William Healey Dall - Field Notes, Oregon and California, 1890

Ever wonder what can be found in the layers of sediment in Oregon?s Fossil Lake, an area rich with some of the most Holocene-era fossils in the world? The Smithsonian has been conducting research there since the late 1800s, when naturalist William Healey Dall surveyed the region. Dall's field notes from 1890 detail his time collecting fossils in California and Oregon, and offer a unique look at the excavation process. In addition to diagrams of sediment and descriptions of collecting procedures, Dall's notes include lists of fossils organized by geological time period. Dall himself later published the first comprehensive study of Oregon invertebrates, and went on to serve as an Honorary Curator of the US National Museum's Division of Mollusks from 1880 until his death in 1927. Explore Oregon with Dall and help transcribe this incredible set of field notes!