the russell e. train africana collection: an archival safari through photographs, sketchbooks,...
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The Russell E. Train Africana Collection: An Archival Safari
Diane ShawSmithsonian Institution LibrariesArchives Fair, October 22, 2010
Judge Russell E. Train
• Background in Law (Attorney, Specialist in Tax Law, and a Judge in Tax Court)
• Administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency From 1973-1977
• Former President of The Conservation Foundation and the World Wildlife Fund
• Collected Books About Africa Since Boyhood; First Visited Africa in 1950s with His Wife Aileen
• SIL Acquired His Collection in 2004 (With Later Additions)
What is the Russell E. Train Africana Collection About?
• Big Game Hunting and African Safaris, Wildlife Conservation, and European and American Explorers in Africa
• Chiefly 18th and 19th Century Materials, Although Includes Items from 1663 Through 1996
• Topics Complement Smithsonian Collections in Natural History, African Art, and the History of the Smithsonian
What’s in the Russell E. Train Collection?
• Over 1500 Printed Books• Approximately 1500 Unbound Manuscripts• 85 Bound Manuscripts and Scrapbooks• 4000 Photographic Prints• 20 Maps• Newsclippings• 270 Artworks• 100 Human-Created and Natural Artifacts
Memorabilia and Publications from President Theodore Roosevelt’s African Safari with Edmund Heller, 1909-1910
Portrait of Theodore Roosevelt with a Rhinoceros shot
Portrait of Theodore Roosevelt with a Rhinoceros Shot During His 1909-1910 African Safari
The photograph was taken by his son, Kermit Roosevelt
How is the Collection Organized?
• Received With a Preliminary List of Items With Short Descriptions
• SIL Received a Grant from the Smithsonian’s Collections Care and Preservation Fund for an Collections Assessment and Preservation Review in 2007
• Created an MS Access Database Linked to Low-Resolution JPEG Files
Russell E. Train Database Record for the Photograph of Theodore Roosevelt with Dead Rhinoceros, 1909
Unpublished typescript of “Looking Over My Shoulder”, a memoir of adventures in Africa by Major A. Radclyffe Dugmore, with illustrations by the author
Diary of J. Leonard Reid, 1904Reid was a Native Commissioner in the Central Africa Protectorate (Nyasaland), now known as Malawi. His diary describes local politics, wildlife seen in the area, tax collecting, and other details of daily life
East African Safari Photograph Album, 1914created by Hugh Cholmondeley Delamere
A lion’s claw is attached at the bottom of the album
Portrait of Sir Thomas Dewar with dead lion
Scrapbook of newspaper clippings, articles, and photos of Rhodesian "Liondogs" (Ridgebacks)
Scrapbook created by A. Sydney Waller, ca. 1923
Robert Henry Nelson Collection of Materials on the Emin Pasha Relief Expedition, 1886-1889
(Parke, Nelson, Stanley, Stairs, & Jephson shown)
David Livingstone’s 10-Bore Gun, Manufactured Circa 1860 by Hollis & Son
This gun was returned to England with Livingstone’s body after his death in 1873
What’s Next?
• 2010 SI Collections Care and Preservation Fund Grant for Preservation Treatment of 16 Scrapbooks
• Cataloging of Sub-Groups and Individual Items• Encoded Archival Description Finding Aid• Increased Access to the Materials Through
Digitization and Collaborative Projects
Thank You for Coming to the Smithsonian Archives Fair!
For Questions about the Russell E. Train Collection, contact the Cullman Library Staff
Telephone: 202.633.1184E-mail: [email protected]