Bailey Willis Glass Plate Photonegatives Collection consists of 160 glass plate photonegatives and 119 modern copy prints mostly of Japanese subjects. Depicting Meiji-era Japan and traditional paintings, the photographs are attributed to the prominent American geologist Bailey Willis, who travelled to Japan in 1904 in his return trip from China to the U.S. From 1903 to 1904, Willis led a scientific expedition to China to conduct geological and paleontological investigations under the auspices of the Carnegie Institution of Washington. The expedition was proposed by Dr. Charles D. Walcott, the Director of the U.S. Geological Survey, who would become the fourth Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution in 1907. After the expedition, the Smithsonian Institution took custody of 375 glass plate photonegatives taken by Willis during his Chinese expedition. The current Willis Collection does not retain Chinese glass plate photonegatives, which appear to be housed in the Huntington Library. Twelve original prints of China are in the Charles Lang Freer Papers, acquired by Freer directly from Willis. The Willis Collection richly documents Japanese local scenes, people, buildings, industries, agriculture, and art. It also contains a small number of Middle Eastern and Western images. These photographs are thought to be taken and/or purchased by Willis during his short stay in Japan in 1904, although there is no direct evidence that Willis was the original photographer of any or all of these. Since there are many views of locations that Willis never visited, it seems likely that the plates were acquired from another photographer.
Arrangement:
Box 1-3 Japanese paintings; Box 4-11 Japanese scenes; Box 12 Middle Eastern scenes, miscellaneous; Box 13 Western scenes, miscellaneous; Box 14 Japanese painting and scenes; Box 15 Japanese scenes
Biographical / Historical:
Bailey Willis was born at his parents' country estate at Idlewild-on-Hudson, near Cornwall, New York in 1857. He was the son of Nathaniel Parker Willis, a poet and journalist, and Cornelia (Grinnell) Willis of the prominent New England Grinnell family. His maternal granduncle, Henry Grinnell, was a benefactor of Arctic expeditions. His mother was instrumental in nurturing young Willis's interest in nature and exploration. After his father's death when Willis was ten years old, his mother, concerned about her son's "tendency to dream ineffectually," decided to train him in the stern disciplines of mathematics and science (Willis, A Yanqui in Patagonia 4). At the age of thirteen, Willis began schooling in Germany, where he received rigorous Prussian education.
Returning to New York in 1874, Willis entered the School of Mines at Columbia University, graduating with degrees in Mining Engineering in 1878 and Civil Engineering in 1879. After graduation Willis worked as an assistant for Raphael Pumpelly, a prominent geologist, by estimating iron and coal resources for the Northern Pacific Railroad. Geological work in the Pacific Northwest convinced Willis to support the preservation of Mount Rainier and its surroundings. The Mount Rainier National Park was established by law in 1899.
In 1882 Willis married his cousin Altona Holstein Grinnell. After her death in 1896, he married Margaret Delight Baker, daughter of anatomist Frank Baker. Margaret assisted Willis as draftsman and secretary.
Willis first earned international recognition as a geologist in the field of structural geology. Following the bankruptcy of the Northern Pacific Railway in 1884, Willis worked on assignments from the United States Geological Survey. While working in the southern Appalachian Mountains, he became interested in what had caused folding and faulting. By using laboratory experiments, Willis investigated the conditions causing the deformation of strata and published his new interpretation of the deformation in the report "The Mechanics of Appalachian Structure" (1893). This study established him as one of the country's leading structural geologists. His later book Geologic Structures (1923) went into three editions.
In addition to geological studies in the United States, Willis actively engaged himself in foreign expeditions throughout his life. From 1903 to1904, Willis led a scientific expedition to China under the auspices of the Carnegie Institution of Washington. With Eliot Blackwelder, an associate geologist, and R. H. Sargent, a topographer, the expedition investigated the geomorphology, stratigraphy, and paleontology of the country. The result of the expedition appeared as Research in China in 1907, which won a gold medal from the Geographic Society of France. Furthermore, in recognition of this work, Willis was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Berlin in 1910. In the same year the Argentine government invited Willis to conduct a geological survey of Patagonia for the region's irrigation potential.
In 1915, at age 59, Willis accepted a position of Chairman of the Department of Geology at Stanford University, where he remained affiliated as a professor emeritus after his retirement. In California, Willis extended his research to the area of seismology, and served as President of the Seismological Society of America. Believing in the permanence of continents, he held an oppositional view to the continental drift theories. In 1949, Willis died in Palo Alto, California at age 91.
Local Numbers:
FSA A1991.06
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository.
Showing sections of Alabama, D.C., Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, North Carolina, South Carolina; also legend, geological map of Kiowa Range.
Local Numbers:
NAA MS 2589
Local Note:
"Kiowa range= "Range of Kiowa tribe"-Published in 17th AR. See also 2905, 2912, Same ?
Topic:
Geology -- geologic map of "Kiowa range" Search this
Language and languages -- Documentation Search this
The George Barbour papers contain correspondence, field diaries, newspaper clippings, notes, photographs, and publications documenting his work with the Geological Survey of China in the 1930's and his lifelong interest in early man in China and other issues pertaining China.
Please note that the contents of the collection and the language and terminology used reflect the context and culture of the time of its creation. As an historical document, its contents may be at odds with contemporary views and terminology and considered offensive today. The information within this collection does not reflect the views of the Smithsonian Institution or National Anthropological Archives, but is available in its original form to facilitate research.
Biographical Note:
George Barbour was born in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1890. He earned an M.A. from Cambridge University in 1918 and a Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1929. He taught geology at a number of institutions including Yenching University (1923-1932) and the University of Cincinnati (1938-1960).
Related Materials:
The Human Studies Film Archives holds a film by George B. Barbour (HSFA 1981.5.6).
The Hoover Institution Library and Archives and the University of Cincinnati, Archives and Rare Books Library hold George B. Barbour papers.
Restrictions:
Access to the George Barbour papers requires an appointment.
These papers consist primarily of Ellis Leon Yochelson's correspondence, as Research Associate/Geologist with the United States Geological Survey. Much of the material
documents his research on Charles D. Walcott, including copies of Walcott correspondence and biographical sketches.
A New York bookseller, Warshaw assembled this collection over nearly fifty years. The Warshaw Collection of Business Americana: Geology forms part of the Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, Subseries 1.1: Subject Categories. The Subject Categories subseries is divided into 470 subject categories based on those created by Mr. Warshaw. These subject categories include topical subjects, types or forms of material, people, organizations, historical events, and other categories. An overview to the entire Warshaw collection is available here: Warshaw Collection of Business Americana
Scope and Contents:
This collection consists of materials dealing with the study of geology. There is correspondence from geological survey companies as well as journals and papers on geology. Researchers interested in the study of geology in the mid to late 19th century will find this information useful. There is an emphasis on Kentucky and Maryland Geological Surveys with related correspondence. One note from Kentucky concerns the location of coal on properties in that state (1888) and one from Maryland concerns instructions for testing building stones (1898). Publications cover a variety of topics. Although one article is published in England, the materials are primarily from the northeast United States during the mid nineteenth century. The container list has a more detailed description of each publication. Materials are arranged alphabetically by title.
Materials in the Archives Center:
Archives Center Collection of Business Americana (AC0404)
Forms Part Of:
Forms part of the Warshaw Collection of Business Americana.
Missing Title
Series 1: Business Ephemera
Series 2: Other Collection Divisions
Series 3: Isadore Warshaw Personal Papers
Series 4: Photographic Reference Material
Provenance:
Geology is a portion of the Business Ephemera Series of the Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, Accession AC0060 purchased from Isadore Warshaw in 1967. Warshaw continued to accumulate similar material until his death, which was donated in 1971 by his widow, Augusta. For a period after acquisition, related materials from other sources (of mixed provenance) were added to the collection so there may be content produced or published after Warshaw's death in 1969. This practice has since ceased.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research. Some items may be restricted due to fragile condition.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Warshaw Collection of Business Americana Subject Categories: Geology, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
Funding for partial processing of the collection was supported by a grant from the Smithsonian Institution's Collections Care and Preservation Fund (CCPF).
0.75 cu. ft. (1 document box) (1 half document box)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Field notes
Black-and-white photographs
Manuscripts
Date:
1944-1965 and undated
Descriptive Entry:
These papers consist of field notebooks and notes; a draft of a publication; and photographs of geologic formations.
Historical Note:
Franco Dino Rasetti (1901-2001) was born in Castiglione del Lago, Italy. He received his doctorate in physics from the University of Pisa, 1923, and honorary degrees
from Laval University, Ph.D., 1948, and the University of Glasgow, LL.D., 1957. He came to the United States in 1947 and became a naturalized citizen in 1952. In the early
1970s he returned to Italy.
Rasetti was an Assistant Professor of Physics at the University of Florence, 1923-1926, and the University of Rome, 1927-1930. He then became Professor of Physics at Rome,
1931-1938; Laval University, 1939-1947; and Johns Hopkins University, 1947-1970.
In addition to his academic appointments, Rasetti was a Rockefeller Foundation Fellow at the California Institute of Technology, 1928-1929; a fellow at Berlin's Kaiser
Wilhelm Institute, 1931-1932; a Research Associate at Columbia University, 1936; a Visiting Professor at the University of Miami, 1958-1959; a Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
Fellow, 1959; and a Consultant for the National Committee on Nuclear Research at Rome, 1959.
Although Rasetti was a nuclear physicist, his avocation was paleobiology with an emphasis on Cambrian Rockies. From 1964 to 1967, Rasetti was an Honorary Research Associate
in Invertebrate Paleontology at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History. He was a Fellow of the Geological Society of America and the Paleontological Society
and received the National Academy of Science's Walcott Medal in 1952.
2.58 cu. ft. (2 record storage boxes) (1 tall document box)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Books
Brochures
Clippings
Manuscripts
Drawings
Black-and-white photographs
Artifacts
Place:
ParÃcutin (Mexico)
ParÃcutin Volcano
Date:
circa 1935-1949
Descriptive Entry:
This accession consists of records documenting William F. Foshag's studies in Mexican geology. Foshag's notes on literature about Mexican geology make up a large portion
of the accession. Also included are illustrations and photographs for published papers, manuscripts, maps of stratigraphic sections, contour maps, and field notebooks (including
some observations of the ParÃcutin Volcano). Notebooks on Foshag's 1949 study of Central American jade objects include rubbings of objects and also small samples of jade taped
into the notebooks.
No access restrictions Many of SIA's holdings are located off-site, and advance notice is recommended to consult a collection. Please email the SIA Reference Team at osiaref@si.edu
No access restrictions Many of SIA's holdings are located off-site, and advance notice is recommended to consult a collection. Please email the SIA Reference Team at osiaref@si.edu
No access restrictions Many of SIA's holdings are located off-site, and advance notice is recommended to consult a collection. Please email the SIA Reference Team at osiaref@si.edu
No access restrictions Many of SIA's holdings are located off-site, and advance notice is recommended to consult a collection. Please email the SIA Reference Team at osiaref@si.edu
No access restrictions Many of SIA's holdings are located off-site, and advance notice is recommended to consult a collection. Please email the SIA Reference Team at osiaref@si.edu
No access restrictions Many of SIA's holdings are located off-site, and advance notice is recommended to consult a collection. Please email the SIA Reference Team at osiaref@si.edu
No access restrictions Many of SIA's holdings are located off-site, and advance notice is recommended to consult a collection. Please email the SIA Reference Team at osiaref@si.edu
No access restrictions Many of SIA's holdings are located off-site, and advance notice is recommended to consult a collection. Please email the SIA Reference Team at osiaref@si.edu
No access restrictions Many of SIA's holdings are located off-site, and advance notice is recommended to consult a collection. Please email the SIA Reference Team at osiaref@si.edu
No access restrictions Many of SIA's holdings are located off-site, and advance notice is recommended to consult a collection. Please email the SIA Reference Team at osiaref@si.edu
No access restrictions Many of SIA's holdings are located off-site, and advance notice is recommended to consult a collection. Please email the SIA Reference Team at osiaref@si.edu
No access restrictions Many of SIA's holdings are located off-site, and advance notice is recommended to consult a collection. Please email the SIA Reference Team at osiaref@si.edu
No access restrictions Many of SIA's holdings are located off-site, and advance notice is recommended to consult a collection. Please email the SIA Reference Team at osiaref@si.edu