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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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  • Animal Dispersion in Relation to Social Behavior, V. C. Wynne-Edwards, 1961

  • Diagrams showing kob movements in TG 6

  • Herpetology: Lab notes, 1947

  • Vegetation

  • Field notebook, October 15, 1962-May 21, 1963 (Helmut K. Buechner)

  • Histories of tagged males - tables, 1962-1964

  • Forest administration, 1940

  • Territorial Behavior in Uganda Kob, Adenota Kob Thomasi, 1960

  • Herd composition counts, 1962-1963

  • Field notebook, September 13, 1962-June 25, 1963 (Walter Leuthold)

  • Field Notes, TG 6, May 26-27 and pm of June 1, 1963

  • Mountain Sheep: A Study in Behavior and Evolution, Valerius Geist, 1971

  • Vegetation, 1942

  • Untitled

  • Elk and deer mortality (charts and graphs) - Tables #2, #14

  • Journal of Animal Management, 1956

  • Journal of Wildlife Management, 1951

  • Cummings Creek, Blue Mountains, Washington, 1950

  • Satellite Systems Survey

  • Ford Foundation, 1959

  • Fulbright Scholar reports, 1958-1960 (2 folders)

  • Troy Meadows (New Jersey): Environmental impact study, 1966

  • Vegetation: Agropyron-Poa Grassland (elevation 4000-5200 feet), 1951

  • The World of the Pronghorn, Joe Van Wormer, 1969

  • Field Notes, Received September 12, 1959

  • Vegetation: Abies Lasiocarpa Forest (elevation 5200-6300 feet), 1951

  • A - H, 1965-1972 (8 folders)

  • W, 1956-1958

  • Field notes: TG #6, September 3, 1962-June 26, 1963 (transcribed from dictabelts)

  • Card 4 (Tagged males TG 7), 1962-1964

  • Unidentified correspondence, 1962-1965

  • Elephant Aerial Count, August 6-9, 1959

  • Itineraries

  • "Report on Southern Trip," 1940

  • References

  • Comparison of activities of single-territorial and territorial ground (TG) males, 1963-1964

  • V - Z, 1962-1965 (3 folders)

  • Tables of vegetation

  • Untitled

  • Project, 1972-1974 (2 folders)

  • Bighorn sheep data, 1954

  • Cumming Creek, Blue Mountains, Washington, 1950

  • Journal, 1948: This journal includes the period in which Buechner lived in Stillwater, Oklahoma, and the move to Washington State, and pertains mostly to a study of quail restocking.

  • Elephant Survey: Report on the Potential Conflict between Elephants and Agriculture in the Proposed Tana River Irrigation Scheme, 1965

  • Vegetation: Blue Mountains, Washington

  • Tracking green turtles by satellite study, 1970-1972

  • Bighorn Sheep: Rocky Mountains

  • Range Ecology of the Pronghorn on the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge, 1950

  • Vegetation: Holodiscus Shrub (elevation 4000-5200 feet), 1951

  • O - P, 1962-1965

  • "Territorial and reproductive behavior in Uganda kob," by Helmut K. Buechner, 1961 (NSF grant #8613)

  • African Animals - Immobilizing

  • Satellite Tracking of Elk (includes slides)

  • Kob: Sketches by Fritz Walther

  • "Satellite Tracking of Caribou," proposal by Helmut K. Buechner, 1970

  • Ungulates (NZP): used for AAZPA meeting, May 21, 1974

  • Human Ecology Seminar, George Washington University, November 19, 1970

  • Untitled

  • H. Daniel Roth: tables

  • Miscellaneous correspondence, 1954-1956, 1959

  • Box 23

  • Survey, plankton, vegetation and fish life, 1940

  • Kenya - Giraffe and Kob, June 23-26, 1959

  • Elk census and kill statistics in the Blue Mountains, 1947-1956

  • Elk: Antler measurements, 1956

  • Earth resources satellites, 1972

  • The Ecosystem Level of Organization, 1971

  • Field Notes and Research Material - Colorado, 1955

  • Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge, 1949

  • IRLS tracking of African elephants, 1966-1972

  • Brian K. Follet correspondence and research, 1965-1967

  • IRLS tracking of elks - second progress report, April 18, 1970

  • Cougar: survey, 1956

  • Untitled

  • Correspondence, June 15, 1959

  • National Geographic Society Grant, 1972

  • Phi Kappa Phi, December 5, 1940

  • Box 15

  • Christine Schoenwald: Study proposals, 1974

  • Field Notes, December 28, 1962

  • The Opening between the Allantoic Vesicle and the Uterine Cavity in the Kob Conceptus, 1969

  • ASZ: Meetings, 1968-1969 (2 folders)

  • Reproduction data, 1957-1958

  • Box 4

  • Memorandum of Understanding, 1971

  • Special report - Field observations on bighorn sheep: Sun River Country, Lewis and Clark National Forest - Augusta, Montana, December 20-29, 1954

  • Satellite Tracking: Satellite and Ground Radiotracking of Elk, January 1971, as Submitted BIAC for Wallops Island Symposium

  • Movies: "Wild Animals in Uganda National Parks," 1960-1961

  • Journal, 1946-1947

  • R - T, 1965-1972 (3 folders)

  • Printed materials - Arizona

  • Duration of stay on territorial grounds

  • Kn - Ko, 1956-1958

  • Diagrams

  • Field Notes, August 1-3, 1959

  • Field notes, 1961

  • Field Notes, 1952 (Mill Creek Watershed)

  • Field Notes and Research Material - Arizona, 1955-1956

  • Wildlife Monitoring Conference, 1973

  • Natural Land and Water Reserves System, 1966 (report)

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