April is National Poetry Month here in the United States (and National Poetry Writing Month, hint hint…), and so we thought it time for another installment of “A Naturalist’s Garden of Verses.”  These four poems feature swaying owls, cloud-riding, and actual sea moss specimens mounted on the page.  Enjoy!

Verse from Sea Mosses, by Clara B. Heath (1881), lettering and specimen mount by Grace A. Hall (1890 ca.)  From the Grace A. Hall collection.

Were these the trees of a mimic isle,
Never at loss for the sun or dew?
Or only the branches that decked a while
A fairy boat with its fairy crew?

Verse from Sea Mosses, by James Thomas Field (1849), lettering by Grace A. Hall (1890 ca.) From the Grace A. Hall collection.
These tributes plundered from the sea
These many-colored variegated forms
Sail to our rougher shores and rise and fall,
To the deep music of the Atlantic wave.
Such spoils we capture where the rainbows drop
Melting in ocean.

The Owl and the Stars, by Arthur L. Bolton (1930 ca.) From the Bolton Family collection.
The little Stars were playing in the sky,
When the Man-in-the-Moon came sailing by;
He winked at them and they winked at him,
And they winked at the Owl on the old dry limb.
They played hide-and-seek, for the night was still,
And the Moon slipped down behind the hill,
But the little Stars kept winking still
And nodding in a roguish way,
To see the Owl sit there and sway
Till the Sun came up, when all he could do,
Was to sit on that limb the whold [sic] day through.

Untitled, by George S. Myers (1930 ca.) From the George S. Myers collection.
O would that I could ride a cloud
Over far vistas bright
O would that I might be a star
To scan the dim vastness of the night

O would that the world before me lay
All visible to my roving eye
For… [unfinished -HY]

A Naturalist’s Garden of Verses, Part One
-Heather Yager
Academy Archivist

I’m always delighted when I find unexpected treasures in the archives.  In addition to the species lists, invoices, and specimen images common in natural history archives, one can find all manner of music, poetry, and comedy if one knows where to look.  Many of our scientists and naturalists found themselves gripped by the Muse on long, cold nights in the field (or long, cold days in the office), and put pen to paper in order to view their science through the lens of art.  Over the past few months I’ve been making notes whenever I come across a bit of verse in the collections – over the next few weeks I’ll bring you some of my favorites, starting with these three.

Alice Eastwood Acrostic, by Eunice Taylor (1940 ca.) From the Alice Eastwood collection.

Attuned as some rare violin to life,
Listening to and seeing Nature’s heart,
Interpreting her beauty and her art
Cherishing her mystery and her lore
Endowed with wisdom, kindliness and cheer.

Earth smiled triumphantly when you were born
And hailed you as her own beloved child
Saluting Canada’s proud gift, she gave
To California your spirit brave
Where she decreed that you should reign
O‘er all her giant trees and lovely flowers.
Oh! brighter is the world because of you
Disciple true, of Nature’s wondrous powers.

Untitled (early 20th century) From the B.W. Evermann collection.

I wish I was an eagle’s egg,
As stale as stale can be,
All cuddled down in a big old nest
In the top of a white oak tree.

Then when a greedy ‘ologist
Climbed up to me in glee,
I’d bust my nasty rotten self
And sprinkle him with me.

Yonder, by Arthur L. Bolton (1930 ca.) From the Bolton Family collection.

Yonder, where the spruces dwarft and aged,
Crouch beneath the overbearing snows,
Yonder, and beyond, where mountains soaring,
Bear the flush of early morning rose,
There, among the ptarmigan and willows,
Where Nature rests immaculate, sublime,
Shall I find a Peace at one with Heaven,
Shall I know the majesty of Time.

- Heather Yager, Archivist
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Today we bring you a blog post from the past, describing in detail the tenacity of the dedicated collector. George Switzer, famed Smithsonian mineralogist (responsible for bringing the Hope Diamond into the Institution’s collection) wrote this tale of soggy derring-do while completing his undergraduate degree at UC Berkeley in the mid-1930s. From the L. Courtney Decius collection at the California Academy of Sciences Archives.

EVEN THOUGH IT WAS RAINING

This is just by way of proving that it takes more than a mere rainstorm on a semi-liquid mud lake to stop a real mineral bug.

The lake visited was Borax Lake, formed by lava damming a mountain cove, in Lake County on the southeastern border of Clear Lake. It was in this lake that, in 1864, the first commercial production of Borax in American [sic] was begun. The lake is now nearly dry with a crust of Halite, colored violet by organic life, covering it. Under this crust is a thick mud with a decidedly “soapy” feel due to the large amount of Borax in solution.

The trip was made by a party of four, including Mr. M. Vonsen, a well-known mineralogist of Petaluma, California. It was unfortunate that we picked a very rainy day for the excursion because, during the whole time we were collecting, it rained in torrents. To make matters worse, the lake is so soft that one cannot walk on it. This was remedied by walking on skis made of one by six pine boards about six feet long tied to the feet with ropes. And beware! For if you step off the skis, you immediately sink to the hips in the mud and it is impossible to get out without assistance.

In spite of being soaked to the skin by rain and coated from head to foot with mud, the trip was very worth while. For by skiing to the middle of the lake, breaking the Halite crust and groping arms deep in the mud, we felt an occasional second layer, which proved to be excellent specimens of Halite and Borax crystals on Trona and Natron. The Natron, however, was so deliquescent that we were unable to preserve any of them. We also obtained minute crystals of Northupite and Gay-Lussite, both insoluble in water, by dissolving a specimen of the Borax and Trona in water. Then with a low powered microscope we were able to separate the Northupite octahedrons from the monoclinic Gay-Lussite crystals.

We were indeed fortunate to be able to get any specimens at all, for it was the first time in twenty years that chemical conditions in the lake had been right so that the minerals could crystallize out. Following the heavy rain the specimens were again gone, perhaps only for the winter, or maybe for another twenty years.

Misson and Switzer.

- Heather Yager, Archivist, on behalf of George Switzer, Mineralogist.

The California Academy of Sciences Archives has been contributing finding aids for processed collections to the California Digital Library’s Online Archive of California (OAC). As part of this collaboration, the Archives has been exploring ways of submitting photographs to the OAC as well as Calisphere which was also developed from the California Digital Library. Calisphere is a resource dedicated to making primary sources and other archival materials available to educators and the public at large.

The California Academy of Sciences is happy to announce that it is now contributing images to both Calisphere and the OAC. When possible, our images will be linked to our finding aids on the OAC. Please visit the Alice Eastwood Papers finding aid to view photographs related to this collection.

You can also view these images in Calisphere.

Christina V. Fidler, MLIS
Digital Projects Manager

The Academy Library’s Manzanita Image Project has over 32,000 images of plants, animals, landscapes, and people/culture photographs that are available online through the Calphotos web site. To view our images just select “Cal Academy” in the Collection box.

Calphotos recently partnered with the Encyclopedia of Life (EOL) so that Calphotos images can also be featured on EOL. We are hoping that this new partnership will bring our images to a whole new audience. You can search both web sites by scientific name.

Here are some of our images that will appear on both web sites!

Tealia coriacea

Sherry Ballard © California Academy of Sciences

Hyperolius viridiflavus variabilis

Dong Lin © California Academy of Sciences

Puma concolor

Gerald and Buff Corsi © California Academy of Sciences

- Danielle Castronovo
Archives & Digital Collections Librarian

We just published two new finding aids on the Online Archive of California. One is for the Exhibits and Expositions collection and the other is for the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906 collection. Both collections are small artificial collections that were gathered together over time by Academy staff.

The Exhibits and Expositions collection mainly relates to three expositions held in San Francisco: the California Midwinter Fair (1894), the Pan-Pacific International Exposition (1915), and the Golden Gate International Exposition (1939-1940). The collection consists primarily of publications, photographs, postcards, illustrations, maps, and ephemera such as tickets, souvenirs, coins, medals, and pins.

Mechanic Arts Building, California Midwinter Fair, 1894

We processed The San Francisco Earthquake of 1906 collection because we have had several reference questions about that earthquake recently and we wanted to be able to reference the material easily. This collection is mostly comprised of  publications, newspaper clippings, reports and photographs.

San Francisco Earthquake of 1906, Market Street Fire postcard

There are two collections that are related to our Exhibits and Expositions collection that don’t have online finding aids yet. One is  a group of twenty five glass plate negatives from the MidWinter Fair and the second is the Raymond H. Clary MidWinter Fair collection. We are currently working on a Library Reading Room exhibit of items from the Clary collection that will feature one of my favorite items in the Archive – a mustache spoon. Stay tuned for more information on the Clary collection exhibit.

N255. General view of Midwinter Fair, circa 1894. Midwinter Fair Glass Plate Negative Collection. Photographer unknown.

Ticket and stub for San Francisco Day at the Midwinter Fair. July 4, 1894. Raymond Clary MidWinter Fair Collection.

- Danielle
Archives & Digital Collections Librarian

I have been working with a researcher named Eva Chrysanthe who is writing and illustrating a graphic novel called The Farallon Egg War. Her graphic novel is almost done and we are both excited to have a table at the October 21 Farallon Nightlife at the Academy. She will have some of her original paintings and drafts of the graphic novel while I will feature some of the Library and Archive materials that she consulted as reference materials.

In the Archives, we have two collections that have striking historic images from the Farallones. The Arthur L. Bolton family papers contains fifty Farallon images from 1896 and 1897 including a lighthouse, a shipwreck, an egger’s shoes, and men collecting bird eggs. In addition, there are images of Arthur Bolton and Leverett Mills Loomis preparing bird specimens in the Academy’s Monterey workshop. These are some of the earliest Farallon images that Eva found while conducting research.

"Fisherman's Bay' and 'North Landing' South Farallon Island July '96." Arthur L. Bolton family papers.

"A weeks egg gathering South Farallon Islands". Eight men around a pile of eggs. Arthur L. Bolton family papers.

"Mr. Loomis and A.L. Bolton in workshop of California Academy of Sciences Expedition, Monterey, California. June 1897." Arthur L. Bolton family papers.

"Eggers trolley to Sea Island Islet." South Farallon Island, July '96. Man sitting on trolley off side of rock. Arthur L. Bolton family papers.

"Scottie 'the Egger', South Farallon Islands, July '96." Man holding basket on his shoulder. Arthur L. Bolton family papers.

The O.J. Heinemann collection contains approximately 700 glass plate negatives.  One of the rare books that Becky pulled for Eva contained several of the Heinemann Farallon images that we have in the archive. Please join us at the Academy on Thursday October 21st to see some of these items.

- Danielle Castronovo

Archives and Digital Collections Librarian

The archives staff is working on a large digital image migration project. One of the collections that I worked on is the Arnold Liebes papers. Liebes was a San Francisco furrier who had a trading outpost at Point Barrow, Alaska. Liebes made several trips to Alaska during the 1910s-1920s and took hundreds of photographs documenting his work as well as the lives of the indigenous people he encountered.

H. Liebes & Co.'s trading station at Pt. Barrow, Alaska.

Examining pelts at traders.

We digitized five hundred and ninety six Liebes images, and I just finished uniting the metadata with the digital images in our new digital asset management system. While assigning subjects like “hunting”, “sealing”, “churches”, and “ships” to the images, I decided I wanted to learn some more about the named sailing vessels that appear in the photographs. At least three  different ships are featured in the photographs including the whaling vessel The Herman, The Arctic, and a ship called The Bear.

Landing on the ice from The Herman.

The Arctic at Wainwright, Alaska. A.L. Liebes on the left.

I was intrigued by the subject matter of the photos on The Bear. There are photographs of men in military uniforms as well as a “native wedding” and photographs of “a murdered and two witnesses”.

Captain Ballinger and officers of Bear. 1912.

"Native wedding" on board The Bear at Pt. Hope.

This New York Times article, Cutter Gripped by Ice, from September 22, 1913 explained that The Bear was a U.S coast guard ship that made a yearly trip from Nome, Alaska to Point Barrow, Alaska.  The Bear had a judge, doctor, and carpenter to dispense justice and medicine to the Inupiak people of Point Barrow. Captain Ballinger, pictured in the ship’s crew portrait above, recounts the harrowing tale of the ice bound Bear which was only freed from the ice when the winds changed.

Besides donating his wonderful manuscript and photograph collection to the Academy, Arnold Liebes donated approximately 1,000 objects to our Anthropology department. The collection can be searched through our Anthropology database and includes records and images for carvings, beads & leather work, tools & implements, raw materials, and weaponry. Select “Liebes” in the “collections” field. Liebes also donated items to the Smithsonian including this cormorant parka from St. Lawrence Island, Alaska.

- Danielle Castronovo

Archives & Digital Collections Librarian

My name is Phoebe Buguey, and I am continuing my March post about some concerns and considerations in the International Year of Biodiversity. Previously I discussed how there are a large number of species that have yet to be classified, and I mentioned how this fact is especially unsettling when one considers that species are currently going extinct at an alarming rate. With this sad information in mind, you may be wondering what you can do to make a difference and help preserve biodiversity.

Basilisk lizard (Genus: Basiliscus), Isla Colon, Panama. Phoebe Buguey, 2004.

There are many options available such as donating time and/or financial support to worthwhile causes, and one that I would recommend is the Encyclopedia of Life (EOL, http://www.eol.org/). EOL is the brainchild of E.O. Wilson and the product of a collaboration between professional and citizen scientists. The objective is to document the amazing biodiversity of the planet by utilizing the respective strengths of the two communities. The sheer number of environmental enthusiasts allows EOL to harness the eagerness of the public by asking them to volunteer pictures and any other relevant data about a species. Citizen scientists do their best to identify the subjects of their contributions, and scientists from around the world verify these identifications and curate species pages according to their areas of specialization.

I am currently curating the Taeniopoda reticulata page on EOL, and although my strange fascination with this large and purple species of grasshopper is a driving factor behind my decision to volunteer, I am also very proud to contribute to the documentation of our world’s biodiversity.

Freshly molted Taeniopoda reticulata, Isla Colon, Panama. Phoebe Buguey, 2004.

How is the Academy Library Contributing?

The Academy Library plays an important role in the dispersion of biodiversity information since it is a stronghold for both historical and modern systematics literature. Maintaining a relevant and comprehensive collection about biodiversity would be expected of any library supporting researchers with that particular focus, but the Academy Library has gone a step beyond since it is one of twelve scientific repositories contributing to EOL’s cousin project, Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL). The purpose of BHL is to digitize the legacy literature of biodiversity and make this information available to all. The hope of such efforts is that increasing access to these historical documents will correspondingly increase the continuity of scientific research.

Mating pair of clear winged moths (Family: Sesiidae), Isla Colon, Panama. Phoebe Buguey, 2004.

It may at first be hard to understand how legacy materials could be relevant to contemporary research, but it is important to keep in mind exactly what biodiversity research is: the documentation of both the extinct and extant species diversity on the planet, particularly focused on monitoring the amount of biodiversity in certain areas and any changes therein. In order to understand which species exist today and which species have gone extinct, scientists must have access to historic scientific information. This allows scientists to ensure that species are not named multiple times and that both extinct and new species get documented as such. Since some species have been known for well over 100 years, it may be critical for scientists to have access to this older information in order to establish an individual organism’s species identification. However, since much of this legacy literature is kept in the collections of a few select libraries, it can be difficult and time consuming for researchers to access this data. By digitizing legacy literature, BHL helps scientists quickly retrieve the information they need to do their research, and the Academy Library staff are excited to reach beyond institutional walls in order to support researchers in their important work.

One of my ongoing projects includes item level cataloging of digitized photographs from our manuscript collections. I just finished the Gifford Pinchot South Seas Expedition of 1929. The collection was donated to the Academy in 1972 by Howard H. Cleaves, the official expedition photographer, via Mrs. Roger Tory Peterson. One of my favorite photographs is this image of a Galapagos tortoise approaching Mrs. Gifford Pinchot as she is sewing on the deck of the “Mary Pinchot”.  September 10, 1929.

The original accession came to the Academy in three wooden boxes containing 1,389 glass plate negatives and one wooden box with four photo albums. Since the accession, the glass plate negatives were removed from the wooden boxes and their original acidic paper envelopes. The negatives were placed in acid free archival paper enclosures and boxes specifically made to house fragile glass plate negatives.

Approximately 150 of the negatives were digitized and I just added the metadata (data about data) into our digital asset management system including year, creator, title, and subject headings. In 1930, Gifford Pinchot published a book titled “To the South Seas” about the expedition and many of our digitized images were used in the text.

Mary Pinchot anchored offshore. Stiff (Stephen Stahlnecker) waving to her from foreground. August 1, 1929.

- Danielle Castronovo

Archives & Digital Collections Librarian