Introducing the Edmund Otis Hovey Records collection
What initially started as two bankers boxes of materials has turned into a lovely collection of nine organized boxes. Over the past few weeks I’ve developed an appreciation for geology and it’s many aspects from this collection. E.O. Hovey was particularly interested in volcanoes and earthquakes and had made numerous trips to the Caribbean to study Mt. Pele on Martinique, which erupted in 1902, 1903, and 1908. I had always associated volcanoes with the Pacific Ring of Fire; however, this volcano seems to have been quite active in the beginning of the last century.
In the last box I have placed all of Ettie Hovey’s travel journals together. Ettie was Edmund’s first wife who joined him on numerous trips between 1891 to 1903. It was interesting to read parts of her journals and see how she refused to be a “geology widow” who stayed home. Rather, she gamely followed Edmund around the world and visited sites that interested her. Some of the things she wrote about were architecture, museum exhibitions, and the garments of Turkish women. This is not to say she didn’t join her husband in the field. In the front cover of one of her books she includes the inscription: “Three times during the writing of this book I have sat at a table….all the rest has been written while I was sitting on the ground waiting for Otis to study rocks or at odd times when we were waiting for a train.”
It’s been a fantastic experience getting to know this wonderful couple and leafing through their beautiful handwriting. It’s also been great being able to put my coursework to use. Thank you to Barbara, Becca, Iris and everyone here at the Library for making this such a great semester!
Happy Holidays!
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Describing Expeditionary field work at the AMNH
These posts describe recent discoveries and observations by the project team.In 2012, the Research Library of the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) was awarded a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, through a program administered by the Council on Library and Information Resources’ (CLIR) Cataloging Hidden Collections. The AMNH Archive Project will produce in-depth descriptions, called finding aids, for major archival collections relating to Museum expeditions. The project will also result in brief histories of these expeditions and biographies of those who participated in them.
Available Finding Aids (PDF)
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Ainu AMNH library catalog Anthropology Archives Archbold Archival Arrangement Authority Names CAT Cataloging CLIR 2010 clir 2012 Correspondence Crocker Land Department of Preparation and Installation Department Records EAC-CPF expeditions Fall 2011 Field Notes Finding Aid finding aids Hayden Planetarium Herpetology Archives hidden connections IMLS LARA linked data Mammalogy Archives Manuscript Collection Maps Museum History Non-Curatorial Field Notes Ornithology Archives Paleontology Archives Phase 2 photographs Photo Print Collection Processing Research Library Risk Assessment Slide Collection Spring 2011 Spring 2012 Summer 2011 Summer 2012 T. Don CarterLinks to Related Sites
- Encoded Archival Context – Corporate Bodies, Persons, and Families (EAC-CPF)
- Bowdoin College Crocker Land Expedition Blog
- PACSCL Hidden Collections Processing Project
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- Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History Archives and Special Collections Blog
- Metropolitan New York Library Council
- Linked Data