flying on the damaged dirigible.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- June 12, 1932
- original artist
- Goldberg, Rube
- publisher
- Star Company
- ID Number
- GA.23496
- accession number
- 1972.299186
- catalog number
- GA*23496
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Scrimshaw Sperm Whale Panbone, mid 19th Century
- Description
- This large panbone, or section of the back of a sperm whale’s jaw, served as the canvas for a whaleman’s freehand drawing on two levels. In the center of the upper level is a three-masted whaleship with painted gun ports along its sides. Merchant vessels often did this, to look like powerful warships from a distance and thus protect themselves from pirates or other predators. The ship’s vertical whaleboat davits are empty, and the ship is sailing towards its little fleet of four whaleboats in various stages of harpooning a pod of five whales. Four of the whales are ‘blowing,’ or exhaling through the blowholes on top of their heads. One of the whales already has two harpoons sticking out of its back and is towing a whaleboat on a ‘Nantucket sleigh ride.' Behind the ship on the left is an old-fashioned two-masted topsail schooner sailing in the opposite direction. The sea in the foreground is calm, and the scene is placed against a shoreline of low, rolling hills. Below is another pair of sailing ships: a two-masted square-rigged brig follows a brigantine with a square-rigged foremast and a fore-and-aft main. Although engraved by the same very talented artist, the two levels of illustrations do not appear to be related. Judging from the extremely detailed and technical rigs and sails of all the ships, the scrimshaw artist may have been a sailmaker or rigger.
- Scrimshaw began in the late 18th or early 19th century as the art of carving whale bone and ivory aboard whale ships. The crew on whalers had plenty of leisure time between sighting and chasing whales, and the hard parts of whales were readily available on voyages that could last up to four years.
- In its simplest form, a tooth was removed from the lower jaw of a sperm whale and the surface was prepared by scraping and sanding until it was smooth. The easiest way to begin an etching was to smooth a print over the tooth, prick the outline of the image with a needle and then “connect-the-dots” once the paper was removed. This allowed even unskilled craftsmen to create fine carvings. Some sailors were skilled enough to etch their drawings freehand. After the lines were finished, they were filled in with lamp black or sometimes colored pigments.
- Scrimshaw could be decorative, like simple sperm whale teeth, or they could be useful, as in ivory napkin rings, corset busks (stiffeners), swifts for winding yarn or pie crimpers. The sailor’s hand-carved scrimshaw was then given to loved ones back on shore as souvenirs of the hard and lonely life aboard long and dangerous voyages.
- date made
- mid 1800s
- 1840 - 1860
- ID Number
- DL.057605B
- catalog number
- 57605B
- accession number
- 2009.0206
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Engraved wood block "Indians Pounding Acorns"
- Description (Brief)
- This engraved wood block was used to print an image in the publication "Narrative of the U.S. Exploring Expedition, During the Years 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841, 1842," 1844, Volume 5, page 205. The image was drawn by A. T. Agate, and drawn on wood by G. Armstrong. It was engraved by J. J. Butler, and originally printed by C. Sherman of Philadelphia in 1844.
- Description
- Joline J. Butler (about 1815–1846, working in New York City 1841-45) engraved this printing block after a drawing, Indians Pounding Acorns at New Helvetia (near present-day Sacramento, California), by Expedition Artist Alfred T. Agate. The wood engraving illustration was published on page 205 of Volume V of the U.S. Exploring Expedition Narrative by Charles Wilkes, 1844.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- ca 1844
- ca 1844
- publisher
- Wilkes, Charles
- graphic artist
- Butler, Joline J.
- original artist
- Agate, A. T.
- Armstrong, G.
- printer
- Sherman, Conger
- author
- Wilkes, Charles
- ID Number
- 1999.0145.207
- accession number
- 1999.0145
- catalog number
- 1999.0145.207
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Chromolithograph of "Colorado Desert and Signal Mountain"
- Description
- This chromolithograph of “Colorado Desert and Signal Mountain” was originally drawn by Charles Koppel and printed as Plate XI in the first 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, “Explorations In California for Railroad Routes, to Connect with the Routes near the 35th and 32nd Parallels of North Latitude.” The volume was printed in 1856 by Beverley Tucker in Washington, D.C.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1856
- original artist
- Koppel, Charles
- publisher
- U.S. War Department
- author
- Williamson, Robert Stockton
- printer
- Tucker, Beverley
- graphic artist
- unknown
- publisher
- U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Topographic Command
- ID Number
- GA.10729.26
- accession number
- 62261
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Engraving of lizard species"Euphryne obesus"
- Description
- William Dougal (1822–1895) of Washington, D.C. engraved this print of “Euphryne obesus [Baird]”, now "Sauromalus ater" or Northern chuckwalla, from an original sketch by John H. Richard (c.1807–1881) of Philadelphia. The illustration was printed as Plate 27 in the “Reptiles” section of the second part of volume II of the Report on the United States and Mexican Boundary Survey, written by S.F. Baird (1823–1887). The volume was printed in 1859 by Cornelius Wendell of Washington, D.C.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date of book publication
- 1859
- author
- Baird, Spencer Fullerton
- original artist
- Richard, John H.
- graphic artist
- Dougal, William H.
- printer
- Wendell, Cornelius
- author
- Emory, William H.
- publisher
- U.S. Department of the Interior
- U.S. Army
- ID Number
- 2009.0115.068
- catalog number
- 2009.0115.068
- accession number
- 2009.0115
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Engraved wood block "Natives of Wytoohee"
- Description (Brief)
- This engraved wood block was used to print an image in the publication "Narrative of the U.S. Exploring Expedition, During the Years 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841, 1842," 1844, Volume 1 (page 334 of the Lea & Blanchard stereotyped copy). The image was drawn by Joseph Drayton, and drawn on wood by John H. Manning. It was engraved by O'Brien, and originally printed by C. Sherman of Philadelphia in 1844.
- Description
- Robert O'Brien engraved this printing block after a drawing, Natives of Wytoohee, by Expedition Artist Joseph Drayton. Wytoohee is part of the Tuamotu Archipelago of French Polynesia. The wood engraving illustration was published on page 334 of Volume I of the U.S. Exploring Expedition Narrative by Charles Wilkes, 1844.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- ca 1844
- ca 1844
- publisher
- Wilkes, Charles
- graphic artist
- O'Brien
- original artist
- Drayton, Joseph
- graphic artist
- Manning, John H.
- printer
- Sherman, Conger
- author
- Wilkes, Charles
- ID Number
- 1999.0145.081
- accession number
- 1999.0145
- catalog number
- 1999.0145.081
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Engraved printing plate "Ichthyology, Pl."
- Description (Brief)
- This engraved printing plate was prepared to print an image showing three species of shark in the never published Volume 21-22, Ichthyology, part of the series of publications the "United States Exploring Expedition, During the Years 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841, 1842." The plate images were engraved by W. H. Dougal after Joseph Drayton.
- Description
- William H. Dougal (1822–1895) of New York and Washington, D.C., (after 1844) engraved this copper printing plate depicting three species of shark documented by the U.S. Exploring Expedition. The engraved illustrations were to be published in volumes XXII and XXIII, Ichthyology, by Louis Agassiz. Dougal engraved 26 of the 28 plates for this volume which was never printed.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1849
- publisher
- Wilkes, Charles
- original artist
- Drayton, Joseph
- graphic artist
- Dougal, William H.
- author
- Agassiz, Louis
- ID Number
- 1999.0145.437
- accession number
- 1999.0145
- catalog number
- 1999.0145.437
- 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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Engraving of lizard species "Cnemidophorus Presignis"
- Description
- William Dougal (1822–1895) of Washington, D.C. engraved this print of “Cnemidophorus presignis [sic]," now Ameiva ameiva (Giant ameiva or Amazon racerunner), from an original sketch by John H. Richard (c.1807–1881) of Philadelphia. This is an unfinished proof signed by Charles Girard (1822–1895), whose final proof was published in 1855 by A.O.P. Nicholson in Washington, D.C. as Plate XXXVIII in his “Reptiles, fishes, crustacea” section of volume II of The United States Naval Astronomical Survey to the Southern Hemisphere.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date of book publication
- 1855
- original artist
- Richard, John H.
- graphic artist
- Dougal, William H.
- printer
- Nicholson, A. O. P.
- publisher
- United States Navy
- author
- Gilliss, James Melville
- ID Number
- 2008.0175.25
- accession number
- 2008.0175
- catalog number
- 2008.0175.25
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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