Call Number:

WC124

Repository:

Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division

Extent:

4 boxes

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Identification of specific item; Date (if known); C. Hart Merriam Collection, Box and Folder Number; Special Collections, Princeton University Library.

Date:

1891-1925 (inclusive)

Creator:

Merriam, C. Hart (Clinton Hart), 1855-1942 and Murie, O.J.

Form:

Black-and-white prints (prints on paper)., Color prints (prints)., Photogravures (prints)., and Photographs.

Abstract:

Consists of a fragment of the Merriam archive on the Harriman Alaska Expedition (1899) as well as other materials relating to documentation of Alaskan wildlife and native peoples in the early 1890s. Most of the material is the result of proofing the illustration of a series of published papers documenting the expedition and its findings.

C. Hart Merriam was an American zoologist, ornithologist, entomologist, and ethnographer. In 1886, he became the first chief of the Division of Economic Ornithology and Mammalogy of the United States Department of Agriculture, predecessor to the National Wildlife Research Center and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. He was one of the original founders of the National Geographic Society in 1888. In 1899, he helped railroad magnate E. H. Harriman to organize an exploratory voyage along the Alaska coastline. He died in Berkeley, California in 1942.

The collection contains approximately 300 gravures of Alaska and 103 silver gelatin and albumen photographs (ranging from 5x8 to 38x28 cm.), the majority of which are attributed to Merriam. Other photographers include Walter D. Wilcox, O.J. Murie, and Donald R. Dickey. There are also a number of maps, diagrams, some correspondence, and typewritten manuscripts related to publication.

Arranged in four boxes.