Attached Photos/Archival Material: http://bit.ly/2b3ZXC6

All images credit: © Wildlife Conservation Society

Photo descriptions follow press release

Bronx N.Y.  –August 9, 2016- The WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society) Archives has launched a project to process 13 important historical collections, making the materials better accessible to those who need them. The project is supported by a $60,237 grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC).

A total of 191.25 linear feet of archival material will be processed. Among the collections to be processed are:

 

  • Records of WCS President Fairfield Osborn: A leader in the modern conservation movement with a particular interest in the environmental effects of human overpopulation, Osborn served as WCS President from 1940 to 1968.

 

  • Records of Bronx Zoo General Curator Lee S. Crandall: One of the most highly respected U.S. “zoo men” of his era and the author of Management of Wild Mammals in Captivity (1964), a foundational text of the zoo profession, Crandall began working in the Bronx Zoo’s Ornithology Department in 1908 and served as General Curator Emeritus until his death in 1969.

 

  • Scientific illustrations done by the Society’s Department of Tropical Research, circa 1916-1956: Headed by famed naturalist William Beebe, the Department of Tropical Research led groundbreaking ecological studies in tropical regions from the 1910s to the 1960s; their observations were documented through scientific illustrations.

The collections document the mid-twentieth-century American environmental and wildlife conservation movements.  They reveal the evolution of exhibit design and animal care in zoos and aquariums, and provide exceptional glimpses into both zoo- and conservation-based activities in the United States.

 

The WCS Archives anticipates that this project will benefit its most frequent users: historians. Other common archives users—including WCS staff, genealogists, and those with fond memories of their own histories spent at WCS’s zoos and aquarium—will also find great worth within these collections. The WCS Archives’ collections are important because they record key events and aspects of the history of American zoos and aquariums, the history of New York cultural institutions, and the history of U.S.-led wildlife conservation activities.

 

The project is scheduled for completion in June 2017.

 

For more information or to speak with a WCS expert, contact Max Pulsinelli at 718-220-5182 or mpulsinelli@wcs.org.

 

Attached photos (descriptions):

WCS-1004-Memorabilia-FrankBuckBadge:  Lee Crandall’s 1939 World’s Fair badge from the famed animal collector Frank Buck.  From WCS Archives Collection 1004, Lee Crandall records.

 

WCS-1004-Memorabilia-IUZNBadges: Lee Crandall’s badges from International Union of Directors of Zoological Gardens conferences.  The IUDZG later became WAZA, the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums.  From WCS Archives Collection 1004, Lee Crandall records.

 

WCS-1029-Schaller-Osborn-1960-03-19: Fairfield Osborn oversaw the development of WCS’s conservation program during the 1950s and 1960s, which included the funding of early work by field biologist George Schaller.  In 1960, Osborn and his wife Marjorie visited George and Kay Schaller while George Schaller was conducting his pioneering research on mountain gorillas in Central Africa.  From WCS Archives Collection 1029, Henry Fairfield Osborn Jr. records.

 

WCS-1039-1831-GS-LongicornBeetle:  Illustration of a longicorn beetle done by Department of Tropical Research artist George Swanson during the DTR’s 1940s ecological expeditions in Venezuela.  From WCS Archives Collection 1039, Department of Tropical Research illustrations.

 

WCS-1039-BU005-EB-KAS: Swivel-toothed dragonfish pursuing luminescent squids.  Illustration by Department of Tropical Research artist Else Bostelmann done during the DTR’s 1930s ecological expeditions off the coast of Bermuda.  From WCS Archives Collection 1039, Department of Tropical Research illustrations.