USNM Curators Annual Reports: Department of Marine Invertebrates

In the early years of the United States National Museum, opened to the public in 1881, one focus was to continue acquiring and processing marine invertebrate specimens to form a comprehensive collection from which to gain greater understanding and to share that with researchers and the public. The Department of Marine Invertebrates was led by Richard Rathbun (1852 - 1918), a zoologist who joined the Smithsonian in 1974 as part of its U.S. Fish Commission. A bout of yellow fever contracted while on expedition in 1877 did little to deter him from the work to expand our understanding of these animals and making it possible for others to use this collection in their own research. Join other transcription volunteers to help us make the first four years of the Department's annual reports more accessible to researchers, scholars and learners everywhere. To learn more about the rest of the United States National Museum Curators Annual Reports collection, check out the finding aid made available by the Smithsonian Institution Archives.