# Smith?onian Institution NO. 102 AUTUMN 2000 
ZOOLOGY 
At Zoo, orangutans use symbols, labels 
to communicate with humans 
By Brenda KeanTabor 
Special to Research Reports 
Even though 22-year-old Azy 
and his 19-year-old sister, 
Indah, spend five days a 
"week working with comput- 
ers, and seem to enjoy 
doing so, they "wouldn't be 
considered "techies." They are orangutans 
learning communications skills by means 
of a computer. Their rapt attention to the 
screen is part of the ongoing Orangutan 
Language Project that has been under way 
at the Smithsonian's National Zoological 
Park since 1995. 
The project is a component of the 
National Zoo's "Think Tank" exhibition, 
"where displays, videotapes and live demon- 
strations are used to share mth visitors the 
latest research on animal intelligence. 
Some of the orangs who participate in the 
project live at "Think Tank," while others 
can voluntarily "commute" from their liv- 
ing quarters at the Great Ape House via a 
system of steel cables and 45-foot towers 
known as the "orang transit system." 
"When we began to redesign the 
old monkey house in 1993," says 
Rob Shumaker, a biologist at 
the National Zoo and direc- 
tor of the Orangutan 
Language Project, 
"our goal was to 
improve not 
only the 
animals' 
physical envi- 
^^^ ronment but also 
y?^^^r their mental environ- 
y^^^^^r ment. We feel a tremen- 
dous ethical commitment 
to"ward these individual ani- 
mals, all of whom were born 
here at the National Zoo." 
"The cognitive capabilities of the 
great apes illuminate the evolution and 
functioning of human cognition and bear 
directly on the ethics of our relationships 
"with these "wonderful creatures," Ben 
Beck, associate director for biological pro- 
grams at the National Zoo, says. 
Testing orangutan skills 
Using abstract symbols that are vie"wed on 
the animals' computer screens, Shumaker 
is currently trying to determine how accu- 
rately orangutans can label objects, the 
rate at which they acquire competency in 
using symbols and their ability to 
understand and use numbers, specifi- 
cally Arabic numerals. 
Shumaker chose Arabic rather 
than Roman numerals because 
Roman numerals provide 
visual cues to their value, 
"whereas Arabic 
numerals are totally 
abstract. "The 
orangs have 
to learn 
and ^^ 
remember 
the meaning 
of symbols if they 
are going to use them 
productively," Shumaker 
explains. "I consider numbers 
to be another category of symbols in 
the overall vocabulary of the orang." 
Both Azy and Indah "work" five days a 
"week. Though rewarded for correct 
answers with treats, neither is forced to 
participate and both do so readily. 
They clearly enjoy their tasks, ambling 
up to the computer when Shumaker 
appears with his materials and sitting 
patiently while he prepares to start a ses- 
sion. They do not seem to be frustrated by 
their mistakes, and Shumaker is careful 
not to push them beyond their limits. 
Azy "weighs 270 pounds, and Indah 
"weighs approximately 125 pounds. Gentle 
by nature, the orangutans' sheer sizes make 
them dangerous, and Shumaker cannot 
risk entering their cage lest he be 
inadvertently injured by their 
innocent play. Instead, he 
conducts his research 
from the other side 
of a cage 
divide. 
"while also passing objects and rewards to 
the animals through a narrow opening. 
When the research first began in the 
fall of 1995, Shumaker says, he 
started with flash cards. The 
orangs "were coached to associ- 
ate a symbol with an object, 
such as an apple or a 
grape. After sho"wing 
one of the ani- 
mals the 
object. 
-m. 
\ 5^1 
Orangutans can use the "orang transit 
system" to voluntarily participate in 
cognitive research at the National 
Zoological Park. (Photo by Jessie Cohen) 
^^^? Shumaker repeatedly placed 
the animal's index finger on 
the appropriate flash card until 
the animal began to associate the 
object with the cards and to point to 
the appropriate card when shown an 
object. 
The animals no"w use a computer "with a 
touch-sensitive screen on which the sym- 
bols appear, instead of flash cards. 
It is easy for the animals to point 
because "they have good manual dexter- 
ity," Shumaker says. "The females fre- 
quently use their hands for detailed work, 
although the males have larger hands and 
often manipulate things with their lips. 
Both males and females tend to be 
ambidextrous in the wild, but are predom- 
inantly right-handed in captivity." 
Once a number of objects and their cor- 
responding symbols have been introduced, 
a larger choice of labeling symbols is put 
up on the screen. By increasing the num- 
ber of possible choices, Shumaker has 
been able to test the animals' memory, 
their abilities to distinguish between sym- 
bols from up to 30 possibilities and their 
rate of accuracy. 
New symbols are never intro- 
duced until an accuracy rate of 
about 90 percent has been 
achieved for symbols that 
have already been 
introduced. To 
avoid confu- 
sion, when ^^^ 
a new sym- 
bol is first 
introduced, the 
choice of symbols on 
the screen is reduced. 
Shumaker goes to great 
lengths to avoid helping the ani- 
mals choose the correct answers and 
points out that their mistakes confirm 
the objectivity of their selections. After the 
animals make a correct selection, a bell 
rings, and they receive positive reinforce- 
ment in the form of food and Shumaker's 
praise. 
Yielding results 
Shumaker's results, so far, indicate that the 
speed with "which the orangs learn a new 
symbol increases with the number of sym- 
bols to "which they are exposed. "Azy ini- 
tially needed 600 exposures before achiev- 
ing 90 percent accuracy, while Indah needed 
540 exposures. There is no overall drop in 
'Orangutans, ' continued on Page 6 
Research Vistas, 2 ? Trees, 2 ? Pianos, 3 ? Lost Revolutions, 4 m Elephant pregnancy, 5 
Research Highlights, Series, Books & Recordings, 7 ? Off the Shelf, 8 
Research Vistas 
Smithsonian marine research ? The Smithsonian operates a network of coastal labora- 
tories and long-term marine research sites in the western Atlantic Ocean that extends 
along the East Coast of North and Central America, bridging the Panamanian isthmus, 
from the Caribbean Sea to the Pacific Ocean. In addition to infrastructure and staff 
expertise in marine sciences, the Smithsonian Marine Science Network provides unpar- 
alleled access to, and research support for, Atlantic Ocean and Atlantic shore ecosystems. 
These marine ecosystems provide valuable environmental services for human popula- 
tions centered in the coastal zone. Understanding human interactions with the marine 
environment is critical: 70 percent of Earth's human population lives in coastal cities 
supported by these marine resources. The Smithsonian Environmental Research Center 
in Edgewater, Md., emphasizes multidisciplinary, multiscale ecological analysis of the 
nation's largest estuary, the Chesapeake Bay, and its watershed. The center also is desig- 
nated as the national center for the study of biological invasions of coastal ecosystems. 
The Smithsonian Marine Station at Fort Pierce in Florida focuses on the Indian River 
Lagoon, a 156-mile-long ecosystem with the highest estuarine biodiversity in North 
America. Researchers have access to mangroves, coral reefs, the continental shelf, and 
Gulf Stream plankton and open sea communities. The Caribbean Coral Reef Ecosys- 
tems Program at Carrie Bow Cay in Belize is perched atop the world's second largest 
barrier reef. This undisturbed environment of mangroves, sea grasses and coral is 
removed from immediate coastal influences. Ongoing investigations there include ana- 
lyzing mangrove ecosystems and the rich biodiversity of the Caribbean coral reef. 
The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama bridges the Central Ameri- 
can isthmus, allowing biological and geological comparison of two oceans. The institute 
is the nation's only long-term research location focusing on tropical biology and evolu- 
tionary change in response to fluctuations in sea level and the formation of land barriers. 
The National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., has the world's 
largest collection of marine plant and animal specimens and geological samples. The 
museum's staff of marine systematists analyze marine biodiversity and have documented 
major first discoveries and formal descriptions of several marine phyla, classes and orders. 
Research by Smithsonian staff and their collaborators has resulted in some interesting 
observations. For example, recently, three species of snapping shrimps with a social struc- 
ture?the first such finding in a marine crustacean?were discovered by researchers at 
the Carrie Bow Cay Marine Field Station. Behavioral observations confirmed that large 
male shrimp of these species care for broods and defend their sponge-dwelling colony 
against intruders, while a single queen reproduces. This provides an entirely new biologi- 
cal system in which to address the origin and maintenance of advanced cooperative 
animal societies, such as those of honeybees, ants and naked mole-rats. 
Researchers in San Bias, Panama, have observed gamete release by green algae on 
coral reefs and documented synchronized early morning mass spawning of 18 species 
from five genera. These observations establish an unexpectedly prominent role for sexual 
reproduction in the ecology of green algae and raise new questions regarding the fertil- 
ization dynamics, hybridization potentials, population biology and life history of these 
important members of the coral reef community. 
As we consider that the Marine Science Network is greater than the sum of its parts, 
an increased coordination of activities and resource allocation will further this notion. 
Some Smithsonian scholars feel that research is best advanced by curiosity and individu- 
ally prioritized objectives. At the same time, large-scale environmental research often 
requires team approaches to gather big data sets over enormous regions to address 
problems in the coastal zone. The Marine Science Network supports both approaches. 
?Dennis O'Connor, Under Secretary for Science, Smithsonian Institution 
Jess Parker measures the girth of a tree in a forest study plot. (Photo by Richard Strauss) 
ECOLOGY 
A view from the top gives ecologist 
insight into what is happening below 
By Elizabeth Tait 
Smithsonian Office of Public Affairs 
Geoffrey "Jess" Parker never out- 
grew climbing trees, he just got 
more sophisticated in his meth- 
ods and more purposeful in his 
objectives. A forest ecologist at the 
Smithsonian Environmental Research 
Center in Edgewater, Md., he studies the 
nature and function of forests, from the 
top down, focusing on the treetop envi- 
ronment, the forest canopy. 
Canopy revelations 
"Once you've seen a forest from the 
canopy, where the leaves are, it changes 
how you think about the world," Parker 
notes. "Most people see trees and think 
about wood; they think 'slow, constant, 
inactive.' In fact, forests are dynamic, 3-D 
and constantly changing." 
The key, Parker says, is understanding 
that our view of the forest captures a 
moment frozen in time. But time in a for- 
est operates on a scale different from that 
to which we are accustomed. "The life 
span of a forest is equivalent to three or 
four human lifetimes," he points out. 
The canopy, according to Parker, is the 
"machinery of production" for the forest. 
"It tells the story of the current state of the 
forest and its capacity for growth," he says. 
"The organization of the forest canopy has 
a big effect on everything the forest does." 
What a forest does?provides habitat 
for plants and animals, absorbs carbon 
dioxide from the atmosphere, and controls 
"wind speed and water flow, for example? 
changes as a forest ages. 
SERC's forest canopy studies utilize 50 
forest plots at or near the Edgewater site. 
The plots, with an average area of 65 by 
164 feet, are comprised largely of upland, 
mixed hardwood forests that are character- 
istic of the mid-Atlantic region. These 
forests are indicative of rich soil and are 
typically very diverse in terms of tree sizes 
and plant species, "with the tulip poplar? 
growing to heights upwards of 130 feet? 
often the most dominant. 
IVIeasuring and analyzing 
Numerous measurements are made by 
Parker at ground level in each plot?trees 
are counted, measured and identified, and 
their ages are determined by using a spe- 
cial trunk-coring device. The acidity of 
the soil is measured to determine if it is 
becoming more or less acidic over time. 
'Trees, ' continued on Page 5 
# ?tti&Mokbloiutttflagb 
Research R^orts 
No. 102 Autumn 2000 
Published quarterly by the Smithsonian Office 
of Public Affairs, Smithsonian Institution Build- 
ing, Room 354, Washington, D.C. 20560-0033, 
for Smithsonian Contributing Members, scholars, 
educators, museum personnel, libraries, journal- 
ists and others. To request this publication in an 
accessible format, call (202) 357-2627, ext. 124 
(voice) or (202) 357-1729 (TTY). 
David Umansky, Communications Director 
Kathryn Lindeman, Associate Director 
Jo Ann Webb, Editor 
Colleen Hershberger, Production Assistant 
Telephone: (202) 357-2627 
E-mail: researchreports@publicaffairs.si.edu 
Internet: w"ww.si.edu/researchreports 
Contributing Members who seek information 
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ships may write to The Contributing Member- 
ship, Smithsonian Institution, 900 Jefferson 
Drive S.W., Room 1479, Washington, D.C. 
20560-0410, or call 1 (800) 931-32CM. 
2 ? Smithsonian Institution Research Reports ? Autumn 2000 
CULTURAL   HISTORY 
From de' Medici to libemce: Celebrating 
300 years of the piano and its music 
By Angela CervettI 
Smithsonian Office of Public Affairs 
The "wooden crate stands alone in 
the middle of the room. A 
small group of people?among 
them National Museum of 
American History Curators Cynthia 
Adams Hoover, Patrick Rucker and Edwin 
Good?silently looks on. The item inside 
has come a long way, and they have waited 
three years for it. 
During these years of waiting, the three 
curators, responsible for putting together 
the museum's exhibition "Piano 300," have 
spent a great deal of time negotiating, 
building relationships, seeking financial 
support, and planning and replanning? 
all to make this moment a reality. 
Carefully, the group takes the contents 
out of the crate and assembles them. 
Under the glow of soft light stands a piano 
built in 1722 by Bartolomeo Cristofori, 
the inventor of the instrument. 
"There wasn't a dry eye in 
the room," Rucker says. 
"Not only "was this a 
very important 
piece in the history of the piano, but it had 
taken so much to get it here. For me, it 
"was an emotional moment." 
Ge'tting a real jewel 
"Piano 300," an exhibition on view in the 
Smithsonian's International Gallery in 
Washington, D.C., until June 3, 2001, cel- 
ebrates the 300th anniversary of the inven- 
tion of the piano. The Cristofori master- 
piece introduces visitors to a diverse and 
dazzling group of additional pianos and 
related objects that tell the social, cultural 
and technological story of the instrument. 
"From the very beginning, "we knew we 
"wanted to include a Cristofori in the exhi- 
bition," Good says. "Beyond its historical 
significance, it was in itself an important 
object of curatorial study." 
For the exhibition. Good focused on 
understanding the technology of the 
Museum staff and contractors unpack the long-awaited Cristofori. From left are Stacey Kluck, 
assistant chair of the National Museum of American History's Division of Cultural History; 
Edward Ryan, the museum's assistant registrar; Barbara Wolf, a contracted harpsichord and 
piano builder and former museum employee; Cynthia Adams Hoover; and Thomas Wolf, also a 
contracted harpsichord and piano builder and former museum employee. (HughTaiman photo) 
piano. "The instruments themselves," he 
says, "are the real primary documents, the 
laboratories, in which we find the know, 
edge we need. To read [about the technol- 
ogy of] a piano is as laborious, as techni- 
cally demanding and as exhilarating as it is 
to read a historical document, such as a 
letter or a diary or a manuscript by 
Homer or Mozart." 
But getting an original 
Cristofori would be a chal- 
lenge. "Only three exist, 
one in New York; one in 
Leipzig, Germany; and one 
in Rome," Hoover 
explains. "The one at the 
National Museum of 
Musical Instruments in 
Rome had been the least 
modified through the 
ages. So "we decided to 
approach them." 
Hoover and Good contacted Antonio 
Latanza, director of the museum, and 
requested to meet with him and to see the 
Cristofori. A trip to Italy also would mean 
that Hoover and Good could conduct 
research at the Archivio di Stato, the state's 
archives, in Florence. This location was 
significant because it was there that 
Cristofori, under the patronage of Ferdi- 
nando Maria de' Medici, maintained harp- 
sichords for the court and experimented 
"with his new creation. 
For a long time. Hoover says, it was 
believed that the piano was invented in 
1709. "But that "was because Cristofori was 
interviewed by Scipione Maffei, a Venetian 
writer, in 1709, and the article was not 
published until 1711," she explains. "So 
the first time people "widely heard about 
the piano was then, and they assumed it 
had just been invented at the time of the 
interview, in 1709, two years earlier." 
The curators, ho"wever, knew Cristofori 
had invented the piano in 1700. "Several 
scholars had already done research on the 
origin of the piano and the work of Cristo- 
fori," Hoover adds. "Some felt that the 
piano was built earlier than 1700, but we 
and many others had not seen that evi- 
dence. To confirm the date, we needed to 
see the Medici inventory." 
A trip to Italy 
At the archives in Florence, Hoover and 
Good examined the important document. 
"It was a court inventory done in 1700. It 
included a description of 'a keyboard, of 
ne"w invention with hammers, that plays 
soft (piano) and forte (loud)' and mentions 
Cristofori as its creator," Hoover says. 
"This could only be the piano." 
The pianoforte, as it came to be known 
for its dynamic effects, "was different from 
its predecessor, the harpsichord, in the 
internal action Cristofori designed for it. 
"The harpsichord plucks the strings," 
Good explains. "The pianoforte had little 
"wooden hammers covered with soft leather 
that hit the strings. This allowed the 
player to have control over the volume of 
the sound by applying more or less force 
on the keys." 
Negotiating for an original 
With one mission accomplished. Hoover 
and Good headed to Rome's National 
Museum of Musical Instruments to meet 
This Steinway & Sons piano, featured in the 
exhibition and part of the museum's 
permanent collection, was commissioned 
to represent American industrial progress in 
the American pavilion at the 1939 World's 
Fair in New York. (Robert Lautman photo) 
with Latanza. "We talked to him about 
the show, and when "we thought it was 
appropriate, we asked if they could loan 
the Cristofori to us," Hoover remembers. 
The ans"wer: "A big 'no.' But he "was very 
courteous and polite. We then knew we 
had to approach this in a different "way. " 
In the meantime, Rucker, through his 
"work with the Smithsonian Chamber 
Music Society, knew Italy's ambassador to 
the United States, H.E. Ferdinando Salleo, 
and the first secretary, Giuseppe Perrone, 
both of whom had been guests at Smithso- 
nian concerts using Stradivarius instruments. 
After repeated requests directed to the 
museum in Rome yielded nothing, the 
curators decided to approach the Italian 
Embassy in Washington, D.C. "Our col- 
laboration [with the embassy] culminated 
in my visiting Rome in September 1999," 
Rucker says. "Once there, I met with 
Latanza and Marissa Zaccagnini, who had 
supervisory responsibilities over the 
National Museum of Musical Instruments. 
At this point, the exhibition was developed 
enough that I could share detailed plans of 
its design and explain the setting and 
interpretation planned for the Cristofori. 
Their response was largely positive." 
Five months later, the Cristofori, accom- 
panied by Zaccagnini, arrived at the 
Smithsonian's International Gallery, 
located inside the S. Dillon Ripley Center 
on the National Mall. "It was the culmina- 
tion of a lot of effort and patience," 
Hoover says. "But it "was well worth it." 
Selecting other gems 
Most of the pianos in the exhibition are 
part of the National Museum of American 
History's collection. "Choosing "which 
pianos to present was a difficult process," 
Good says. "After taking into account all 
the factors?space, condition of the 
instrument, availability and, most impor- 
tantly, which ones were crucial to tell our 
story?we narrowed the selection down to 
the 25 you see today." 
'Pianos, ' continued on Page 6 
Smithsonian Institution Research Reports ? Autumn 2000 ? 3 
HISTORY 
Lost Revolutions shows 1950s South 
as an era of conflict and turbulence 
ByVicki Moeser 
Smithsonian Office of Public Affairs 
The years between World War II 
and 1964's Freedom Summer 
"were not tranquil and placid in 
the South, says Pete Daniel, 
author of Lost Revolutions: The South in the 
1950s, a new book published by the Uni- 
versity of North Carolina Press. Instead, it 
"was a time of displacement, conflict and 
creativity. 
"I had finished a book in the mid-1980s 
on agriculture, follo"wed by a survey book 
on the 20th-century South," says Daniel, a 
curator in the National Museum of Ameri- 
can History's Division of the History of 
Technology, "and I was interested in look- 
ing into questions that came out of those 
books. I "was intrigued with how the South 
had changed in the middle of the century. 
What happened between the 1940s, "when 
many Southerners anticipated a tranquil 
and prosperous future, and the 1960s, a 
time of great social change?" 
Subsequent research resulted in Lost Rev- 
olutions, which explores such subjects as 
the civil rights movement, segregation and 
school integration. The book also exam- 
ines the breakdown of traditional agricul- 
ture and the ensuing rural-urban migra- 
tion, gay and lesbian life, the emergence of 
rock 'n' roll and stock-car racing, and the 
triumph of working-class culture. 
Daniel "was able to begin his research in 
October 1994 as a result of a Smithsonian 
Regents Fellowship Award for independent 
study. The fellowship relieved him of his 
day-to-day curatorial duties in order to do 
research for this book. 
In addition, the fellowship provided 
money for travel and other research 
expenses. Daniel, a native of Spring Hope, 
N.C. (population 1,000), visited libraries 
and archives in North Carolina, South 
Carolina, Georgia, Louisiana, Tennessee, 
Arkansas, Alabama, Mississippi and Wis- 
consin. "I spent that year going on the 
road for a while, coming back and organiz- 
ing my materials, writing some and then 
going back out on the road." 
Digging for tlie trutli 
In remarks at a book-signing at a book- 
store in Washington, D.C., Daniel told of 
meeting with a former professor in 1994 
and telling him that what he was learning 
in his research was not what he recalled 
from growing up in the South in the '50s. 
"Nor did it support most of the scholarship 
that portrayed the 1950s as a calm, dull, 
apathetic decade that was simply a prelude 
to the glorious 1960s," he says. 
Daniel says that, when he first started 
research for the book, "I had only a few 
pieces of a puzzle with no picture to guide 
me. The other pieces were hidden in 
libraries and archives. The picture would 
only emerge after I found and put together 
the pieces." 
He built on research he had done as one 
of the curators of two museum exhibi- 
tions, "Science in American Life" and 
"Rock 'n' Soul: Social Crossroads," an 
exhibition that opened in Memphis in April. 
In driving across the South, Daniel says 
he would arrive at a particular archives 
"when it opened and leave when it closed. 
"Archivists and librarians were invariably 
helpful, many going beyond the call of 
duty. I accumulated enough of the puzzle 
pieces to start putting it together." 
Indeed, Daniel inspected almost 70 
manuscript and archival collections, rang- 
ing from the Agricultural Extension Papers 
at Louisiana State University in Baton 
Rouge to the "Beale Street Black and Blue " 
oral history transcripts at the Memphis 
Public Library. 
"I did a lot of traditional research," 
Daniel says. "I'd get a hunch and follow 
leads. When I was on the right track, I'd 
add another piece to the puzzle. In some 
cases, I found collections of papers that I 
had no idea existed that led me to ne"w 
information." 
Daniel's research in la"w libraries uncov- 
ered significant legal changes ushered in 
by the New Deal and the use of synthetic 
chemicals after World War II. He also 
interviewed many people who lived during 
that time. "That's how farmers, bureau- 
crats, fire ants, pesticide residues, stock-car 
drivers, rock 'n' roll artists, segregationists, 
integrationists, heroes and villains ended 
up in the book," he adds. 
Tliree books in one 
After completing the research, Daniel real- 
ized that the material was so comprehen- 
form a plan for integration of schools. 
"Instead," he says, "there was silence, until 
some political leaders decided to revert to 
antebellum political theories. 
"The deeper question," he adds, "is why 
"were racists and segregationists so intimi- 
dating to 'nice' people? The answer, I 
think, is that most people were reluctant to 
confront them. They feared retaliation. 
And no one came forward to lead." 
Impact of tlie Great Migration 
Central to all the sections of the book is 
the theme that a great exodus took place 
during this time. Half of the South's rural 
population?some 11 million sharecrop- 
pers, tenants and small farm o"wners ? 
moved to towns and cities between 1940 
and 1965. "The breakup of rural life had 
Louise Smith, a race-car driver from Greenville, S.C, during the 1950s, was among the few 
women racing cars at that time, but she was one of the most well-known. (Photo courtesy 
of the International Speedway Corp./NASCAR) 
Newspaper boys preparing to deliver an issue of The Afro-American with the lead story "Boy- 
cott Spreads" (Photo courtesy of South Caroliniana Library, University of South Carolina) 
sive that he would need to divide Lost Rev- 
olutions into three major sections. In Book I, 
"The Postwar Landscape," he "writes that 
prosperity created a new sense of hope, at 
least for whites. Segregation, however, 
remained a dominant issue. "There were 
so many possibilities for change," Daniel 
says, "yet the old guard held on, creating a 
solid wall of opposition to integration that 
punished anyone who opposed them." 
There was a lot of pressure from rela- 
tively fe"w people to support segregation, 
Daniel says, and he investigates the ques- 
tion of "why no group of "whites formed an 
opposition party to the hard-liners. 
Daniel expects some readers will take 
offense at the term "lowdown" in Book II, 
titled "Lo"w Culture." But, he says, "work- 
ing-class culture is not an adequate term 
for what I "was discussing. I wanted to find 
a term that had not been used in this con- 
text. I "wanted it to have an edge and to 
encompass both blacks and whites. Many 
of the people w^ho appear in this section 
"were wild, talented and fearless." 
In those chapters, Daniel "writes about 
such people as NASCAR founder Bill 
France; bootlegger and stock-car racer 
Junior Johnson; wrestler Sputnik Monroe; 
Sun Studio founder Sam Phillips; and a 
number of black and white performers, 
including Elvis Presley, Little Richard, Jerry 
Lee Lewis, Charlie Rich and B.B. King. 
"These folks had national, indeed, inter- 
national reputations," Daniel says, "and 
they changed the way culture was regarded 
throughout the world." 
Book III, "Fatal Divisions," is about the 
South and civil rights in the post-Brown 
vs. the Board of Education era. During the 
summer of 1954, Daniel says, there was 
the opportunity for Southern leaders to 
profound implications," Daniel writes, "for 
Southern exiles transplanted rural culture 
"wherever they settled." 
A satisfying product 
Lost Revolutions y^ent through 10 drafts, at 
one point growing to more than 1,000 
pages. "These things have to work them- 
selves out," Daniel says. "I would write 
something, think about it, clarify it, then 
rewrite and write some more." 
Ultimately, he says, "entire chapters dis- 
appeared, others were salvaged and w^hat 
little I had written on politicians vanished. 
There was no use in discussing major 
events covered so well by other authors. It 
was not apparent until the ninth of 10 
drafts that this was a three-dimensional 
puzzle, thus three books within the book." 
Redefining tlie South 
It has been typical of historical scholarship 
to see civil rights as separate from the rural 
transformation that sent millions of people 
into towns and cities across the country, 
Daniel says. But he included aspects of 
civil rights in the chapter on agriculture, 
and rural life in the civil-rights chapters. 
"In the middle decades of the 20th cen- 
tury," Daniel writes in Lost Revolutions, 
"brave Southerners opposed repression and 
united in the fight for equal rights. At the 
same time, stock-car drivers and musicians 
embodied the hard gem of "working-class 
spontaneity and genius. Before they "were 
divided or tamed, these people redefined 
the South and established enduring cul- 
tural monuments." 
Lost Revolutions: The South in the 1950s 
($45 cloth; $19.95 paper) is available from 
the University of North Carolina Press by 
calling 1 (800) 848-6224. 
4 ? Smithsonian Institution Research Reports ? Autumn 2000 
VETERINARY   SCIENCE 
Mother has to wait nearly two years 
for the arrival of her 'bundle of joy' 
By Jennifer Buff 
Conservation and Research Center, National Zoo 
Animal keepers, scientists and 
staff at the Smithsonian's 
National Zoological Park gath- 
ered with anticipation. Veteri- 
nary scientists Thomas Hildebrandt and 
Frank Goeritz of the Institute for Zoo 
Biology and Wildlife Research in Germany 
"were performing an ultrasound-aided preg- 
nancy check on Shanthi, the National 
Zoo's 24-year-old Asian elephant. And the 
results were all good news. The late May 
ultrasound showed that Shanthi was preg- 
nant, following two artificial insemina- 
tions performed in February. 
Shanthi's pregnancy follo"ws several years 
of research on elephant reproductive biol- 
ogy, much of it conducted at the National 
Zoo's Conservation and Research Center 
in Front Royal, Va. Project leader and 
Reproductive Biologist Janine Brown and 
her staff have developed hormone assay 
techniques for monitoring reproductive 
cycles in elephants. 
"The artificial insemination was success- 
ful," Brown says, "in part, because of the 
recent progress we have made in monitor- 
ing reproductive hormones. This informa- 
tion ensured that Hildebrandt and Goeritz 
could artificially inseminate Shanthi at the 
precise time of her ovulation." 
In 1995, Shanthi was the first elephant 
ever inseminated by the German team. 
Despite the fact that she did not conceive, 
and three African elephants in other zoos 
did, Shanthi has remained one of their 
special favorites. So special that Hilde- 
brandt and Goeritz have returned five 
times to Wishington, D.C., for a total of 
six insemination attempts. 
Impregnating Shanthi 
The procedure is complex: A 6-foot-long 
endoscope-guided semen catheter, devel- 
oped by Hildebrandt and Goeritz, is used 
in conjunction with transrectal ultrasound. 
The techniques allow the scientists to 
deposit viable sperm deep "within an ele- 
phant's reproductive tract, virtually guar- 
anteeing sperm access to the ovulated egg. 
Artificial insemination has been attempted 
in elephants without success for more than 
t"wo decades. However, a unique interna- 
tional partnership, which combined this 
novel insemination technique with the 
advances in hormone-monitoring tech- 
niques, made the successful insemination 
possible. 
This is Shanthi's second pregnancy. Her 
first calf, Kumari, born Dec. 16, 1993, 
"was produced by natural mating. Sadly, 
Kumari died in 1995 from a mysterious 
infection that was later identified by 
National Zoo Pathologist Richard Montali 
and then pathology resident Laura Rich- 
man as an unkno"wn herpes virus. Thanks 
to the identification of the virus, methods 
have been developed to diagnose and treat 
this deadly infection. 
"Ever since Kumari died of the herpes 
virus, we have focused our research efforts 
Shanthi, pictured here, was impregnated 
through artificial insemination and is 
expected to deliver her calf in mid- 
December 2001. (Photo by Jessie Cohen) 
The image on the ultrasound monitor confirms Shanthi's pregnancy for Smithsonian staff 
and visiting researchers. (Photo by Jessie Cohen) 
on improving artificial insemination tech- 
niques in elephants and in getting Shanthi 
pregnant again," Bro"wn says. "This preg- 
nancy is a dream come true." 
Unlike her first conception, the new 
artificial insemination technique allo"wed 
Shanthi to remain in Washington, D.C., 
"with the security of her elephant "family ' 
and keepers. Viable semen, shipped by 
commercial airline from Canada, was col- 
lected from a 13-year-old bull elephant, 
who lives at African Lion Safari in 
Toronto. 
Elephant reproduction 
Shanthi's pregnancy becomes even more 
significant in light of recent findings from 
the National Zoo Conservation and 
Research Center's hormone laboratory, 
"which has confirmed serious problems 
"with elephant reproduction in zoos. Fewer 
than five elephant calves are being born in 
U.S. zoos each year. At this rate, in 15 
years, there will not be enough calves born 
to ensure the continued existence of ele- 
phants in zoos in the United States. 
Natural breeding of zoo elephants is 
exceedingly complicated. Bull elephants 
are too difficult to house at most zoos, so 
females must be transported to zoos with 
bulls, a stressful and expensive undertak- 
ing. In addition, recent reproductive stud- 
ies done at the Conservation and Research 
Center have shown that an increasing 
number of captive female elephants do not 
have normal reproductive cycles. 
A normal female elephant has a 16-"week 
reproductive cycle, making her fertile three 
times a year. New research sho"ws that one 
in five zoo elephants have irregular cycles 
that prohibit ovulation and conception. 
To prevent a population crash, the 
American Zoo and Aquarium Association 
Elephant Species Survival Plan has recom- 
mended breeding all reproductively 
healthy females, preferably before age 20. 
Both natural breeding and artificial insem- 
ination have been endorsed, and although 
artificial insemination is still considered 
experimental, its success to date suggests it 
could become an important tool for aiding 
the captive management of this species. 
Awaiting the results 
Shanthi's pregnancy will last 22 months, 
with her due date in mid-December 2001. 
The birth of her calf will point to the 
future success this technology may bring 
to captive management and preservation of 
elephants and other endangered species. 
'Trees, ' continued from Page 2 
Fallen leaves are collected in buckets, 
sorted by species, dried and weighed. This 
is one "way, Parker says, "we figure out 
"which tree species are in each plot and 
how that mix is changing." 
Getting to the top 
The primary logistical hurdle for a scien- 
tist studying the forest canopy is to gain 
access to it. Parker and his colleagues 
climb ropes, ladders and scaffolding and 
use hoists and cranes?both hydraulic and 
to"wer?for direct access to the canopy. 
One prominent landmark at the research 
center is a 164-foot-high walk-up tower 
that rises 33 feet above the canopy of trees 
surrounding it. At various levels and at the 
top, it is equipped with instruments to 
measure light, wind speed, relative humid- 
ity, temperature and carbon-dioxide fluc- 
tuations in the atmosphere surrounding 
the forest canopy. 
The 12-year-old program of forest moni- 
toring is known as the Deciduous Canopy 
Observatory. "Much as conventional obser- 
vatories use a variety of instruments to 
study stars," Parker points out, ""we use 
many approaches to understand forest 
canopies." He has launched sensors 
mounted on balloons, as "well as a camera 
equipped with a telephoto lens. 
The internal organization of the canopy, 
the top-to-bottom 3-D arrangement of 
leaves, branches and trunks, is the best 
indicator of the forest's age, growth rate 
and habitability for animals. These evalua- 
tions are best made from above, "where a 
technique called remote sensing works best. 
A bird's-eye view 
Seeking a fast and accurate means to 
obtain a bird's-eye assessment of the for- 
est's vertical structure, Parker is no"w using 
data from a remote-sensing tool developed 
by the National Aeronautics and Space 
Administration. It is called a Scanning 
Lidar Imager of Canopies by Echo Recov- 
ery, or SLICER. Lidar works like radar but 
uses pulsed laser light rather than radio 
"waves. The SLICER instrument was flo"wn 
on an airplane five miles above the 
research center forest plots. 
Parker likens the ability of the SLICER 
to look inside forest canopies to that of a 
CAT scan examination of the human body. 
a major advancement over former "skin 
deep" remote-sensing methods. Using 
SLICER, "the information on canopy 
structure can be used to show how a whole 
region may be performing," Parker says. 
Parker has applied for a grant from the 
National Science Foundation to continue 
"working on a portable version he calls 
SPLICER, which can be carried on a 
researcher's back. 
SERC is coordinating its Deciduous 
Canopy Observatory research "with similar 
programs elsewhere in the United States 
and around the world. This collaboration 
promotes greater understanding of forest 
dynamics on a global basis and allo"ws for 
comparisons between forests. 
Patricia Acton contributed to this article. 
Smithsonian Institution Research Reports ? Autumn 2000 ? 5 
'Pianos, ' continued from Page 3 
Determining which pianos would be in 
the exhibition did not automatically mean 
that the ones selected "were ready to be 
exhibited. One of the pianos that needed 
restoration "was the art deco grand piano 
designed by Walter Teague and made by 
Steinway & Sons. The piano "was commis- 
sioned to represent American industrial 
progress in the American pavilion at the 
1939 World's Fair in New York. 
"Unfortunately, the limited budget with 
which "we operated did not allow for the 
type of restoration the piano needed," 
Hoover says. "If it hadn't been for the gen- 
erosity and expertise of many people at 
Steinway & Sons, the restoration "would 
not have happened." 
The firm also helped in the restoration 
of a piano o"wned by Duke Ellington, one 
of the few pianos in the exhibition that 
does not belong to the Smithsonian. The 
curators found the white grand in New 
York City at the Cathedral Church of St. 
John the Divine. Ellington had it in his 
Ne"w Ysrk apartment and used it to com- 
pose his special "sacred" concerts. The 
cathedral agreed to loan it to the Smithso- 
nian. "Ellington is an important part of 
the story we "wanted to tell," Hoover adds. 
The exhibition also presents a piano 
o"wned by Irving Berlin and other pianos 
typical at the time of Mozart, Beethoven 
and Liszt. Liberace's piano also is there, on 
loan from the Bald"win Co. The makers 
used 125 pounds of rhinestones to create 
its dazzling casing. In addition, there are 
original manuscripts of such masters as 
Mozart, Chopin and Gershwin, and tools, 
photographs, playbills and sheet music. 
A link to old and new 
"In a sense, I have been preparing for this 
exhibition my whole Smithsonian career, a 
career that began in 1961," Hoover says. 
"Through the years, I have studied key- 
board collections here and at other muse- 
ums to learn about their technical charac- 
teristics, to admire their beauty as musical 
instruments and their place in decorative 
arts, and to discern their cultural history. 
"The piano," she continues, "may take 
different shapes, be made of new materials, 
but it will continue to link us with past 
repertoires and to inspire new types of 
music. It seems most likely that the piano 
"will be with us for years to come." 
Related programs 
Special events related to the exhibition 
take place "weekly. A popular series has 
been the performance tours in which 
museum staff and professional pianists give 
tours of the exhibition and perform classi- 
cal, jazz, gospel and traditional music. Per- 
formance tours take place in the gallery at 
noon, every Thursday and Saturday. 
The exhibition was organized by the 
National Museum of American History 
and sponsored by the National Association 
of Music Merchants-International Music 
Products Association, with additional sup- 
port from the Piano Manufacturers Associ- 
ation International, the Music Educators 
National Conference, the Irving Caesar 
Lifetime Trust, Alitalia Airlines and U.S. 
Airways. 
In the early 19th century, Europeans 
preferred vertical pianos in the home, such 
as this Giraffe piano, made between 1809 
and 1811. (Photo by Hugh Taiman) 
Because of the sizes of the orangutans, Rob Shumaker conducts his research from the other 
side of a cage divide. A narrow opening in the divide allows him to pass objects and rewards 
to the orangutans. (Photo by Jessie Cohen) 
'Orangutans, ' continued from Page 1 
comprehension when more objects are 
added," he explains. 
Both animals have no"w progressed from 
using symbols to identify objects to using 
symbols to identify actions and using Ara- 
bic numerals to identify quantities. So far, 
Azy has been able to correctly point to the 
numbers one and two when shown the 
corresponding number of objects. 
A matter of choice 
As a biologist "with a special interest in per- 
ception and cognition, Shumaker was 
interested in studying the animals' abilities 
to communicate using abstract symbols. 
He chose orangs for this work "because 
they were clearly the least studied and 
understood of the great apes in terms of 
their mental abilities," he explains. "I had 
also been working "with these individual 
animals, Azy and his little sister, Indah, 
since I started working at the National 
Zoo in 1984." 
"Chimpanzee and bonobo cognition, 
including their capacity for languagelike 
behavior, is relatively well-studied, but less 
is known about gorillas and orangutans," 
Beck says. 
Shumaker's colleague, Smithsonian post- 
doctoral fellow Mindy Babitz, focuses on 
the orangutans' tool use, while Karyl 
Swartz, a professor of psychology at 
Lehman College in New York City who 
spent a year on sabbatical at the National 
Zoo, returns every couple of "weeks to con- 
duct research on the animals' memory. 
All the projects may be regularly 
observed by the public in "Think Tank." 
The various projects provide a rare oppor- 
tunity to watch a real scientific observa- 
tion as it takes place. 
Of all the species of apes, which include 
gorillas, orangutans, chimpanzees and 
bonobos, "the orangutan is the farthest 
from us in terms of the social system and 
behavior," Shumaker says. 
Living exclusively in the forests of Bor- 
neo and Sumatra, orangutans are a criti- 
cally endangered species and will likely be 
extinct in the wild by the year 2020, scien- 
tists predict, as a result of deforestation, 
poaching and hunting. With an average 
life span of between 30 and 60 years, they 
are solitary animals, forsaking hierarchical 
groups or families. 
Surviving on a diet of fruit, adult males 
spend their time alone, except when they 
are briefly in the company of a single 
female for the purpose of mating. Females 
can be found alone or together, "with their 
most recent offspring. By contrast, chim- 
panzees live in male-dominated societies, 
and gorillas in families consisting of a 
dominant male and a handful of females. 
As Azy sits, his hands under his chin, 
scrutinizing the audience of adults and 
children that have assembled beyond his 
cage to watch the day's session, it is easy to 
recognize that this huge, hairy ape has 
behavior patterns that are characteristic of 
humans. It is these patterns that interest 
Shumaker and drive him to discover more 
about Azy and his little sister's communi- 
cations abilities. 
Orangutans are shown here using the 
"orang transit system." (Jessie Cohen photo) 
Junior's great escape 
National Zoological Park primate 
keeper Doug Donald reports that the 
34-year-old orangutan Atjeh, also 
known as Junior, is "back to normal" 
follo"wing a short jaunt through the 
National Zoo on Aug. 29.  The 250- 
pound male orangutan had never, 
before the day of his brief escape, ven- 
tured out on the system of steel cables 
and 45-foot towers kno"wn as the 
"orang transit system" that links the 
National Zoo's Great Ape House to the 
"Think Tank" exhibition. 
Atjeh, who "was named by former 
Smithsonian Secretary S. Dillon Ripley 
and is the father of the National Zoo 
orangs Indah, Iris, Kiko and Azy, was 
somewhat lethargic and likely nursing 
sore muscles and joints following his 
physical exertion on the cables and 
immobilization by veterinarians with a 
dart gun, who returned him to the 
Great Ape House, keepers say. 
Smaller orangs have routinely demon- 
strated their arboreal locomotion skills 
"without incident on the orang transit 
system, but this very hairy and very 
long-armed older male was able to 
overcome the barriers and climb to the 
ground from one of the towers. 
Once on the ground. Junior was 
extremely docile. He visited a flower 
bed, then traveled about 100 yards to 
the National Zoo police station, "where 
he tried, without success, to open the 
locked door. 
"Our animal escape procedure worked 
as planned, and Junior was brought 
home safely," Curator Lisa Stevens says. 
No one was injured during the escape. 
6 ? Smithsonian Institution Research Reports ? Autumn 2000 
Research Highlights 
Largest donation ever. Kenneth Behring, 
a California philanthropist, developer and 
former owner of the Seattle Seahawks, has 
increased his support of the Smithsonian 
to $100 million by making an $80 million 
donation to the National Museum of 
American History. It is the largest single 
gift ever to the Institution. In 1997, 
Behring gave $20 million to the National 
Museum of Natural History. The latest 
contribution will allow the Smithsonian to 
begin a complete transformation and mod- 
ernization of the National Museum of 
American History. Initial plans, according 
to Museum Director Spencer Crew, call 
for the creation of thematic exhibition 
halls highlighting the history and contri- 
butions of the American people in preserv- 
ing and protecting freedom and democ- 
racy. In recognition of the gift, the 
Kenneth Behring holds the sword of Civil 
War Gen. Ulysses S. Grant from the 
National Museum of American History's 
collections. (Photo by Hugh Taiman) 
building that houses the National Museum 
of American History will be inscribed 
with the designation "Behring Center" 
beneath the museum's name. 
New moon discovered. Using data taken 
by the University of Arizona's Spacewatch 
program, a team from the Minor Planet 
Center at the Smithsonian Astrophysical 
Observatory in Cambridge, Mass., deter- 
mined that Jupiter has 17 satellites, one 
more than previously thought. After por- 
ing over data "with a new software pro- 
gram, the Smithsonian team first thought 
the object might be a comet. However, 
upon further examination, the researchers 
noted that its trajectory put it right around 
our solar system's biggest planet. This is 
the first Jovian moon discovered since 
1979, w^hen the \byager spacecraft orbited 
Jupiter and spied three new satellites. 
Carbon dioxide and animal behavior. 
Mary Beth Voltura, a Smithsonian fellow, 
hopes to utilize the resources and staff of a 
couple of Smithsonian research centers to 
find out if elevated levels of carbon diox- 
ide in the atmosphere impair reproduction 
of certain animals through induced pro- 
tein deficiency. Working closely with Olav 
Oftedal, a nutritionist at the National 
Zoological Park, and Bert Drake, a plant 
physiologist at the Smithsonian Environ- 
mental Research Center, Voltura is investi- 
gating how the foraging behavior and 
reproductive performance of the common 
vole, Microtuspennsylvanicus, can serve as 
an early indicator of nutrient shortages for 
animals that graze on plants. 
Domestication of goats. Smithsonian sci- 
entist Melinda Zeder has devised a 
method for detecting animal domestica- 
tion. Working "with museum skeletal col- 
lections of modern wild goats, she has 
developed a way to distinguish the selec- 
tive slaughter of managed domestic herd 
animals from prey animals killed by 
hunters. She detected this domestic profile 
in the goat remains from two archaeologi- 
cal sites in modern-day Iran. Using a ne"w 
technique for precisely dating small frag- 
ments of bone (atomic mass spectrometry 
radiocarbon dating), Zeder determined 
that goat domestication first took place 
10,000 years ago in the highlands of Iran 
and then expanded some 500 to 1,000 
years later to arid lo"wland regions well 
outside the natural homeland of wild 
goats. The research resolves a long-stand- 
ing controversy over the environmental 
and social context of initial domestication 
and highlights the importance that 
museum collections play in ongoing scien- 
tific exploration. These findings were pub- 
lished in the March 2000 issue of Science 
magazine in an article co-authored "with 
former Smithsonian Fellow Brian Hesse. 
Prehistoric dwelling found. A prehistoric 
d"welling at the edge of the Great Sand 
Dunes National Monument in Colorado 
"was found in mid-August by Pegi Jodry, an 
archaeologist at the National Museum of 
Natural History, and her research team. It 
is the first Archaic-age dwelling found in 
sand dunes in Colorado. The house floor 
and charcoaled hearth of a primitive 
dwelling, dug in a hillside near Indian 
Spring on the Nature Conservancy's 
Medano-Zapata Ranch, "was inhabited 
some 4,000 to 6,000 years ago, Jodry says. 
The research team recovered a probable 
basket-making tool made on a deer 
metapodial, a small stone pendant, grind- 
ing stones and a stone tool. 
Astronomical research priorities. The 
National Research Council of the National 
Academies in Wishington, D.C., has cited 
four proposed initiatives based, or originat- 
ing, at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for 
Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass., as prior- 
ities in astronomical research for the new 
millinneum. Among the proposed projects 
selected by a national panel of astronomers 
are Constellation-X, a linked array of sev- 
eral orbiting X-ray telescopes, which would 
be the successor to the Chandra X-ray 
Observatory; the Very Energetic Radiation 
Imaging Telescope Array System, or 
VERITAS, a ground-based array of seven 
10-meter-diameter telescopes designed to 
study the very-high-energy gamma rays 
that permeate space; the Energetic X-ray 
Imaging Survey Telescope, known as 
EXIST, an X-ray telescope operated from 
the international Space Station; and the 
South Pole Submillimeter Telescope, a 
complement to existing Smithsonian facili- 
ties in Hawaii and Antarctica devoted to 
submillimeter astronomy. 
Series Publications 
The following publications on research in 
various fields were issued during the 
period May 1 through July 31, 2000, by 
Smithsonian Institution Press in the regu- 
lar Smithsonian series. Diane Tyler is man- 
aging editor. Requests for series publica- 
tions should be addressed to Smithsonian 
Institution Press, Series Division, 470 
L'Enfant Plaza, Suite 7100, Washington, 
D.C. 20560-0950. 
Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology 
? 91 Myodocopid Ostracoda from the 
Late Permian of Greece and a Basic Classifi- 
cation for Paleozoic and Mesozoic Myodocop- 
ida, by Louis S. Kornicker and I.G. Sohn, 
33 pages, 22 figures, 1 table. 
Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology 
? 607 Zoogeography and Systematics of the 
Lanternfishes of the Genus Nannobrachium 
(Myctophidae: LampanyctiniJ, by Bernard J. 
Zahuranec, 69 pages, 25 figures, 34 tables. 
Books & Recordings 
Witness in OurTime: Working Lives of 
Documentary Photographers, by Ken 
Light (Smithsonian Institution Press, 2000, 
$45 cloth; $1795 paper). This book traces 
the recent history of social documentary 
photography through 22 of the genre's best 
photographers, editors and curators. 
Deep Ocean, by Tony Rice (Smithsonian 
Institution Press, 2000, $14.95). This 
lively, informative book tells how oceanog- 
raphy developed as a science and summa- 
rizes "what is known about the organisms 
that live in the deep ocean. 
Lichens, by William Purvis (Smithsonian 
Institution Press, 2000, $14.95). In this 
generously illustrated book, the author, a 
lichenologist, contends that understanding 
and maintaining lichen biodiversity may 
lead to the discovery of ne"w medicines and 
increasingly precise monitoring of the envi- 
ronment's health. 
Snakes, by Petter Stafford (Smithsonian 
Institution Press, 2000, $14.95). The 
author charts the biology and natural his- 
tory of these creatures, highlighting the 
variety and complexity of a group that 
includes almost 300 living species. 
Asteroids: A History, by Curtis Peebles 
(Smithsonian Institution Press, 2000, 
$29.95). The author covers asteroid investi- 
gation, sho"wing ho"w ideas about the orbit- 
ing boulders have evolved and discussing 
the ebb and flow of scientific debate. 
Bananas: An American History, by Vir- 
ginia Scott Jenkins (Smithsonian Institu- 
tion Press, 2000, $16.95). Covering every 
FOODYALUE 
of the 
BANANA 
Front cover of The Food Value of the 
Banana, which was published in 1928 by 
the Food Co. of Boston (Courtesy of Ann 
Lovell's Banana Museum) 
aspect of the banana in American culture, 
the book provides an insightful look at a 
fruit with appeal. 
China Pilot: Flying for Chennault During 
the Cold War, by Felix Smith (Smithsonian 
Institution Press, 2000, $1795). Smith 
shares a fascinating view of the events that 
shaped modern Asia as he saw them while 
flying throughout the region for Civil Air 
Transport in the tumultuous years follow- 
ing World War II. 
Angels Zero: P-47 Close Air Support in 
Europe, by Robert V. BruUe (Smithsonian 
Institution Press, 2000, $29.95). Combin- 
ing anecdotes from his diary, research in 
U.S. and German records, and interviews 
"with participants from both sides, the 
author links his daily experiences as a 
fighter pilot with events in "wider Europe. 
Beyond the Moon: A Golden Age of Plan- 
etary Exploration, 1971-1978, by Robert S. 
Kraemer (Smithsonian Institution Press, 
2000, $34.95). Providing an insider's view 
of "what has been called a golden era in 
space pioneering, the author describes the 
financial, political and technical hurdles 
facing each space mission during this time. 
The Museum in Transition, by Hilde S. 
Hein (Smithsonian Institution Press, 2000, 
$40 cloth; $1795 paper). Suggesting that 
the current emphasis on experience and 
multiple perspectives may be replacing an 
old monolithic value "with a new one, Hein 
urges museums to amplify and sharpen 
their distinctions from one another. 
America's Public Holidays, 1865-1920, by 
Ellen M. Litwicki (Smithsonian Institution 
Press, 2000, $39.95). The author argues 
that the invention of more than 25 holidays 
between the close of the Civil War and the 
end of World War I provided various 
'Books, ' continued on Page 8 
Smithsonian Institution Research Reports ? Autumn 2000 ? 7 
Off the Shelf 
Vikings: The North 
Atlantic Saga 
Edited by William W. Fitzhugh and Elisabeth 
I. Wird (Published by Smithsonian Institution 
Press, 2000, $60 cloth; $34.95 paper) 
The Vikings, not Columbus, 
reached America first, according 
to a newly released Smithsonian 
Institution Press book titled 
Vikings: The North Atlantic Saga. The book 
not only corrects misconceptions, it uses 
the history of the Vikings as a firamework 
for a range of events in world history. A 
The book commemorates the 1,000- 
year anniversary of the Vikings' 
expansion from their Scandina- 
vian homelands west across the 
Atlantic to North America from 
about A.D. 800 to A.D. 1000. 
The expansion culminates in 
the voyage of Leif Eriksson, 
who brought his ship to 
shore in what is today 
northeastern Canada, 
becoming the first Euro- 
pean to set foot in the 
New World, around the 
year 1000. 
Vikings was edited by 
William Fitzhugh, a 
curator in the National 
Museum of Natural His- 
tory's Anthropology 
Department and director 
of the museum's Arctic 
Studies Center, and 
Elisabeth Ward, a 
museum specialist in 
the department and 
assistant curator for 
the Vikings project. 
It was published to 
accompany a trav- 
eling exhibition of 
the same name, 
which closed at the 
museum Aug. 13. 
The book, divided into more than 30 
chapters, is replete with color photographs, 
drawings and maps of Viking sites, arti- 
facts and landscapes. It first leads readers 
through Scandinavian culture, art, religion 
and daily life and then into Europe. It 
traces the expansion of farmers and explor- 
ers throughout the North Atlantic and into 
the New World. 
Vikings also reveals that contacts with 
Native American groups were far more 
extensive than has previously been 
believed and that the outnumbered Norse- 
men never established more than tempo- 
rary settlements in North America. 
"Topics were determined by need?to 
cover the subject fully?and by expertise, 
because there was a body of scholarly 
information already available," says 
Fitzhugh, who, with the help of Ward, 
pulled together both the book and the 
exhibition in 18 months. 
"Getting 38 manuscripts sub- 
mitted, edited and illustrated in 
less than a year is not a typical or 
desirable publication plan," he 
says. "Fortunately, many of the 
authors had already done 
research on these topics 
and could write quickly 
for us." 
By putting together the 
book and the exhibition, 
Fitzhugh wanted to dis- 
pel stereotypes of Vik- 
ings as raiding and pil- 
laging people in horned 
helmets. "The Vikings 
A^ho came to the New 
World were explorers, 
farmers, fishermen and 
settlers, home folks inter- 
ested in their families and 
ancestral deeds," he says. 
The book's goal, 
Fitzhugh adds, was not 
to provide a primary 
source but to gather 
primary sources 
cost. "We wanted to reach as many people 
as possible with the new and unfamiliar 
information that it was the Vikings, not 
Columbus, who reached America first." 
The Vikings exhibition, which opens 
Oct. 20 at the American Museum of Nat- 
ural History in New York City, was pro- 
duced as part of a large international exhi- 
bition on Vikings. It was organized by the 
National Museum of Natural History and 
received primary funding from the Nordic 
Council of Ministers and V)lvo. The show 
also will travel to Los Angeles; Houston; 
Denver; and Ottawa, Canada. It is pre- 
sented in partnership with the White 
House Millennium Council. 
?Jo Ann Webb 
This fall. Donor Level and above Contribut- 
ing Members will receive the book Vikings: 
The North Atlantic Saga as a benefit of 
membership. 
In 1831, a spectacular cache of 93 chessmen 
carved from walrus ivory, such as this one, 
was found on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer 
Hebrides.These islands were connected to 
a trade network controlled from Norway. 
into a single, read- 
able and highly 
illustrated volume 
that could be pro- 
duced at a modest 
'Books, ' continued from Page 7 
American groups with the opportunity to 
recast the story of the United States with 
themselves in the pivotal roles. 
The Flowering of Man: ATzotzil Botany of 
Zinacant?n, by Dennis E. Breedlove and 
Robert M. Laughlin (Smithsonian Institu- 
tion Press, 2000, $24.95). Considered to be 
one of the most comprehensive studies of 
Mesoamerican ethnobotany, the book 
looks at this Mayan culture and its inten- 
sive use of the botanical landscape. 
Rain Forest Exchanges: Industry and 
Community on an Amazonian Frontier, by 
William H. Fisher (Smithsonian Institu- 
tion Press, 2000, $45 cloth; $19.95 paper). 
Drawing on both historical sources and 
indigenous informants. Fisher argues that 
decisions to cooperate with frontier indus- 
tries are best understood by taking into 
account the power of native social systems 
to shape the acquisition of trade goods. 
The Politics of Ritual in an Aboriginal 
Settlement: Kinship, Gender and the Cur- 
rency of Knowledge, by Fran?oise Dussart 
(Smithsonian Institution Press, 2000, $45). 
The author looks at how female ritual lead- 
ers transcend the rigid physical divisions 
that separate them from their male coun- 
terparts and how they function simultane- 
ously in various roles within their culture. 
The Best of Broadside: 1962-1988 
(Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, 2000, 
$69.95 CD). This collector's set contains 
more than five hours of music first pub- 
lished in the historic Broadside magazine, 
which promoted social change and made 
available the underground music that 
fueled the innocent-sounding folk revival 
and the explosions of angry rock and rap. 
Lord Invader: Calypso in New York 
(Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, 2000, 
$15 CD). This compact disc features 26 
songs, 13 of which have never before been 
released, by the composer of the song 
"Rum and Coca-Cola," which popularized 
calypso in the United States. 
Calypso Awakening (Smithsonian Folk- 
ways Recordings, 2000, $15 CD). A flour- 
ishing of calypso creativity, a dramatic 
period in Trinidad's history and an audio 
engineer named Emory Cook inspired 
these tracks, originally released on Cook 
Records between 1956 and 1962. 
Books published by Smithsonian Institu- 
tion Press can be ordered from P.O. Box 
960, Herndon, Va. 20172-0960. To order 
by phone or for more information, call 1 
(800) 782-4612. There is a $3.50 postage 
and handling fee for the first book ordered 
and $ 1 for each additional book. 
Smithsonian Folkways Recordings can 
be ordered by writing to Smithsonian 
Folkways Mail Order, 955 L'Enfant Plaza, 
Suite 7300, Washington, D.C. 20560- 
0953. To order by phone or for more infor- 
mation, call (202) 287-7297 or 1 (800) 
410-9815. There is a $5.50 fee for ship- 
ping and handling of the first 15 record- 
ings ordered; call for other shipping prices. 
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 
Washington DC 20560-0033 
Official Business 
Penalty for Private Use $300 
Bulk Rate 
Postage & Fees Paid 
Smithsonian Institution 
G-94 
# SkiaitluoauiiilBftltstlfla NO. 102 AUTUMN 2000