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June 13, 1939

Mr. Gerard Piel
Life Magazine
Time & Life Building
Rockefeller Center
New York City

Dear Mr. Piel:

Thank you for your letter. The pictures and publications arrived safely yesterday.

The real scientific worth of the material collected by many an expedition is not known until some years later. It takes time to study the material and get the reports about it published. Scenes taken during the course of an expedition are another matter. The pictures that I sent you of the new species should really have been newsworthy from the point of view of your publication because, as you may know, in science the names of new species, including of course those that were named for the President, actually date from the day that the publication in which they appear is issued. For instance, the mollusks date from today, June 13th, the day that the publication is being distributed. That is why in my one letter to you I stated that those pictures could not be released before the 13th of the month. Those species are new as of today, irrespective of the date of collection. True enough, the actual cruise is now nearly a year out of date.

Does your organization have a few words available regarding your policies with respect to pictures? Timeliness, I know, must be a guiding principle with you.

I shall certainly bear in mind your suggestion and let you yourself know when next I return from a field trip.

With kind regards,
Sincerely,

Waldo L. Schmitt, Curator,
Division of Marine Invertebrates.
WLS:LMc