Sneak Peek from the Stacks

At the inauguration of the Barro Colorado Island Biological Laboratory, this first group of scientists and guests visit the nature preserve and biological laboratory established on Barro Colorado Island. SIA.



Eighty-eight years ago today Barro Colorado Island Biological Laboratory opened in Panama as the Institute for Research in Tropical America. The laboratory, run by a group of private foundations and universities under the auspices of the National Research Council, sought to investigate the tropical flora and fauna of the Americas. More than thirty scientists from the United States took the arduous journey to the laboratory in its first year of operation. In 1946, the Canal Zone Biological Area was transferred to the Smithsonian Institution and renamed the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in 1966. Today, the Institute’s research is conducted throughout the Isthmus of Panama, Latin America, Asia, and Africa.

Our long history in Panama has helped us amass wonderful photos, oral histories and paper collections. Peek inside the stacks and see what we have!

Courtney Esposito, Institutional History Division, Smithsonian Institution Archives