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Helmut Karl Buechner Papers

Smithsonian Libraries and Archives

Object Details

Topic
Ecology
Mammalogy
See more items in
Helmut Karl Buechner Papers
Historical Note
Helmut Karl Buechner (1918-1975) was born in Scotia, New York. He received his B.S. degree from New York State College of Forestry, Syracuse University in 1941, and his M.S. degree from Texas A&M College, College Station in 1943. After completing military service, Buechner continued his education at Texas A&M College. For his Ph.D. thesis, Buechner did research on the range ecology of the pronghorn antelope in the Trans-Pecos region in southwest Texas, 1946-1947. Buechner taught herpetology at Texas A&M College during the Fall of 1947. In 1948, Buechner transferred to Oklahoma A&M College, Stillwater, where he received his Ph.D. degree in 1949. From 1948-1965, Buechner taught zoology and botany at Washington State College (now University), Pullman. In 1965, Buechner joined the Smithsonian Institution as the first director of the Office of Ecology. Buechner was Senior Ecologist for the Office of Environmental Sciences, 1969-1972, and from 1972 to 1975, he was Senior Ecologist for the National Zoological Park (NZP).
Extent
32.72 cu. ft. (31 record storage boxes) (4 12x17 boxes) (1 oversize folder)
Date
1939-1975
Archival Repository
Smithsonian Institution Archives
Identifier
Record Unit 7279
Type
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Maps
Manuscripts
Clippings
Field notes
Sound recordings
Color photographs
Color transparencies
Black-and-white negatives
Black-and-white photographs
Citation
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 7279, Helmut Karl Buechner Papers
Genre/Form
Maps
Manuscripts
Clippings
Field notes
Sound recordings
Color photographs
Color transparencies
Black-and-white negatives
Black-and-white photographs
Descriptive Entry
For the most part, these papers document Buechner's primary research interest, the ecology of terrestrial vertebrates, with emphasis on relationships to vegetation and social behavior. Included are Buechner's research on the pronghorn antelope, which contains field notes, journals, photographs, and reports to the Texas Cooperative Wildlife Unit, which sponsored Buechner's research; a study of elk and deer in relation to livestock and range in the Blue Mountains region of southeastern Washington, 1949-1960; and research on the bighorn sheep, 1954-1960, which contains correspondence with personnel at the bighorn sheep animal refuges, photographs, field notes, journal, and a manuscript of Buechner's book, The Bighorn Sheep in the United States, Its Past, Present, and Future, 1959. From 1956 to 1958, Buechner, as a Fulbright Scholar, conducted research in Uganda, on the elephant census and migration, the relationship of elephants to vegetation at Murchison Falls National Park, and reproduction of the Uganda kob. These papers include reports on aerial counts of elephants, photographs, field data and notes. During Buechner's stay in Uganda, he became interested in the unique territorial and mating behavior of the Uganda kob. Buechner made trips to Uganda's Toro Game Reserve to study the Uganda kob in 1959, 1962-1963, and 1972. Materials documenting these trips include maps, field observation data, transcriptions, audio recordings, photographs, machine readable data and analytical computations of kob movements by Buechner and H. Daniel Roth, 1965-1972. In addition, these papers contain photographs documenting Buechner's study of the ibex in Switzerland, taken when Buechner was consultant to the Swiss Foundation for Alpine Research during the summer of 1961; a report when Buechner was consultant to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization to study the elephants in relation to the Tana River Irrigation Project in Kenya in 1965; and reports when Buechner was consultant to Troy Meadows, in 1966, and to the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, in 1970, (both are located in New Jersey) to study the environmental impact of animals in relation to land within the parks. Additional material documents Buechner's feasibility studies on tracking free-roaming animals, such as elk, with the Interrogation Recording Location System (IRLS) satellite, 1969-1971, and includes incoming correspondence critical of the project, manuscripts, progress reports, and photographs; and a study of Indian rhinoceros mating behavior at the NZP, 1972, which led to the first successful live birth of this species in the Western Hemisphere, 1974, and includes photographs, tape recordings, and transcripts of observations made by volunteers and National Zoo staff. Other materials contained in these papers include general correspondence, mostly with university faculty, conservationists, park wardens, and naturalists, pertaining to Buechner's research; reading files, 1968-1972; Buechner's school notes and term papers when he was a student, 1939-1947; lecture material when Buechner taught herpetology at Texas A&M College, 1947; research proposal evaluations Buechner did for the National Science Foundation and the National Geographic Society; handbook written in conjunction with Lee H. Talbot for the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources; survey on usefulness of night vision devices; Buechner's proposed research projects at Washington State College (University); materials pertaining to various zoological and conservation organizations; theses by Buechner's former students; articles, abstracts, and book reviews written or co-authored by Buechner; information on projects in Ceylon, Israel, and Korea when Buechner was the head of the Office of Ecology; diplomas and certificates; audio recordings on elk immobilization, 1972, Earth Week Symposium, 1969, and a Panel on the Environment and Development, undated; group photographs of professional scientific organization meetings; Buechner's family photographs; photographs of NZP; and oversize material consisting of blueprints of the new deer area at NZP, 1972, and charts and graphs.
Related link
Record ID
ebl-1562162409197-1562162409213-0
Metadata Usage
CC0

In the Collection

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  • Vegetation: Agropyron-Poa Grassland (elevation 4000-5200 feet), 1952

  • Wildlife Diseases Conference, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut, August 24, 1973

  • Swiss Foundation for Alpine Research, 1961-1962

  • Memoranda, 1962-1965

  • Bighorn Sheep (3 folders)

  • Vegetation: Prunus Ceanothus Shrub (elevation 5200-630 feet), 1951

  • Field notes (transcribed from dictabelts), June 16-August 18, 1959

  • Kob: Black and white photographs

  • Maps of Uganda kob territorial grounds, with legends (unidentified) a-f

  • Elephant Census: Numbers and Migration Of Elephants in Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda, 1962-1963

  • Our Wildlife Legacy, D. L. Allen, 1954

  • National Geographic Society (NGS), 1972

  • Ro - Y, 1975

  • "Satellite (IRLS) tracking of elk": annual report, 1970

  • The Fulbright Wildlife Program in Uganda, 1958

  • International Union of Biological Sciences (IUBS), 17th General Assembly, 1970 (2 folders)

  • Zoology, 1946

  • "The postpartum-preconception interval in the Uganda kob," by Helmut K. Buechner and John A. Morrison, 1969

  • Bighorn Sheep: Idaho, Montana, Utah, 1954

  • Meetings, 1970-1971 (2 folders)

  • Teaching and Integrated Course in the Biological Sciences, 1953

  • "Satellite Tracking of Elk," Science, 1971

  • The Wildlife Society, March 5, 1961

  • Maps: Uganda

  • Bighorn Sheep, 1955: Problems in the Management of Bighorn Sheep, 1955

  • Reading File, July-December 1971

  • Elk checking station data, 1953

  • Birds of Kerr County, Texas, 1946

  • Ceremonial Mating Behavior in Uganda Kob by Helmut K. Buechner and Robert Schloeth, 1964 (3 folders)

  • Elk Immobilization, February 19, 1970, 1 reel

  • Box 20

  • Plant taxonomy, 1940

  • Field Notes, May 15, 1963

  • Vegetation: Journal and Field notes, 1951

  • Uganda films, correspondence pertaining to, 1959

  • "Lek territoriality, atruism, and social organization in the Uganda Kob Antelope," proposal, 1973

  • Reproduction in Uganda Kob with Special Reference to Behavior, 1964

  • Field notes and observations of tagged kob, rough notes, 1963

  • AMES Research Center: Investigations in Terrestrial Biology Using Aerospace Vehicles, January 21-22, 1971

  • Tropical Biology, 1966-1968

  • Vegetation, 1950s (2 folders)

  • Bighorn Sheep in the United States, 1960

  • Fawns, tagged and captive

  • Nature's Paradise, Jen and Des Bartlett, 1967

  • AIBS: meetings, 1969 and 1970 (2 folders)

  • Walter Leuthold: Ph.D. Dissertation, 1965

  • The Use of Composition from Harvest Data in Determining Mortalities of Deer and Elk Populations, 1953

  • National Science Foundation (NSF), 1961-1964

  • Elk: Duplicate checkout, 1960

  • Field Notes, June 1-2, 1963

  • Box 8

  • C - F, 1956-1958 (4 folders)

  • Maps: Murchison Falls National Park

  • Untitled

  • Polar Bears: International Meetings on Polar Bears, 1965-1966

  • Nomenclature

  • Box 32

  • Q, 1964

  • The Technique of Immobilization of Wild Animals as an Aid to Management and Control, 1960

  • Lake and stream survey, 1940

  • Upper Volta: Po National Park report, 1975

  • Unilateral Implantation in the Uganda Kob, 1961

  • Grass burning, 1962-1964

  • Tooth: age structure based on tooth sections - survival rate

  • Herpetology: Field Course, 1947

  • Logbook: use of privately owned motor vehicles by government officials (Buechner's), 1956-1958

  • Herd counts and surveys, 1962-1964

  • Elservier's Animal Encyclopedia: Pronghorn and Bison, 1969

  • Card 4 (NM Kob TGs 3, 6, 7), 1962-1964

  • Pronghorn

  • Field Notes, July 14-17, 1959

  • V, 1957

  • Elk: Results, 1960

  • Maxwell, James C. - animal tracking of large free roaming animals proposal, 1972

  • Oklahoma A & M College, Ph.D. degree, August 2, 1949

  • Elephant Study, Kenya, 1965

  • Bioecology and Biocenology in Wildlife Education, 1950

  • Washington State College Research Grant Proposal: "A Determination of Range Carrying Capacity for Livestock and Big Game in the Blue Mountains of Washington," 1955

  • "Satellite Wildlife Research Program," Final technical report, 1972

  • "Proposal for an experiment to track animals from artificial satellites," by Helmut K. Buechner and James C. Maxwell, 1968

  • Environmental Management Seminar, Harpers Ferry, December 18, 1969

  • W, 1958-1962

  • Conference on Land Use Problems in Areas Containing Game, Lake Tanyara, Tanganyika, February 20-23, 1961 (papers presented by Lee M. Talbot)

  • Photograph: 17th North American Wildlife Conference

  • B, 1972-1975

  • C, 1971-1974

  • Box 9

  • Washington State University Research Grant: Initiative Project Reports, 1963-1964

  • Observations by Dieter Bruckhadt, 1963 (transcribed from dictabelts)

  • Field notebooks, 1972 (Helmut K. Buechner)

  • Kob: Herding Areas

  • Survey of animal tracking, Raytheon consultant work, 1971

  • West Gallatin Elk Study (by Joe Gaab?), 1955

  • Notebook, 1972

  • Field Notes, 1954

  • NZP: miscellaneous

  • National Geographic Society, proposal, 1974

  • D, 1973-1974

  • Yellowstone National Park, 1958

  • A Guide to Bird Finding West of the Mississippi, Olin Sewall Pettingill, Jr., 1953

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