Smithsonian Institution Archives

Resources (12)

• Scattered throughout the administrative records and other materials held in this archive are undoubtedly additional items pertaining to the Russian Empire/Soviet Union. Time did not permit an examination of all col lections, especially those concerned with international aspects of the Institution's work which might hold material pertinent to this guide. The listing below represents only a sample of relevant holdings.

• Assistant Secretary (Spencer F. Baird)

  Outgoing correspondence, 1850–77, 8 cu. ft. Arranged chronologically, these records include correspondence with Russian/Soviet scientists. Indexes. (Record Unit 53; hereafter, RU)

• Gustav Wilhelm Belfrage (1834-1882)

  Papers, 1866–82,.2 cu. ft., 80 items. Entomological collector and seller. Contains correspondence from entomologists in Russia. Unpublished description (NUCMC 74–968). (RU 7105)

• Joseph Ashmead Clay (1806-1881) and John Randolph Clay (1808-1885)

  Papers, 1841 and 1859–66,.2 cu. ft., 100 items. John was a diplomat; Joseph, his older brother, managed his affairs. Both were amateur mineralogists. Includes material on mineralogical specimens obtained from Russia. Unpublished description (NUCMC 72–1232). (RU 7095)

• Leonhard Stejneger (1851-1943)

  Papers, 1867–1943, 14.3 cu. ft. Scientist and museum curator. Served on the International Fur Seal Commission beginning in 1896. Manuscripts, notes, letters, reports, and photographs pertaining, in part, to his field trips in the North Pacific-Bering Sea area, 1882, 1895–97, 1922, and to fur seals and natives of that area. Also, manuscripts, notes, and correspondence concerning Georg Wilhelm Steller, a German naturalist on Vitus Bering's second expedition, a biography of whom Stejneger published in 1936. Unpublished description. (RU 7074)

• National Institute

  Records, 1839–63, 6.2 cu. ft. Contains some references to Russia. Unpublished description. (RU 7058)

• National Zoological Park

  Records, 1887–1965, 100 cu. ft. Includes some correspondence, 1938–39, on the exchange of animals between the U.S. and USSR. Unpublished description. (RU 74)

• Registrar

  Accession Records, 1834–1958, accretions to 1976, ca. 405 cu. ft. Includes some correspondence with Russian/Soviet scientists. Partially microfilmed. Unpublished finding aids. (RU 6999T)

• Robert Kennicott (1835-1866)

  Papers, 1863–65, 3 items, 22pp. Alaskan explorer. 3 letters, 2 to Roderick MacFarlane of Winnipeg, Canada. (RU 7072)

• United States National Museum

  Permanent Administrative Files, 1877–1975, 224 cu. ft. Includes correspondence of Russian/Soviet scientists; also, records concerning the Smithsonian-Harvard expedition to the Altai Mountains in Siberia, 1912. Inquire concerning special conditions of access. Unpublished finding aids. (RU 192)

• Western Union Telegraph Expedition

  Collection, 1865–67,.3 cu. ft. Also known as the Russian-American Telegraph Expedition. Studied feasibility of establishing communications with Europe via Alaska, the Bering Straits, and Siberia. 3 divisions worked in Canada, Russian-America (Alaska), and Asia. Robert Kennicott headed the Russian-American division, which also made natural history collections. Members of the Scientific Corps which went to Alaska included William H. Dall, Henry M. Bannister, and Henry W. Elliott. Contains correspondence, mostly to Spencer F. Baird, copies of reports, copies of Kennicott's notes on natural history, and clippings. (RU 7213)

• William Healey Dall (1845-1927)

  Papers, ca, 1839–58 and 1865–1927, 22 cu. ft. Scientist, explorer, author, and government worker. Correspondence, notebooks, diaries, scrapbooks, financial accounts, field notes, maps, etc., relating to the Western Union Telegraph Expedition, and to Alaskan towns (such as Sitka), topography, mineral resources, flora and fauna, Alaskan Indians, Russian-Americans, and Alaskan politics, 1865–68. Also, notes, correspondence, and map of Robert Kennicott and information about Kennicott's death, plus additional material from Dall's later Alaskan explorations, 1871–76 and 1879–80. References to George Kennan, Cleveland Abbe, and Ivan Petroff. Unpublished description (NUCMC 71–1872). (RU 7073)