Just like antique cars are difficult to come by nowadays, examples of early railroad and steamboat technology were hard to come by in 1892 when curator J. Elfreth Watkins and the Technological Collections Section were working to acquire examples of the complete timeline for the United States National Museum. Join our digital volunteers and help us transcribe this curator's account of how the Section addressed this challenge and other tasks between July, 1891 and June, 1892.
Just like antique cars are difficult to come by nowadays, examples of early railroad and steamboat technology were hard to come by in 1892 when curator J. Elfreth Watkins and the Technological Collections Section were working to acquire examples of the complete timeline for the United States National Museum. Join our digital volunteers and help us transcribe this curator's account of how the Section addressed this challenge and other tasks between July, 1891 and June, 1892.
The Smithsonian Institution Archives Record Unit 158 "United States National Museum, Curators' Annual Reports, 1881 - 1964."
The administration of the United States National Museum required curators to submit regular reports on the activities of the departments, divisions, and sections. Prior to about 1900 these reports were often made monthly and semi-annually as well as annually. The reports were traditionally submitted to the Director of the National Museum to be used in preparing the published Annual Report of the United States National Museum. The individual reports, however, were not reproduced in their entirety in the published Annual Report and generally contain more information than is to be found in the published version. Reports were stored by the Division of Correspondence and Documents, and later by the Office of the Registrar.
