Flashback Friday: Smithsonian Hauntings

Joseph Henry, first Smithsonian Secretary
Smithsonian Institution Archives, image # MAH-10603. 

As Halloween approaches, the mind wanders to ghostly hauntings and where better than a museum to find a ghost? There are plenty of skeletons in Smithsonian closets and rumors of hauntings abound.

Though several people have claimed sightings of Joseph Henry, our first Secretary, haunting the Smithsonian Institution Building, or Castle, it’s unlikely he would walk those grounds. Henry was so deeply skeptical of spirits and hauntings that he once offered $1,000 if someone could levitate a table into the air. In addition, Henry never particularly liked the Smithsonian Institution Building, considering the maintenance of a building a hindrance to the work of furthering scientific research.  It’s highly unlikely that his spirit would take up residence in a building he though was “a fantastic and almost useless building.”

Fielding Meek's Cat, Smithsonian Institution Archives, image # 92-15019.

Another Smithsonian Scientist, Fielding Meek, happily called the Smithsonian Castle home. He lived with his cat in a tiny room under the stairs in the North Tower of the Smithsonian Institution Building from 1858 until his death. An extremely introverted and deaf paleontologist, he became increasingly isolated as he lost his hearing in his later years. His isolation can be felt in his caption for a sketch of his cat “This is all the family I have.” Perhaps he haunts his former home in search of company?

Spencer F. Baird,
Smithsonian Institution Archives, image # MAH-10735

Many rumors swirl about Smithsonian staff who loved their collections so much they could not bear to part with them, even in death. Perhaps none is as persistent as Spencer F. Baird, the Smithsonian’s second Secretary and founder of the U.S. National Museum. In 1900, The Washington Post reported that most of the night watchmen had reported seeing Secretary Baird supervising the collections to which he was so devoted.  Night watchmen, as you can imagine, have seen more than their fair share of strange sightings at the Smithsonian, but some are more otherworldly than others. Donald, one of the night watchmen, turned a corner in the museum and had a run-in with a fearsome Japanese warrior who towered above him, spear and all. After fleeing to higher ground on the second level of the building, in the morning he discovered that his warrior ghost was just a mannequin removed from his case so that it could be photographed. 

Robert Kennicott in his Field Outfit,
Smithsonian Institution Archives, image # SIA2011-0145

Around the Smithsonian, it is not unusual for an old mystery to come back to haunt us. Here at the Smithsonian Institution Archives, Robert Kennicott, one of the Smithsonian’s earliest explorers, was the most recent to raise goosebumps.  Kennicott died mysteriously on an expedition in Alaska. Our colleagues over at the National Museum of Natural History have analyzed his bones to understand how he lived and died.  While many researchers have scoured his personal papers and Smithsonian records in search of an answer, our archivists made a serendipitous discovery that sheds a little more light on his death. This Halloween, the Smithsonian has taken Kennicott's skeleton out of our closet and you can visit him yourself in the Objects of Wonder exhibit at the National Museum of Natural History.





Lisa Fthenakis, Program Assistant
Smithsonian Institution Archives 

Researching Druids

I recently researched a scientist by the name of Druid Wilson in order to create his EAC-CPF record-- EAC schema provides a way of delineating a collection creator's biographical details. I do this type of research because our collection creators commonly don't have archival collections with finding aids or published biographies.

Specimens collected by Druid Wilson in the Paleobiology Collections of the National Museum of Natural History. Clockwise from top left: Maretia carolinensis Kier, 1997 (PAL 398338), Rhyncholampas gouldii newbernensis Kier, 1997 (PAL 398324), Echinocyamus wilsoni Kier, 1997 (PAL 398476), and Psammechinus carolinensis Kier, 1997 (PAL 398321). 

When I began my research, I figured I had three details in my favor. He worked for the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), his name is unique, and he published articles with USGS. Given that he was published, worked for a major federal agency, and had an unusual name, I thought finding basic details would be relatively easy. How many Druid Wilsons could there be? 

According to my research, there may be more than one, and both had a demonstrated interest in paleontology. What are the chances?

I started with my favorite online platforms: VIAF, Google, JStor, and Ancestry.com through Smithsonian Libraries. I found a tantalizing bit of information in a JStor article about proposed members in Journal of Paleontology from September 1949:

"WILSON, DRUID, Frostproof, Fla. B.S., 1929, Southern College, Lakeland, Fla. Citrus grower and amateur paleontologist. Interested in Tertiary invertebrata. Proposed by Katherine V. W. Palmer and G. D. Harris."

I checked Ancestry.com and found that life dates that appeared to be for possibly two different Druid Wilsons, approximately 1906 - 2002. My confusion was due to the locations listed in Ancestry. It appeared as if one Druid lived his entire life in Florida and the other didn't. Most long term USGS staff live in the Washington DC area. Florida didn't make sense. However, as I began to catalog his papers, I found a significant portion of them covered the paleontology of Florida. I found a listing for a Druid Wilson in Alexandria, VA, which made more sense geographically.

If I could trust the bits I found online, I could say he was born around 1906, lived in Florida, primarily Frostproof. He earned a B.S. from Florida Southern College. Druid was originally a citrus grower who developed an interest in paleontology, and later worked for U.S. Geological Survey. He married Ethel Adams Wax in 1941 (source: Florida Department of Health), and passed away around 2002.

I would love to think that we have the field notes of a former citrus grower. I want to find out how he became fascinated by paleontology. However, I don't even know Druid Wilson's middle initial to confirm his identity. If there are two Druids, their life dates are also similar.

To add to this mystery, I found a Smithsonian form for official travel, listing travel to Frostproof, Florida in 1978 in volume 7 of his notes on Florida!

With more time and research, I may be able to determine that they are indeed the same person. This brings up a difficult question of balancing time with other work responsibilities. I am personally tantalized by the potential story, but will have to leave the bread crumbs for a future researcher or staff member. The details I leave behind must be definitive and verifiable, so that the EAC record makes an excellent trail of crumbs.

Lesley Parilla, Cataloger
The Field Book Project

Getting Warmer: Clues in the Reflections

This post is a follow-up to  "Cold Cases and Archival Mysteries," in which we invited you, the readers of this blog, to help us identify a group of photographs from boxes labeled “miscellaneous” in the Moses and Frances Asch Collection. To learn more about this collection, see the SIRIS record. 

Intern Jennifer Graham works on solving some archival mysteries

In order to solve a cold case, new evidence must surface or existing evidence must be re-examined. With the help of readers like you, this case of unidentified photographs and negatives has been getting warmer and we’re on our way to solving the mystery! To recap, this is what we know:

The photographs were developed (but not necessarily taken) by Moses Asch

The majority of the photographs were taken in New York City

Some photographs were taken around 1949 or 1950

The negatives have an aspect ratio of 1.33 (30 mm x 40 mm)

Stepping into the temporary shoes of Photograph Detective, I wanted to try to understand these photographs. Who was the photographer? What was being photographed? Where were the photographs taken? Why and when were they made? These are questions that we tend to ask to help build any knowledge that each photograph may hold. But when the answers to those questions aren’t readily available, we need to rediscover the information we have to draw connections and ultimately conclusions.

The first objective became to investigate the maker of these photographs, but how could one identify the photographer when they are always behind the lens? It became a priority to look for any semblance of an author. Any of these little breadcrumbs could configure a new lead or another clue! What we did find was a reflection of a woman with long and slender hands. Although she may not have authored all of the photographs, she is certainly responsible for taking this one. This, in the photo detective world, is a milestone!

What is amazing is that the reflection also tells us that the camera was both small and handheld. Can you help us try to identify the camera she was using? After researching the scribbles made on the development envelopes, we now know that the photographer was using 127 half-frame films, producing 3 x 4 cm images per roll. The camera also looks like it is being held horizontally, which could potentially be helpful in identifying a camera made before or during 1949 (the identified date of some of the photographs). In knowing this, maybe we can come closer to solving the mystery.

Another point worth mentioning is that although the majority of photographs have a documentary style, there are photographs where the subject(s) have been posed.  These poses suggest an interaction or relationship with the photographer, which is seemingly absent in others. While still a document of the city of New York, these images indicate a familiarity or closeness, which especially becomes the case in the photographs where an unidentified woman sits inside next to a window with a magazine or picture catalog (below). Who could she be?

Once the who(s) begins to take shape, the what(s) and why(s) become just as important to construct the purpose of the photographs.  Maybe with these new clues, we can begin to unearth more information than we ever thought possible. We’re hot on the trail, and are moving full steam ahead! Good luck detectives!

Jennifer Graham, Summer Intern
Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections

Cold Cases and Archival Mysteries

"Archivist" is a very broad term describing what we in the profession do on a daily basis. We wear many hats: a master staple-remover hat, a scanning robot hat, and a metadata wordsmith hat are amongst the many ready to be plucked off our racks. My favorite accessory is my deerstalker hat, which has the obvious effect of increasing my powers of reason and deduction.

An archivist must often step into the role of detective: we work with a whole lot of old stuff, and not all of it comes with a convenient label or explanation. Most of the time (though not always) we know where our mystery materials came from, in archives-speak, the acquisition. But sometimes, that's all we know. Who wrote this letter? What's happening in this photograph? What is the strange black powder in this box (that mystery was solved: it was powdered vinyl)? WHY is this HERE?

So we dig. We take what we do know about the mystery object and start following the clues. We compare handwriting samples, photography styles, other materials with similar subjects. Sometimes the trail leads to something, and we follow it (holding a comically large magnifying glass, of course) and give our now not-so-mysterious object a proper home. Sometimes materials remain a mystery for a very long time. Let's call these cold cases.

Cold cases are a frustrating dilemma for an archivist. They are hidden in the collection, making them difficult for researchers to use (or even locate), and we have no way of knowing how these mystery materials could impact scholarship.

Thank goodness for the internet.

As the old saying goes, hundreds of brains are better than one. Let's solve some mysteries!

  

These mystery photos were found scattered across multiple "miscellaneous" boxes in the Moses and Frances Asch Collection. What's shown here is just a sampling from one of the rolls found. Here's what we know about them:

• They were developed by Moses Asch.

• There are hundreds of photographs to parse through, but the majority appear to have been taken in New York City circa 1949. This date is based on a campaign poster for Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Jr. in one of the photographs.

• The negatives have an aspect ratio of 1.33 (30 mm x 40 mm), though the closest film format to this ratio and time period is 828 film.

As far as we know, Asch was not a photographer, but this could be proof otherwise. If he didn't take them, who did? And why so many New York City street scenes? Do you recognize any of the locations? Was this an artistic endeavor or simply an effort to document the New York of 1949?

What do you think?

-Cecilia Peterson, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections