This presentation introduces the Field Book Project, provides an overview of field books and their importance, and suggests what you should do if you find field books in your personal collections. Presented by Sonoe Nakasone, August 2011 at the Smithsonian Archives Fair Lecture Series.

2. • Joint initiative between the National Museum of
Natural History and the Smithsonian Institution
Archives
• Mission: one online location for field book content.
• Beginning as a Smithsonian-wide initiative and
eventually including the entire biodiversity
community.

3. What is a Field Book?
*Primary source document. A record of field events leading up
to and including the collection of biological specimens.
Typical Field books Less typical field books
(may include)
• Specimen Lists • Hand drawn Maps
• Journals with descriptions • Sketches
of collecting specimen • Photographs
• Field Correspondence

10. What is a Field Book?
*Primary source document. A record of field events leading up
to and including the collection of biological specimens.
Typical Field books Less typical field books
(may include)
• Specimen Lists • Hand drawn Maps
• Journals with accounts of • Sketches
collecting specimen • Photographs
• Field Correspondence

11. Other kinds of notes
• Depict specimens and
surrounding environment.
• Illustrate precise location
specimen was found.
• Expound or comment on
what was found.
• Something extra.

12. Field books meet several research needs
• Specific location information for specimen
• Itinerary information
• Environmental context
• Historic snapshot

13. Presented by Rusty Russell to the Society For The
Preservation of Natural History Collections

14. Presented by Rusty Russell to the Society For The
Preservation of Natural History Collections
Collected at Tucson May 15—this is a very common
plant throughout southern Ariz. In many places it is
a troublesome weed. The vine sometimes 30 feet
long climb over bushes and small trees. It produces
flowers until late in the fall. Most abundant along
marshes and creeks.

15. Conservation and Management
Photo
credit: Photo
Nora credit:
Lockshin Anna
Friedman
Preservation efforts headed by Conservator Anna Friedman are funded by the
National Park Service Save America’s Treasures grant.

16. What if there are field books in my family papers?
Illustration in a moldy
Proceed With Caution and Care A book of 19th century
scientific reports of
book, by Shannon Ramos,
national exploration
Creative Commons:
expeditions from SIA’s
Attribution 2.0.
Reference Room library,
Retrieved from October suffering from a cracked
28, 2010 article by spine and brittle paper,
Catherine Shteynberg on Courtesy of Michal Long.
The Bigger Picture. Retrieved from
September 30, 2010
article on The Bigger
Picture:
http://siarchives.si.edu/
Advise about caring for your collections The Bigger Picture : blog/taking-care-our-
own
http://siarchives.si.edu/blog/you-asked-we-answered-taking-care-your-own-
archives
Wikimedia
Commons,
retrieved
September
13, 2011

17. What if there are field books in my family papers?
Learn More About the Field Notes and Creator
• Who was your relative?
• Was collecting a job or
hobby
• If collecting was part of
their job, where did they
work?
http://www.ubio.org/portal/
• What locations and date
http://Eol.org
ranges are there?
• What Kind of Specimen are
they collecting?

18. What if there are field books in my family papers?
Is It Appropriate to Keep or to Donate?
• Historical significance: • What condition are they
locally, nationally, or in?
internationally
• Do the specimens belong • Do the field books match
to an institution? the scope of the
Check specimen catalogs of repository you want to
institutions your relative worked donate to?
for or contact the department’s
collections manager.

19. Acknowledgements
Rusty Russell Anne Van Camp
Collections & Informatics, Botany Director, SI Archives
Carolyn Sheffield, Project Manager
Sonoe Nakasone, Cataloging Coordinator
Lesley Parilla, Cataloger and Graphics Designer
Emily Hunter, Cataloger
Kira Cherrix, Image and Video Digitization Specialist, SIA
Ricc Ferrante, Director of Digital Services, SIA
Tammy Peters, Supervisory Archivist, SIA
Nora Lockshin, Paper Conservator, SIA
Sarah Stauderman, Collections Care Manager, SIA
Kirsten Tyree, Conservation Technician, SIA

20. Please Visit Our Website at
http://mnh.si.edu/rc/fieldbooks/
Blog:
http://nmnh.typepad.com/fieldbooks
/
Flickr:
http://tinyurl.com/fbpflickr
Questions?
Carolyn Sheffield, Project Manager
sheffieldc@si.edu