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William Healey Dall Papers

Smithsonian Libraries and Archives

Finding aid
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Object Details

sova.sia.faru7073
Topic
Invertebrate zoology
Natural history
Paleontology
See more items in
William Healey Dall Papers
Historical Note
Dean of Alaskan explorations and one of the last of the disappearing class of "systematic naturalists," which included Agassiz, Baird, and Audubon, William H. Dall (1845-1927) was born in Boston to Charles Henry Appleton Dall, a Unitarian minister, and Caroline Wells (Healey), a feminist and publicist. Educated in the public school system, Dall did not go on to attend Harvard after graduating from the Boston Latin School. Instead, he pursued his interests in zoology and medicine by studying under the guidance of Agassiz, Augustus A. Gould, and Jeffries Wyman. Dall's special interest in mollusca came about quite accidentally as a result of his reading Gould's Report on the Invertebrata of Massachusetts. Dall soon left for Chicago to earn his livelihood, and there he met Robert Kennicott and William Stimpson, both members of the Chicago Academy of Sciences, where Dall attended evenings to continue his scientific studies. When Kennicott was given command of the Western Union Telegraph Expedition to Alaska in 1865, whose mission was to find a means of establishing a communications system with Europe by way of Alaska, the Bering Straits, and Asia, Dall, aged twenty, was invited along as a member of the group's scientific party. Upon Kennicott's death in 1866, Dall was placed in charge of the Scientific Corps. When the expedition was abruptly terminated by the successful laying of the Atlantic cable, Dall volunteered to stay on an extra year in order to complete the scientific project. In 1871, Dall was appointed to the United States Coast Survey (USCS), under whose auspices he continued his studies on Alaska and the northern Pacific Coast. Dall left the USCS in 1884 to accept the rank of paleontologist with the United States Geological Survey (USGS), a position which he held until 1925. Having forwarded fossil specimens he had collected as a youth to the Smithsonian Institution, and with the collections of the Alaskan expedition being sent there also, Dall, upon his arrival in Washington, D.C., in 1868, voluntarily began to assemble and describe the collections of mollusca and other organisms stored by the United States National Museum (USNM) while working on his publication regarding Alaska. In 1880, Dall was officially appointed honorary curator at the USNM, Division of Mollusks, a position he held until his death and without remuneration, as he could not be paid for both his work with the USGS and the USNM. Dall was a prolific writer. Between his earliest writings on the Alaskan expedition in 1865 as a correspondent for the Alta California until his death in 1927, Dall published more than five-hundred scientific short papers. Among his larger works, Dall's Contributions to the Tertiary Fauna of Florida, 6 volumes (1890-1903), is still considered the most important American publication on cenozoic molluscan paleontology. Dall's other writings include Alaska and its Resources (1870) and his biography, Spencer Fullerton Baird (1915). Among his honorary degrees and awards, Dall was awarded the Gold Medal by the Wagner Free Institute of Science, Philadelphia (1899), for his work on paleontology; the Honorary Doctor of Science degree, University of Pennsylvania (1904); and the Honorary Doctor of Laws degree, George Washington University (1915).
Extent
32.36 cu. ft. (5 record storage boxes) (51 document boxes) (1 half document box) (4 5x8 boxes) (3 oversize folders)
Date
circa 1839-1858, 1862-1927
Archival Repository
Smithsonian Institution Archives
Identifier
Record Unit 7073
Type
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Scientific illustrations
Photographs
Maps
Diaries
Field notes
Scrapbooks
Citation
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 7073, William Healey Dall Papers
Genre/Form
Scientific illustrations
Photographs
Maps
Diaries
Field notes
Scientific illustrations
Scrapbooks
Introduction
This finding aid was digitized with funds generously provided by the Smithsonian Institution Women’s Committee.
Descriptive Entry
This collection contains papers documenting the scientific and personal life of Dall, especially the Western Union Telegraph Expedition to Alaska (1865-1868). Included are daily diaries, 1865-1927; Western Union Telegraph Expedition material containing diaries, scrapbooks, field notes, financial accounts, specimen collection notebooks and incoming and outgoing correspondence regarding Alaskan towns, topography, mineral resources, biology and zoology of Alaska, customs of the Russian-Americans and Alaskan Indian natives, along with sketches of the latter, their housing, clothing and utensils; description of the intrigue among the members of the Western Union Telegraph Expedition; Robert Kennicott's field notes; Dall correspondence regarding Kennicott's leadership of the expedition; Dall and others regarding Kennicott's death; diaries, correspondence, financial accounts, specimen collection notebooks and field notes regarding Dall's explorations to Alaska (1871-1876, 1879-1880) under the United States Coast Survey, and his explorations to the Pacific coast and Florida under the United States Geological Survey; reports to Secretary of State, Thomas Francis Bayard, regarding the Alaska-Canada Boundary Question, 1885, 1888; reports for the United States Coast Survey, United States Geological Survey, Division of Cenozoic Paleontology, and United States National Museum, Division of Mollusks, regarding their progress under Dall's leadership; incoming and outgoing correspondence between Dall and his colleagues, administrators of scientific and educational organizations, editors, publishers, family members, friends, private collectors of mollusca, and scientific and social societies regarding membership and membership meetings, identification of fossil collections, publications and manuscripts, personal and family problems, student theses, appointment to the United States Geological Survey, honorary degrees, politics, economics, social conditions in Washington, D.C., and Dall's personal views regarding his own professional competency and social status; awards; photographs of Dall, his friends, and members of his expeditions; publications on mollusca, catalogues of mollusk lists, mollusk plates on Dall's Contributions to the Tertiary Fauna of Florida, and his unpublished work on Hawaiian Island mollusca; Dall's manuscript biography of Spencer Fullerton Baird; Dall's publications and newspaper articles; poetry written by his father; and material on the genealogy of Dall and his family.
SIA.FARU7073
https://sova.si.edu/record/SIA.FARU7073
Record Unit 7073
SIA
Record ID
ebl-1503511052100-1503511052122-0

Showing 691 result(s)

  • Electronic resource 17 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • Archival materials 691 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • William Healey Dall Papers 691 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • William Healey Dall Papers / Series 4: GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE, 1865-1927. INCOMING AND OCCASIONAL OUTGOING. ARRANGED ALPHABETICALLY AND CHRONOLOGICALLY THEREUNDER. / Box 14 50 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • William Healey Dall Papers / Series 4: GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE, 1865-1927. INCOMING AND OCCASIONAL OUTGOING. ARRANGED ALPHABETICALLY AND CHRONOLOGICALLY THEREUNDER. / Box 13 49 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • William Healey Dall Papers / Series 4: GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE, 1865-1927. INCOMING AND OCCASIONAL OUTGOING. ARRANGED ALPHABETICALLY AND CHRONOLOGICALLY THEREUNDER. / Box 10 45 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • William Healey Dall Papers / Series 4: GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE, 1865-1927. INCOMING AND OCCASIONAL OUTGOING. ARRANGED ALPHABETICALLY AND CHRONOLOGICALLY THEREUNDER. / Box 11 43 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • William Healey Dall Papers / Series 4: GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE, 1865-1927. INCOMING AND OCCASIONAL OUTGOING. ARRANGED ALPHABETICALLY AND CHRONOLOGICALLY THEREUNDER. / Box 15 42 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • William Healey Dall Papers / Series 4: GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE, 1865-1927. INCOMING AND OCCASIONAL OUTGOING. ARRANGED ALPHABETICALLY AND CHRONOLOGICALLY THEREUNDER. / Box 18 40 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • William Healey Dall Papers / Series 4: GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE, 1865-1927. INCOMING AND OCCASIONAL OUTGOING. ARRANGED ALPHABETICALLY AND CHRONOLOGICALLY THEREUNDER. / Box 16 38 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • William Healey Dall Papers / Series 4: GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE, 1865-1927. INCOMING AND OCCASIONAL OUTGOING. ARRANGED ALPHABETICALLY AND CHRONOLOGICALLY THEREUNDER. / Box 17 37 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • William Healey Dall Papers / Series 4: GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE, 1865-1927. INCOMING AND OCCASIONAL OUTGOING. ARRANGED ALPHABETICALLY AND CHRONOLOGICALLY THEREUNDER. / Box 9 37 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • William Healey Dall Papers / Series 4: GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE, 1865-1927. INCOMING AND OCCASIONAL OUTGOING. ARRANGED ALPHABETICALLY AND CHRONOLOGICALLY THEREUNDER. / Box 12 35 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • William Healey Dall Papers / Series 4: GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE, 1865-1927. INCOMING AND OCCASIONAL OUTGOING. ARRANGED ALPHABETICALLY AND CHRONOLOGICALLY THEREUNDER. / Box 8 31 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • William Healey Dall Papers / Series 4: GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE, 1865-1927. INCOMING AND OCCASIONAL OUTGOING. ARRANGED ALPHABETICALLY AND CHRONOLOGICALLY THEREUNDER. / Box 6 29 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • William Healey Dall Papers / Series 17: ACCRETIONS TO THE COLLECTION 17 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • William Healey Dall Papers / Series 4: GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE, 1865-1927. INCOMING AND OCCASIONAL OUTGOING. ARRANGED ALPHABETICALLY AND CHRONOLOGICALLY THEREUNDER. 13 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • William Healey Dall Papers / Series 4: GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE, 1865-1927. INCOMING AND OCCASIONAL OUTGOING. ARRANGED ALPHABETICALLY AND CHRONOLOGICALLY THEREUNDER. / Box 7 13 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • William Healey Dall Papers / Series 1: PUBLICATIONS, NEWSPAPER CLIPPINGS, AWARDS, PHOTOGRAPHS, BIOGRAPHICAL AND AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL MATERIAL. / Box 1 12 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • William Healey Dall Papers / Series 13: NOTES, MOLLUSK LISTS, MANUSCRIPTS, AND CORRESPONDENCE, 1862-C. 1923. / Box 34 6 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • William Healey Dall Papers / Series 17: ACCRETIONS TO THE COLLECTION / Box 50 6 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • William Healey Dall Papers / Series 17: ACCRETIONS TO THE COLLECTION / Box 51 6 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • William Healey Dall Papers / Series 6: DIARIES, 1865-1927 AND UNDATED. 6 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • William Healey Dall Papers / Series 12: EXPEDITION MATERIAL AND REPORTS, 1861-1925. ARRANGED MOSTLY CHRONOLOGICALLY. / Box 32 5 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • William Healey Dall Papers / Series 13: NOTES, MOLLUSK LISTS, MANUSCRIPTS, AND CORRESPONDENCE, 1862-C. 1923. / Box 33 5 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • William Healey Dall Papers / Series 17: ACCRETIONS TO THE COLLECTION / Box 39 5 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • William Healey Dall Papers / Series 17: ACCRETIONS TO THE COLLECTION / Box 48 5 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • No 653 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • Yes 38 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • ead_component 691 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus

Clear facet(s):

Included:

  • Remove Metadata Usage: CC0 close
  • DIARIES, 1865-1927 AND UNDATED.

  • Newspaper articles regarding Dall and his mother, Caroline Healey Dall, 1865-1918

  • NOTEBOOKS, 1871-1882. UNITED STATES COAST SURVEY NOTEBOOKS, NATURAL HISTORY AND BIBLIOGRAPHIC NOTEBOOKS. ARRANGED CHRONOLOGICALLY.

  • Box 21A

  • Box 24

  • Box 1

  • Box 24A

  • Folders 10-13 Field Notes

  • Box 25

  • Box 18

  • Box 33

  • Folder 6 Western Union Telegraph Expedition. Papers from William H. Dall to Robert Kennicott including:

  • Box 2

  • The following material consists mostly of field notes taken from Dall's explorations to Florida, the Pacific Coast, Alaska, and Hawaii. The entire material is as follows:

  • GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE, 1865-1927. INCOMING AND OCCASIONAL OUTGOING. ARRANGED ALPHABETICALLY AND CHRONOLOGICALLY THEREUNDER.

  • NOTEBOOKS, 1887-1910. UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY AND NATURAL HISTORY NOTEBOOKS INCLUDING NOTEBOOKS WITHOUT DATES. ARRANGED CHRONOLOGICALLY.

  • Years 1865-1869

  • Photographs of the Wagner Free Institute of Science Medal awarded to Dall, 1899

  • Four Dall Photographs - On expedition, no date

  • Years 1895-1904

  • Box 31

  • Catalogue of collections in natural history made in the North Pacific and sent to the Smithsonian Institution through Captain C. M. Scammon, U.S.R.M., 1865;

  • Folders 7-9 Field Notes

  • Years 1869-1879


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