0 Smithsonian Institution NO. 101  SUMMER 2000 
A new book on motor homes follows 
the route of these recreational vehicles 
By Brenda KeanTabor 
Special to Research Reports 
uring correspondent 
Charles Kuralt's career 
broadcasting "On the 
Road" segments for 
CBS News, CBS leased 
or purchased for him 
t"wo Travco motor homes, tw^o Cortez 
motor homes, a Revcon motor home and a 
Farm Machinery Corp. Motor Coach with 
a big desk. Kuralt wrote television and 
radio scripts on "the Bus," as he called 
those vehicles, but slept in motels and ate 
in restaurants on the road. 
John Steinbeck, who traveled across 
America in a truck camper in I960 and 
wrote about it in Travels With Charley: In 
Search of America, wrote to his wife that 
"talking with people is easy because every- 
one loves the truck    Everyone wants to 
see the inside of the truck." 
These are two of many anecdotes to be 
found in Home on the Road: The Motor 
Home in America, a ne"w Smithsonian Insti- 
Roger White, with a copy of his bool<, leans 
from the door of a 1934Trav-L-Coach house 
trailer in the National Museum of American 
History collection. (Photo by Jeff Tinsley) 
tution Press book written by Roger White, 
transportation specialist at the National 
Museum of American History. 
White's specialty is the history of motor 
vehicles, their design, manufacture and 
use, with a particular focus on leisure 
travel. In 1985, he curated an exhibition 
about vacation travel that included recre- 
ation vehicles, auto- 
camping, motels and 
sightseeing attractions. 
"I amassed a lot of 
information about motor 
homes and trailers and 
considered writing an 
exhibition catalog," 
White says. "Instead, I 
decided to "write a com- 
prehensive history about 
motor homes that would 
bridge the gap between 
1920s house-cars and 
1960s Winnebago-style 
motor homes." 
Home on the Road offers up an interstate's 
worth of information. Together with 
museum volunteer Peter Koltnow, who was 
once president of the Highway Users Fed- 
eration, White amassed or examined 125 
oral histories and closely traced 75 house- 
car o"wners?individuals who were located 
"with the help of the Reader's Guide to Peri- 
odical Literature and diligent research. 
Journals such as Sunset, Popular 
Mechanics, MotorHome Life, and Motor 
Camper and Tourist provided White with 
leads to census records and city directo- 
ries. By putting together this jigsaw puzzle 
of data. White learned a great deal about 
motor campers and the people "who ow^ned 
them. 
The history of motor homes 
Today the words "motor home" conjure 
up images of huge Winnebagos floating 
smoothly down four-lane highways. But 
motor homes have gone through many 
metamorphoses in the last century, from 
customized adaptations of the Ford Model 
T chassis to the comfortably furnished 
Blue Bird Wanderlodge featured at the 
close of White's book. 
It all began "with "the cycling craze of 
the 1880s and 1890s, when people discov- 
ered the novelty and thrill of controlling 
their transportation and seeing the coun- 
tryside "without depending on the fixed 
routes or staccato rhythms of passenger 
Roland and Mary Conklin of Huntington, N.Y., made house-car travel a family experience. 
Their bus factory built the Gypsy Van, shown above, and in the summer of 1915, the Conklin 
family set out to see America. (Photo courtesy of the Huntington Historical Society) 
trains and trolleys," White writes in Home 
on the Road. 
"When automobiles became available in 
the early 20th century," he continues, 
"more couples and families began to 
explore rural and wilderness areas as a 
pleasure activity in their cars. They used 
the automobile as a buffer, transferring the 
sophisticated furnishings, technological 
systems and daily routines of home to the 
healthful attractions, scenic splendors and 
deprivations of the outdoors." 
The motor home is very much a grass- 
roots invention, having been created in the 
late 1910s "by motorists, not by manufac- 
turers," White points out. In the 1920s, 
motorists "readily adapted their own vehi- 
cles and made house-cars for the fun of it," 
expanding the enormous popularity of 
autocamping. "Many of these vacationers 
"were enthusiastic tinkerers "who were 
mechanics, "worked in auto factories, or 
ran body shops or campgrounds," he adds. 
The wealthy, on the other hand, had 
customized house-cars built for them. 
Some of these house-cars, like Roland and 
Mary Conklin's 1915 Gypsy Van, had a 
homelike interior that was "similar to their 
mansion, "which was styled after English 
manor houses," White says. In the mid- 
1920s, Will Keith Kellogg, of Kellogg's 
Corn Flakes fame, had a buslike house-car 
designed for him that resembled a private 
railroad car. 
Autocamping 
In the first two decades of the 20th cen- 
tury, autocamping was often hazardous, 
and its enthusiasts "were intrepid adventur- 
ers. In the early 1910s, most roads were 
primitive, especially in the West. Motorists 
often found themselves "fording streams 
much the way travelers did "with horses 
and wagons," White writes. 
Autocamping enthusiasm gre"w during 
the 1920s, when "federal and state govern- 
ments sponsored numerous improvements 
in highway grading, alignment, surfacing, 
bridges and signage," according to White. 
During the Depression, roadside camping 
became associated with Hoovervilles ? 
shelters erected by the homeless and 
itinerant?and autocamping diminished. 
A changing industry 
A trailer industry emerged in the 1930s, 
and revived in the late 1940s through the 
1950s, "when recreation vehicles with the 
"tight handling and responsiveness of the 
family car" emerged. White says. While 
'Motor hi 'omes,  continued on '  Page 6 
Research Vistas, 2 ? Chinese bells, 2 ? Insects, 3 ? Digitizing artifacts, 4 ? Mangrove swamps, 5 
Research Highlights, 6 ? Series, Books & Recordings, 7 ? Off the Shelf, 8 
Research Vistas 
Distinguished Research Lecture ? The first annual Secretary's Distinguished Research Lec- 
ture was held in April at the National Museum of American History. Margaret Geller, senior 
scientist at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Mass., and professor of 
astronomy at Harvard University, delivered the first lecture. This column is excerpted from 
remarks made by Smithsonian Secretary Lawrence M. Small prior to Geller's lecture. 
I am delighted to welcome you to the first in a series of annual lectures that will 
honor the practice of research at the Smithsonian by honoring our best practicing 
researchers, individuals who have made exceptional contributions to a field of knowledge 
throughout careers of sustained excellence. 
The lectures will be occasions to affirm publicly the Institution's commitment to fun- 
damental inquiry in the sciences, the humanities and the arts. And as they grow in 
number over the years, they will stand as a substantial body of testimony to the breadth 
of Smithsonian research and the quality of Smithsonian researchers, of whom there are 
currently 650 in some 34 fields of the sciences, art, history, anthropology and material 
culture. 
Since arriving at the Smithsonian not quite three months ago, I have been pondering 
the question: Why do we do research at the Smithsonian? It is obvious, of course, that 
research was part of the original mandate for the Institution. In fact, Joseph Henry [the 
Institution's first Secretary] wanted the Smithsonian to be primarily a center for 
research, a "college of discoverers." He equipped the Castle with five lecture halls, 
numerous laboratories and a library?rare scientific research facilities at the time. 
He established processes for sharing scientific knowledge, within the United States 
and internationally, and he initiated publication of the series Smithsonian Contributions 
to Knowledge. But he was reluctant to accept the role Congress designated for the Insti- 
tution: to be steward of the nation's collections of scientific and historical objects. 
And yet, what were all those objects then, and what have they been over the interven- 
ing century and a half but a stimulus to more research? They are the first things we need 
to know about, though by no means the only things. And sometimes, we need to learn 
about them all over again, because each new generation approaches them with ne-w 
questions. 
So it strikes me as one reason we do research at the Smithsonian is that without it we 
would be a mere storehouse?immense but lifeless. Our role is not just to store, or even 
to display. It is to identify and explain and make connections. It is to impose order on 
collections and to find order in the natural world. And in the course of doing all that, 
our role is to stir the curiosity that asks for better explanations, more persuasive connec- 
tions and more cogent schemes of order. Research grounds the authority of the largest 
display and the integrity of the smallest label. 
And the more I talk to researchers at the Smithsonian, the more obvious it becomes 
that we do research simply because human beings are fundamentally curious. They want 
explanations. They want to know about themselves, about others, about the world they 
can see and about worlds they cannot see, and they want to know all the particulars. So 
we do research because it is the human thing to do. 
And the process of research becomes more fully human when the knowledge is 
shared and is made a contribution to the common store of knowledge. At the Smithso- 
nian, we have a special obligation to explain what we are doing, to bring the public 
along with us, to communicate the importance and the consequences of our work. 
And finally, I have come to realize it is important for us to do research at the 
Smithsonian because it keeps the enterprise vital, keeps us from showing our age. It per- 
petually re-creates the Institution. Research is the base that supports the building. There 
is no lasting structure without it. 
This set of 65 bronze bells, found in the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng, is considered too precious 
to leave China. A smaller, similar set of 36 bells from an adjacent tomb is in the exhibition 
"Music in the Age of Confucius" at the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. (Photo by JohnTsantes) 
MUSIC   HISTORY  
A set of bells unearthed in China is 
the oldest existing musical assemblage 
By Brenda KeanTabor 
Special to Research Reports 
In 1977, troops from the Chinese Peo- 
ple's Liberation Army were sent to the 
remote Yangtze River Valley in central 
China to level a hill near the to"wn of 
Leigudun for a ne"w factory. After remov- 
ing the initial layers of dirt, they uncov- 
ered stones that clearly had been deliber- 
ately laid do"wn. Archaeologists were called 
in, and they methodically set about uncov- 
ering an extraordinary Bronze Age tomb 
dating to around 433 B.C. It belonged to 
a previously unkno"wn local lord named 
Marquis Yi of Zeng. 
Jenny So, a curator at the Smithsonian's 
Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, likens this find 
to the earlier 20th-century discovery of 
King Tutankhamen's tomb in Egypt. The 
uncovering of the Marquis Yi tomb at the 
dawn of a period of renewed interest in 
scholarly pursuits in China, as well as a 
reopening of China to the ^?fest, was fortu- 
itous timing. 
One happy result is the Sackler Gallery's 
exhibition "Music in the Age of Confu- 
cius," w^hich was curated by So and 
includes bells, zithers, drums, flutes and 
panpipes from the tomb of Marquis Yi. In 
the exhibition, visitors can see and hear 
the sounds of 2,500-year-old Bronze Age 
instruments that "constitute the oldest 
musical assemblage surviving from any 
culture," So says. 
Almost as remarkable as the instruments 
themselves is the story of their discovery, 
"which is dramatically documented in the 
exhibition in video excerpts from a recent 
television program produced by the Dis- 
covery Channel. 
Discovery of the bells 
The flooded, muddy, timber-lined burial 
pit the Chinese archaeologists exposed was 
roughly 69 feet by 52 feet and divided 
into four distinct chambers. There they 
found t"wo complete sets of musical instru- 
ments, as well as armaments, the bones of 
a middle-aged man lying w^ithin two nested 
coflins and the skeletons of 21 young "women 
"who appeared to have been sacrificed. 
On one bell, "which is among a set of 65 
bells found in the largest chamber, is an 
inscription indicating that it had been pre- 
sented on the occasion of the death of the 
man within the coffins?Marquis Yi of 
Zeng. Marquis Yi had lived during the 
Warring States, or Eastern Zhou, period, a 
time when smaller principalities were 
being absorbed by more po"werful neigh- 
bors. "Here was a Mr. Nobody in the mid- 
dle of no"where with an incredible collec- 
tion of instruments," So says. 
'Chii ? belli .s,  continued on '  Page 6 
^ jBn^Wk^^Li^ Tl>^><??lt** 
Research R^H?rts 
No. 101 Summer 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 
about the Smithsonian or about their member- 
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 ? Summer 2000 
ENTOMOLOGY 
Entomologists work to narrow the gap 
between known and unknown species 
By Jo Ann Webb 
Smithsonian Office of Public Affairs 
Before you swat that annoying fly 
or crush a disgusting-looking bug, 
think twice. You could be 
destroying an unknown species 
that an entomologist "would give a right 
arm to find. In fact, some researchers 
admit that, of the estimated 20 million to 
80 million species of insects and plants 
that exist today, only 1.5 million to 1.8 
million have been identified. Undeniably, 
researchers have only scratched the sur- 
face. There is still a lot of work to be done. 
Some research entomologists at the 
National Museum of Natural History have 
devoted much of their careers to this 
work?identifying, classifying and naming 
new species of insects. The process can 
take a few days to several months to com- 
plete, but Smithsonian scientists are not 
alone in this scientific endeavor. They col- 
laborate with other researchers from muse- 
ums and universities around the world. 
Biological collections, with their associ- 
ated data, Smithsonian researchers believe, 
are the reference libraries for all life on 
Earth, past and present. The specimens are 
proof, or evidence, of a species' existence. 
"The old literature isn't much good 
without physical evidence," says Don 
Davis, a research entomologist in the 
museum's Department of Entomology. "It 
is important to see these insects?their 
internal and external characteristics, 
immature stages and what they feed on. 
Thus, complete descriptions are very 
important in this business." 
Researchers spend a great deal of time in 
the field collecting specimens. But a major 
reason for fieldwork is not just to acquire 
more species for the museum, Davis says. 
It is to learn what roles and interactions 
these organisms play in the ecosystem. For 
example, he adds, many insects are 
important because 
they pollinate 
plants. One 
needs the other 
for survival. 
' Our species 
probably 
could not sur- 
vive more 
than a year or 
two if all poUi- 
This leaf shows damage caused by leaf- 
mining moths. (Photo by Vic Krantz) 
nators were to suddenly disappear," Davis 
says. 
"\bu never know how our research can 
be applied," says Robert Robbins, a 
museum entomologist who specializes in 
butterflies. For example, he says, about 
half a century ago, a medical doctor, who 
was also a butterfly researcher, realized 
that the different genetic forms of a butter- 
fly he was studying were inherited in 
a manner analogous to the way that 
Rh blood factors are inherited in peo- 
ple. On the basis of this information, 
he developed the treatment for Rh incom- 
patibility between mother and fetus, 
which has saved countless lives. 
Davis, who studies primitive moths? 
the ones that appeared earliest in the his- 
tory of the order?is currently working on 
the biology of about 1,000 new species 
that have been collected from around the 
world, as well as locally. He has lost track 
of the number of new species that he has 
described and named. More important 
than identifying new species, he is inter- 
ested in the evolution and life cycles of 
these highly metamorphic insects. 
Collecting new specimens 
How then does Davis go about finding 
and classifying these "unknown" species? 
"We look for unusual leaf damage," he 
answers. "It's like fingerprints. Once I see 
the damage, I can often tell you the 
genus." 
But identifying the genus is only solving 
half of the problem. One genus can have 
hundreds or even thousands of species that 
look alike but are different, Davis says. For 
example, at a small site in La Selva, Costa 
Rica, he and a colleague have identified 
250 species of a family of leaf-mining 
moths. Of this number, only two species 
had been previously discovered and 
named. 
One of the known species at La Selva, 
the citrus leaf miner, has invaded other 
countries with detrimental effects. Its lar- 
vae mine in the leaves and peels of citrus 
fruit, eventually disfiguring the fruit and 
wiping out entire crops. Knowledge of 
such species is important to farmers, Davis 
says, because they lose millions of dollars 
each year from crop damage. 
"Invasive species are becoming a national 
priority," Davis says. "Losses caused by 
invasive species cost the United States 
somewhere between $ 1.1 billion 
and $137 billion annually. Such 
loss, coupled with increasing loss of 
natural habitat and biodiversity around 
the world, means that much of the science 
pursued in this museum and elsewhere has 
a very real and urgent deadline." 
Most of the specimens that Davis col- 
lects in the tropics are caught in ultraviolet 
light traps, which he sets at night. These 
traps attract thousands of nocturnal 
insects in addition to moths. Because the 
traps do much of his collecting, he is free 
to spend his days looking for live larvae 
that he will bring back to the museum and 
raise. 
Identifying and classifying 
Back at the field lab, he removes the moths 
that have been caught in his traps. He 
keeps them "relaxed" by placing them in 
moist, high-humidity chambers. The 
moisture keeps the 
moths soft enough 
to spread their 
wines. It is 
z' 
This fly species Dagus rostratus, found in 
the Caribbean and northern South America, 
was redescribed by Wayne Mathis in 1982. 
(Illustration by Young Sohn) 
a delicate process that must be timed pre- 
cisely, because, after about 12 to 24 hours, 
the moths become too wet to work with. 
remainder, making numerous micro slides 
during the process. 
When it comes to examining the tiny 
larvae, he uses a scanning electron 
microscope for high magnifica- 
tion and resolution. By rearing 
the larvae, he will learn more 
about the insect's biology and 
what it feeds on. He collects 
enough larvae to dissect some, yet 
rear most to maturity. During dissec- 
tion, he examines such features as the type 
of larval mouth parts to help determine 
the genus and establish the precise method 
of feeding. He also can determine 
behavior modifications, as well as 
systematic relationships. 
While the techniques for identifying 
and classifying insects can differ among 
species, the processes are similar. Wayne 
Mathis, also a research entomologist at the 
National Museum of Natural History, 
works with aquatic flies. 
Of course, Mathis' collecting is done 
around waterways, using various tech- 
niques and equipment. "Sometimes, I 
don't know if I have found a new species 
until I dissect it," he says. "Flies can look 
almost identical but belong to different 
Wayne Mathis collecting insects in Dominica in 1991 
He has to discard the moths he is unable 
to pin and prepare in the field. He eventu- 
ally studies under a microscope those that 
he was able to prepare, looking for telltale 
signs of the genera or the species. 
When he returns to the museum, Davis 
continues his examination of the fragile 
moths, some of which are tiny enough to 
fit on the head of a pin. While many but- 
terflies, beetles and other insects have 
external, easily identifiable characteristics, 
the morphological, or structural, diversity 
of micro-lepidoptera (small moths) is 
internal and usually concealed by scales. 
To begin the identification and classifi- 
cation process, he has to first remove the 
moths' abdomens by placing them in a 
solution that macerates, or softens and 
breaks down, unwanted tissue. He then 
slowly and painstakingly dissects the 
genera. There may also be considerable 
variation within some species." 
Various species, he says, require specific 
environmental conditions. Mathis can 
almost name the genus, based on where he 
collects the flies. "Flies are fairly special- 
ized in what they want," he explains. 
"Some are tolerant of pollutants, while 
others require pristine aquatic habitats. 
Therefore, I can tell you whether the water 
is clean or dirty, if it is saline or alkaline, 
based on specimens collected near or 
around waterways." 
In examining specimens, Mathis looks 
for even spotting patterns on the wings 
and the structure of the abdomen. Some of 
his colleagues use DNA sequences as well. 
After making external observations, he 
'Insects, ' continued on Page 6 
Smithsonian Institution Research Reports ? Summer 2000 ? 3 
TECHNOLOGY 
'Digilab' allows scholars, visitors 
to 'handle' artifacts in 3-D, on-screen 
By Angela Cervetti 
Smithsonian Office of Public Affairs 
Superman's blue tights and red cape 
tower impressively above visitors to 
the National Museum of American 
History's Graphic Arts Hall. Nearby, 
a 3-D image of the same costume foretells 
the coming of a digital supermuseum? 
faster than a speeding bullet, stronger than 
a display case and able to leap the confines 
of traditional exhibitry in a single click. 
The exhibit is "Digilab," a showcase for 
the process of digitizing Smithsonian arti- 
facts, documents and photographs. Digiti- 
zation is essentially the taking of electronic 
photographs of objects. These electronic 
photos are then used on the Internet and 
on CD-ROMs. The exhibit, which opened 
in December, represents a trend that is 
transforming the nature of museums. 
"Digitizing is happening everyw^here in 
the world, in all kinds of institutions," says 
David Allison, curator and chairman of 
the museum's Division of Information 
Technology and Society. "The Smithso- 
nian's goal is not only to digitize its o"wn 
collections but also to make the public 
understand w^hat it means to digitize." 
The imaging lab 
The centerpiece of the exhibition is the 
imaging lab. Visitors peer through large 
windows to see Smithsonian staff digitiz- 
ing documents and developing Web sites 
showing the images, some of which are 
3-D. 
Next to the lab, a glass case displays a 
Superman cookie jar, a pogo stick, a ray 
gun and the costume worn by actor 
Christopher Reeves in the movie "Super- 
man IV." On the opposite side of the case, 
an interactive computer offers visitors more 
of the Superman collection, its history 
and, most impressive, a brilliant 3-D 
image of the action hero himself. 
"People are surprised by the interactivity 
of the exhibit. And young visitors get 
really excited to see Superman in all his 
forms," says Karen Lee, the division's exhi- 
bition developer. 
"We wanted to put the two types of dis- 
plays side by side and let visitors compare 
the physical and virtual experiences of the 
same objects and think about how digitiz- 
ing changes and enhances their museum 
experience," Allison says. 
Clianges In printing, grapliic arts 
The "Digilab" exhibition is presented 
"within the larger context of the history of 
printing and graphic arts. "It was appropri- 
ate and easy to place the lab "within that 
context," Allison says. "Printing and 
graphic arts have been radically trans- 
formed by the process of digitizing. Sec- 
ondly, it "was an opportunity to take an 
older exhibition and give it a modern 
conclusion." 
A display case in the "Digilab" exhibition 
showing Superman memorabilia is next to 
an interactive computer that allows visitors 
to manipulate a 3-D image of the action 
hero. (Photo by Terry McCrea) 
As visitors approach the lab, they first 
encounter yesterday's iron printing presses. 
"We thought visitors would be interested 
in seeing the physical work and myriad of 
manual steps these big machines required 
and then trace the history of printing to 
our 'Digilab,' where it is all done by com- 
puter," Lee explains. 
The juxtaposition is particularly striking 
as presented by t"wo objects: a page from 
the 15th-century Gutenberg Bible and the 
Rocket eBook, 
a 22-ounce electronic device that can 
download text and hold 4,000 pages of 
w^ords and images. 
"Digilab" hardware includes a large- 
format ink-jet printer, a digital-photograph 
printer, a large-format image scanner and 
computers for Web page design, as "well as 
a two-sided scanner, a digital video camera 
and several servers for managing the pro- 
duction process. Collaboration "with tech- 
nology firms helped make "Digilab" possi- 
ble, "with Hewlett-Packard and Intel, among 
others, donating money and equipment. 
But key to the digitization of Si's collec- 
tions have been those who take the elec- 
tronic photographs. "The increased use of 
digital photography is happening through- 
out the photographic profession. It's the 
latest step in the continuing advances pho- 
tography has made since its invention," 
says Jim Wallace, director of the Smithso- 
nian's Office of Imaging, Printing and 
Photographic Services. Wallace oversees a 
team of photographers involved in the dig- 
itizing process. 
"To create 3-D images, we set the object 
on a rotating table and photograph it with 
a digital camera. We rotate it 10 degrees 
and take another picture. We take 36 pic- 
tures per object," Wallace says. "Once the 
images are electronically stitched together, 
you see a single image on the screen that 
can be manipulated by computer users in a 
variety of "ways." 
For example, the compass used by early 
American explorers Lewis and Clark has 
been digitized in such a "way that it is seen 
not just from multiple angles but also 
opening and closing. It took 108 pho- 
tographs to offer this effect, 36 for each of 
the three positions in "which it is shown. 
Another advantage of digitization is to 
prevent the deterioration of items. Han- 
dling of items by researchers and staff can 
irreversibly weaken and distort them. Dig- 
itizing items that are heavily used for dis- 
play, research or publication increases their 
general access and reduces the risk of 
improper handling. 
With more than l4l million items in 
the Smithsonian's collections, the complete 
digitization of all collections is not the 
ultimate goal. Priorities are set by a collec- 
tion's popularity, condition and internal 
demand. By making the Smithsonian's col- 
lections available on the Internet, millions 
of people worldwide can enjoy them. 
For example, the Vidal 
collection of popular 
culture and religious objects, given to the 
Smithsonian by Puerto Rican collector 
Teodoro Vidal in 1997, was digitized soon 
after it arrived. Now, people in Puerto 
Rico "who previously had no access to 
these objects?because the items were not 
on public display in Puerto Rico?can see 
them on the Internet. 
In addition to increasing access, digitiz- 
ing can give virtual visitors a deeper, more 
focused learning experience. "A museum is 
a great environment to see objects, but if 
you are keenly interested in one particular 
object, the 60 words on the display label 
aren't enough," Allison says. "On the 
Internet, you can have a wealth of infor- 
mation in addition to images." 
More significant, the blending of tradi- 
tional and electronic approaches may solve 
one of the most challenging aspects of 
museum "work. Exhibits provide a context 
for objects, a sense of what they meant in 
their original time. Museums can often 
only afford to exhibit one interpretation. 
Instead of having to choose one view 
over another, digitization allows curators 
to juxtapose interpretations of the same 
objects. "Imagine an exhibit in "which a 
variety of elements, such as choices for 
subjects and objects, is programmed at the 
discretion of the visitor. They could make 
up their own multimedia program, cus- 
tomize their museum experience through 
technology," Allison says. There are so 
many "ways of using electronic technology 
creatively to enhance the visitor's experi- 
ence, Allison believes, that it "will necessar- 
ily change the very nature of museums. 
"I don't really kno"w "what the museum 
of the future will look like," Allison 
admits. "But I am fairly certain it will be a 
marriage of physical and electronic exhibi- 
try." And as the trend toward digitization 
in museums steams ahead, the Smithso- 
nian is well established on the cutting edge 
with "Digilab." 
David Allison shows how one of the large format printers in "Digilab" is used to produce poster-size printouts. (Photo by Angela Cervetti) 
4 ? Smithsonian Institution Research Reports ? Summer 2000 
TROPICAL   BIOLOGY 
Smithsonian scientists discover rich, 
varied life in the mangrove swamps 
By Elizabeth Tait 
Smithsonian Office of Public Affairs 
The air, thick with the distinctive, 
rotten-egg smell of sulfides, is 
abuzz with insects. The sun is 
so palpably close it seems to be 
adding as much to the noise and damp as 
it is to the heat and brightness. Welcome 
to Isla Christobel, an island in the Bocas 
del Toro archipelago of northeastern 
Panama. This is no day at the beach. This 
is the mangrove swamp. 
"That looks like a good foothold there," 
says Catherine Lovelock, leaning over the 
pro"w of the Smithsonian Tropical Research 
Institute's runabout boat. The object in 
question looks more like a small tree 
branch, the breadth of a woman's finger, 
arcing delicately out of the sodden, coffee- 
colored ground and back in again. Over- 
head is a web of more such branches, deco- 
rated with bright green leaves. 
Surveying the mangroves 
The first step off the boat is that fabled 
long way down. Someone safely aboard 
the boat cautions against falling into the 
"water, w^here "sometimes we see croco- 
diles." The second step brings this brief 
traverse to a dead halt, sunken ankle-deep 
in muck that feels the way one imagines 
quicksand would?wet, "warm and gooey. 
The down"ward pull seems to exceed gravity. 
Lovelock, nearly seven months pregnant, 
has forged ahead gracefully and effort- 
lessly. She turns back to lend a hand? 
literally extricating the neophyte by the 
arm from the quagmire. 
This is the wonderful world of Rhi- 
zophora, Avicennia and Laguncularia, "where 
what appear to be branches actually are 
roots?the trees growing as much down- 
"ward as up?some of the trees 100 years 
old, yet barely knee high. Here, the meet- 
ing between land and sea is more of a 
courtship than a confrontation, the one 
giving way to the other gradually. 
As the water shallows, the mud under- 
foot becomes more perilous for its slick- 
ness than its suction and seems to vibrate 
"with the perpetual, scuttling motion of 
crabs the size of quarters. 
On this research trip. Lovelock, a plant 
ecophysiologist, is accompanied by Ilka 
Feller, an insect ecologist. Both are senior 
scientists at the Smithsonian Environmen- 
tal Research Center in Edgewater, Md. 
Today, they are checking the progress of an 
experiment that measures the effect of 
added nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers 
on the growth of d"warf red mangroves, 
Rhizophora mangle. 
Mangroves are prevalent along the 
"world's tropical and subtropical coastlines. 
In the Atlantic, they range from Miami to 
Rio de Janeiro and, in the Pacific, from 
Hong Kong to Sydney. Strictly speaking, 
"mangrove" is not a taxonomic term; that 
is, it does not define a single type of tree. 
Rather, it is used to describe a group of 
trees and shrubs that share characteristics 
that allo"w them to live in the warm, salty 
"waters of the intertidal zone. 
"There are very few mangrove species," 
Feller notes. "Even the relatively rich Indo- 
Pacific coasts boast only about 40 man- 
grove species along their entire length. In 
the Western Hemisphere, only eight or so 
mangrove species can be found. And of 
this small set, just three kinds of mangrove 
tree are truly common." 
Mangrove adaptability 
The fringes around the islands that com- 
prise Bocas del Toro consist largely of red 
mangroves. The roots these trees sprout 
above ground, called prop roots, and send 
earth"ward in long, midair shoots, or stilt 
roots, are the mangroves' means of exchang- 
ing gases for survival in soil that is oxygen- 
starved. Another adaptive feature of the 
plants is the ability of some to exclude, 
and others to excrete, salt from their tissues. 
Mangroves that grow on continental 
shores are buffeted by the salty ocean on 
one side and the fresh"water from mainland 
streams on the other. They tolerate extreme 
fluctuations in salinity across their 
breadth. Conversely, mangrove communi- 
ties on oceanic islands experience shifts in 
salinity from evaporation or tropical storms. 
In the study of tropical biology, man- 
grove s"wamps have played the poor step- 
sister to the popular rainforest and coral 
Catherine Lovelock admires the dramatic 
growth of a mangrove tree fertilized as part 
of a study of increased nutrient input on 
Isla Christobel. (Photo by Harry Barnes) 
reef, especially in terms of their perceived 
species richness and ecosystem complexity. 
Smithsonian research 
The majority of Smithsonian research into 
mangrove ecosystems has been carried out 
Ecologist Karen McKee of the U.S. Geo- 
logical Survey National Wetlands Research 
Center in Lafayette, La., ventures into the 
mangrove swamp on Twin Cays to check on 
an experiment. (Photo by Elizabeth Tait) 
on a pair of islands, about 12 miles off the 
coast of Belize, known as Twin Cays. 
Nearby is Carrie Bo"w Cay, a one-acre 
island atop the southern Belize barrier reef 
that, for 28 years, has served as a labora- 
tory and living quarters for an interna- 
tional team of scientists researching the 
biological richness of coral reefs and man- 
grove s"wamps. It is the field base for 
Caribbean Coral Reef Ecosystems, a col- 
laborative program of the National 
Museum of Natural History and the Belize 
Fisheries Department. The Smithsonian 
opened a ne"w, 2,400-square-foot building 
here in August 1999, to replace the island's 
original structures, destroyed two years 
earlier by an electrical fire. 
Ian Maclntyre, a carbonate sedimentolo- 
gist in the National Museum of Natural 
History's Department of Paleobiology, 
mapped Twin Cays and took core samples 
from the ground beneath the mangroves in 
the 1970s. 
"It's peat clear to the Pleistocene," Mac- 
lntyre says, referring to the bedrock level 
of limestone, altered over geologic time to 
calcite. The 30-foot-deep layer of peat is 
made up of the decomposing roots of the 
mangroves. The finding, he adds, demon- 
strates that the mangrove community was 
established some 7,000 years ago in what 
"was then very shallow "water and has since 
kept pace "with the rise of sea level. 
The research of Klaus Ruetzler, director 
of Caribbean Coral Reef Ecosystems, testi- 
fies to the diversity of underwater life in 
the mangrove swamp. He and collabora- 
tors study aquatic invertebrates, algae and 
microbes that colonize the subtidal stilt 
roots and abound in most other habitats, 
from seagrass blades to the underground 
of the muddy bottom. 
"Even for relatively well-studied groups, 
such as crustaceans," Ruetzler says, "some 
10 percent of the species found at Twin 
Cays were previously undiscovered." 
Feller first visited Twin Cays and Carrie 
Bow Cay in 1979, when she was a scien- 
tific illustrator. Her interest in science led 
to a doctorate in ecology in 1993. For her 
dissertation, she measured the effects of 
adding different fertilizers on the growth 
and herbivory, or damage from insect feed- 
ing, of d"warf red mangroves on T^vin 
Cays. She discovered that the tree's stunted 
growth is due to a lack of phosphorus. 
IVIangrove ecosystems 
Her work on animal-plant interactions in 
mangroves has changed beliefs about the 
extent and diversity of insect fauna in 
these ecosystems. The key. Feller says, is 
looking beyond leaf surfaces, as entomolo- 
gists typically do. 
"Most insect species in the mangroves 
deal "with the harsh sun and lack of fresh- 
"water by feeding only at night or living 
entirely inside plants," Feller explains. So 
she dissects plant parts and collects and 
rears the insect larvae she finds within. 
The approach has uncovered a world- 
record number of new species of leaf and 
stem-mining insects, among others, and an 
extraordinary degree of specialization in 
plant-insect relationships. 
Lovelock's work in the mangroves began 
in her native Queensland, Australia, with 
doctoral research into how mangrove tree 
species absorb carbon through photosyn- 
thesis despite living in an environment 
"where the potential for damage from high 
levels of solar radiation is great. At the 
Smithsonian Marine Station at Fort Pierce, 
in Florida, and in Panama, she has experi- 
ments under "way to assess what factors 
contribute to mangrove seedling gro"wth 
and death, and how they vary across the 
intertidal zone. 
Collectively, the work of Smithsonian 
scientists gradually is revealing the man- 
grove swamp to be a diverse world of intri- 
cate and interdependent relationships 
among plants, insects, animals, soil, "water, 
air and climate?all susceptible to the 
effects of human activity. 
Entwining her fingers to illustrate the 
point that the tangled roots of mangroves 
are the threads that stitch shorelines 
together?buffering the effects of storms 
and controlling erosion ? Feller explains 
that mangroves also provide nurseries and 
feeding grounds for fishes. But these deli- 
cate ecosystems, she points out, are endan- 
gered by development and destruction. 
Feller recently received a $4.5 million 
grant from the National Science Founda- 
tion to examine how increased nutrient 
input from natural, agricultural and urban 
sources can disturb the delicate balance of 
life in the mangroves. 
She has assembled an interdisciplinary 
team, including Lovelock and researchers 
from eight other institutions, to study vari- 
ous aspects of the problem over the next 
five years, with an eye to"ward better man- 
agement and conservation of mangrove 
ecosystems. The proposal also calls for a 
mangrove ecology field course for stu- 
dents, teachers and natural resource man- 
agers similar to one that Feller taught 
before in Belize. 
So off they go in nylon pants and neo- 
prene diving booties, knee-deep in mud or 
10 feet up a tree, fearless of snakes and 
fond of bugs. %u may never catch up with 
them on this journey, but you'll see "what 
Feller and Lovelock see:   all the wonders of 
the mangrove world. 
Smithsonian Institution Research Reports ? Summer 2000 ? 5 
'Motor homes, ' continued from Page 1 
car conversion continued in the 1950s and 
1960s, many people turned work vehicles 
into leisure vehicles. Pickup truck campers 
were popular, and delivery vans and buses 
were modified for recreational purposes. 
In 1961, nationwide sales of house-cars 
began w^hen a small manufacturer of 
house-car bodies in Michigan linked up 
with the Dodge Division of Chrysler 
Corp. to manufacture Frank Motor 
Homes, later known as the Dodge Motor 
Home. The much smaller Volkswagen van 
camper arrived on the American scene in 
1956 and was followed by Chevrolet and 
Ford van campers in 1961. 
In 1966, Winnebago Industries of Iowa 
introduced a moderately priced model that 
was to usher in the era of mass-produced 
motor homes. These are the latest vehicles 
used by Americans in their quest, so dili- 
gently chronicled in White's book, to feel 
at home on the road. 
See "Books ?" Recordings, " Page 7, for details 
on ordering books published by Smithsonian 
Institution Press. 
In the late 1930s, mechanical engineer Alexius Pribil and race-car driver Ray Harroun built 
this house-car, called the Pribil Airear, in an effort to popularize self-propelled campers. Pribil 
planned to manufacture the airear, but died in 1938. (Photo courtesy of G.K. Mulholland) 
'Chii ? bells .s,  continued from ' frc 2 
The quantity of artifacts inside the tomb 
alone would have made this an extraordi- 
nary trove. Almost 3 tons of bronze? 
more than has been found in any Chinese 
Bronze Age tomb, including those of 
kings?were found there. Also discovered 
w^ere clues to the musical culture of fifth- 
century B.C. China. Until then, little had 
been known about the music of that 
period, as no system of notation had sur- 
vived. Extensive inscriptions and illustra- 
tions on the instruments and other arti- 
facts within the tomb "have provided the 
most complete written record of early Chi- 
nese musical systems yet found," So adds. 
The discovery of two distinct musical 
ensembles ? a larger "court orchestra" and 
a smaller, more intimate "chamber ensem- 
ble"?within the tomb seem to have con- 
firmed writings of the followers of the 
Chinese philosopher Confucius. These 
indicated the existence of two parallel but 
distinct styles of music in the Chinese 
society of the time: somber ceremonial 
music and more intimate music for 
pleasure. 
Bells displayed 
The Chinese government considered the 
65 bells from the marquis' court ensemble 
too precious to travel to the United States, 
and they are not in the exhibition. How- 
ever, a smaller, similar set of 36 bells from 
an adjacent tomb is on view, and this set 
contains representatives of all the other 
instruments found within the tomb. 
Clapperless, the bells are struck with 
long poles and mallets. Each bell's 
almond-shaped cross-section and concave 
mouth allows it to produce two tones or 
notes, usually a major or minor third apart, 
when struck at the highest point of the mouth 
and to one side. Together, the 65 bells can 
play tones over a range of five octaves. 
Characters cast on the surface of each 
bell naming the tones show that the notes 
were predetermined before casting. 
Exactly how ancient bronze-casters and 
musicians achieved this remains a hotly 
debated issue. As acoustical and techno- 
logical marvels, even in our advanced 
technological world, these bells have an 
unrivaled reputation. So says. 
"Music in the Age of Confucius" has 
strong audio and educational components. 
Visitors to the exhibition can hear a free 
audio tour narrated by the distinguished 
cellist Yo-Yo Ma. Ma also will perform 
with the ensemble Music From China in a 
free concert on Sunday, Sept. 17?the day 
the exhibition is scheduled to close. 
'Insects, ' continued from Page 3 
uses the microscope to look at their skele- 
tal parts, observing the slightest variations 
in the structures, which he hopes will be a 
solid lead in making a classification. 
The dissections are challenging within 
themselves because some of Mathis' speci- 
mens are less than 1 millimeter long. "YJU 
need good vision and a steady hand," he 
says. 
The naming process 
Once the researchers collect, identify and 
classify new species, naming them is next. 
A number of factors are taken into consid- 
eration when naming new species, says 
Oliver Flint Jr., curator emeritus in the 
museum's Department of Entomology, 
who specializes in caddisflies and has 
described more than 1,000 since arriving at 
the museum in 1961. A species name, he 
adds, may be based on color, structure, the 
scientist who collected it or location from 
w^hich the specimen was collected. In 
some instances, insects are named in 
honor of a deceased researcher or for a 
research donor. For example, Flint has one 
genus and several dozen species named 
after him or his wife, who usually works 
with him in the field. 
Mathis also has about a dozen species 
named after him. In most cases, colleagues 
named new species after him based on his 
primary work on the genus and his verifi- 
cation of new species found in the field or 
in other institutions. 
Publication requirements 
But before a new species is officially recog- 
nized, certain guidelines have to be met, 
Mathis says. Researchers have to be able to 
show how species differ from each other. 
For morphological evidence, they look at 
such things as the antennae, the wings and 
the male genitalia. In addition, they have 
to be able to document the geographical 
and seasonal distribution of the species. 
show overall body variation, since no two 
species are exactly the same, and correctly 
publish the material, preferably with 
illustrations. 
The information has to be published in 
a manner that makes it available to other 
scientists, he adds. In some cases, many of 
these findings are published in lengthy 
monographs, which explain not just rela- 
tionships of new and little known taxa but 
also their biogeography, behavior and ecol- 
ogy based on observations of living speci- 
mens in the field. 
While Davis boasts about the National 
Museum of Natural History's unparalleled 
insect collection, he emphasizes that 
"major portions of our biological collec- 
tions are grossly under-sampled. We have 
no idea of how many species we're losing 
with the destruction of natural habitats. 
It's important that we get out and collect as 
much as we can. The heavens will be 
around forever for astronomers to study, 
but biodiversity will not wait." 
Research Highlights 
Senior management. Smithsonian Secre- 
tary Lawrence M. Small's reorganization 
plan sets up five departments. As a result, 
he has added some new members to his 
senior management team. Dennis O'Con- 
nor, formerly Smithsonian Provost, is now 
Under Secretary for Science. Sheila Burke, 
Under Secretary for American Museums 
and National Programs, came to the 
Smithsonian from Harvard University's 
John F. Kennedy School of Government. 
Robert Bailey, Under Secretary for Finance 
and Administration, was previously a senior 
officer of the Madrid-based Santander 
Group, the largest bank in Spain and Latin 
America. Thomas Lentz, Director, Interna- 
tional Art Museums Division, was deputy 
director of the Smithsonian's Freer Gallery 
of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. Gary 
Beer continues as Chief Executive Officer 
of Smithsonian Business Ventures. 
Directors appointed. Marc Pachter, for- 
merly counselor to the Secretary, has been 
named director of the National Portrait 
Gallery. He succeeds Alan Fern, who 
retired July 1. Lucy Spelman, previously 
chief veterinarian in the National Zoologi- 
cal Park's Department of Animal Health, 
has been named director of the National 
Zoo. She replaces Michael Robinson, who 
retired May 1. 
New bird species. In the last two years. 
National Museum of Natural History 
Ornithologist Pamela Rasmussen has 
described four new species of birds? 
the most recent being a bush-warbler, 
Bradypterus, Sylviidae. First collected in 
the mountains of Taiwan in 1917, the 
Bradypterus had never been formally named 
as a distinct taxonomic group. The songs of 
these birds are much clearer, "sweeter" and 
more piercing than their Asian counter- 
IMIIIllllllllllllllllllllMM?Mttyb III"'""! 
Pamela Rasmussen has recently named a 
new species of bush-warbler, Bradypterus, 
Sylviidae. (Illustration by Ian Lewington) 
parts, Rasmussen notes. In addition, she 
says, several subtle but consistent morpho- 
logical, or structural, differences exist 
between specimens from Taiwan and all 
named taxa, principally in bill size and 
shape, plumage color and reduced variabil- 
'Highlights, ' continued on Page 7 
6 ? Smithsonian Institution Research Reports ? Summer 2000 
'Highlights, ' continued from Page 6 
ity, pattern of undertail coverts and wing 
formula. Her other findings include redis- 
covery of the Athene blewitti, a forest o"wlet 
that, until recently, had not been seen in 
The Multiple Mirror Telescope now has just 
one mirror instead of six. 
113 years; two new species of scops-ow^l, 
Otus alius and Otus collari; a hawk-ow^l, 
Ninox ios; and the recognition that a sec- 
ond species of scops-ow^l, Otus madagas- 
cariensis, exists in Madagascar. 
Mirror rededication. The Multiple Mirror 
Telescope, previously composed of six 72- 
inch mirrors with a total diameter of 14.7 
feet, was converted over two years into a 
21.5-foot, single-mirror telescope?the 
largest of its kind in North America. The 
conversion enables the telescope to collect 
2V2 times more light and vie"w an area of 
the sky 200 times larger than before. The 
new instrument proved its ability to con- 
duct large-scale surveys of faint objects in 
deep space when it received its "first light" 
on the evening of May 17. 
Panda agreement. The National Zoologi- 
cal Park has signed a letter of intent with 
the China Wildlife Conservation Associa- 
tion for the long-term loan of fwo giant 
pandas. Under the agreement, the associa- 
tion will loan the National Zoo a pair of 
pandas for study, breeding and exhibition 
for 10 years. China will retain ow^nership 
of the male and female pandas and any off- 
spring they produce. According to the let- 
ter of intent, the National Zoo will con- 
tribute $ 1 million to the China Wildlife 
Conservation Association each year for 10 
years. The money will be used to support 
China's National Project for the Conserva- 
tion of the Giant Panda and its Habitat. 
Hot bubbles. Sophisticated computer 
analysis of 20 years of data from a giant 
array of radio telescopes has revealed evi- 
dence of hot "bubbles" in the dense, 
rapidly spinning disk of material being 
sucked into a massive black hole at the 
heart of our own Milky Way Galaxy, says 
Jun Hui Zhao of the Harvard-Smithsonian 
Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, 
Mass. Zhao and his colleagues, using the 
Very Large Array, or VLA, at the National 
Radio Astronomy Observatory in Socorro, 
N.M., discovered that an object at the 
Milky Way's center shows pulses in its 
radio emission every 106 days. Kno"wn as 
Sagittarius A*, this object was discovered 
in 1974 and is believed to harbor at its 
core a black hole 2.6 million times more 
massive than the sun. 
Peabody Award. "Mississippi River of 
Song," a Smithsonian Productions radio 
program that tells the story of America 
through music born along the Mississippi 
River, from Minnesota to Louisiana, has 
won a Peabody Award from the University 
of Georgia's Henry W. Grady College of 
Journalism and Mass Communications. 
The Peabody A^vard is considered by many 
to be the most prestigious recognition of 
excellence in broadcasting and cable. The 
production's seven-hour documentaries, 
presented on Public Radio International, 
feature interviews and performances and 
are narrated by folk-rock singer Ani 
DiFranco. 
Biodiversity conservation. A $3 million, 
five-year grant from the Shell Foundation, 
a ne"w charitable organization created by 
the Royal Dutch/Shell Group of companies 
in London, will enable scientists in the 
Smithsonian's Monitoring and Assessment 
of Biodiversity program to work side by 
side with the companies' oil and gas 
prospectors, local communities and gov- 
ernments, the private sector, and national 
and international organizations to integrate 
natural resource conservation with energy 
development. The Smithsonian designed, 
developed and tested this approach to 
"working "with private companies, local 
communities and governments on the 
assessment of biodiversity and development 
in conjunction with Shell in Peru, between 
1996 and 1998. 
Series Publications 
The following publications on research in 
various fields were issued during the 
period Feb. 1 through April 30, 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 Anthropology 
? 43 Human Remains from La Florida, 
Quito, Ecuador, by Douglas H. Ubelaker, 
28 pages, 14 figures, 10 tables. 
Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology 
? 605 Jimmorinia, a New Genus of Myo- 
docopid Ostracoda (Cypridinidae) from 
the Bahamas, Jamaica, Honduras and 
Panama, by Anne C. Cohen, Louis S. Kor- 
nicker and Thomas M. Iliffe, A6 pages, 23 
figures, 4 plates, 1 map, 2 tables. 
? 608 Arboreal Beetles of Neotropical 
Forests: Agra Fabricius, the Novaurora Com- 
plex (Cole?ptera: Carabidae: Lebiini: Agrina), 
by Terry L. Erwin, 33 pages, frontispiece, 
102 figures, 1 table. 
Books & Recordings 
Hap Arnold and the Evolution of Ameri- 
can Airpower, by Dik Alan Daso 
(Smithsonian Institution Press, 2000, 
$29.95). The first biographer to draw from 
all of Arnold's personal papers, as well as 
recently declassified military documents, 
the author traces a career centered around 
the airplane?the technological achieve- 
ment that revolutionized 20th-century 
"warfare. 
American Noir: Underground Writers and 
Filmmakers of the Postwar Era, by David 
Cochran (Smithsonian Institution Press, 
2000, $2795). The author details how 10 
"writers and filmmakers probed the Cold 
War's cultural contradictions and indirectly 
challenged its social pieties: the superiority 
of American democracy, the benevolence 
office enterprise and the sanctity of the 
suburban family. 
In this compilation of studio and live 
recordings, Malvina Reynolds performs 
some of her most famous songs. 
Air Commando One: Heinle Aderholt and 
America's Secret Air Wars, by Warren A. 
Trest (Smithsonian Institution Press, 2000, 
$2795). Using official records, personal 
papers and interviews "with Brig. Gen. 
Aderholt, U.S. Air Force historian Trest 
details the life and career of a charismatic, 
unconventional military leader w^ho has 
become a legend of the Cold War Air 
Force. 
The Published Writings of Wilbur and 
Orville Wright, edited by Peter L. Jakab 
and Rick \bung (Smithsonian Institution 
Press, 2000, $49.95). Jakab and Young 
bring together, for the first time, 70 of the 
Wrights' published writings into a single, 
annotated reference. 
Trogons and Quetzals of the World, by 
Paul A. Johnsgard (Smithsonian Institution 
Press, 2000, $49.95). Beautifully illustrated 
"with color plates and line dra"wings, this 
comprehensive review of these tropical 
birds?the first to be published in more 
than 150 years?covers all 39 extant 
species. 
Translating Native Latin American Verbal 
Art, edited by Kay Sammons and Joel 
Sherzer (Smithsonian Institution Press, 
2000, $55). Maintaining that outsiders can 
best appreciate native Latin American cul- 
tures through their verbal art, 18 contribu- 
tors translate myths, speeches, stories, con- 
versations and magical chants to show how 
indigenous discourse, from Mexico to 
Argentina, shapes social knowledge and 
experience. 
Phylogenetic Analysis of Morphological 
Data, edited by John J. Wiens (Smithso- 
nian Institution Press, 2000, $49.95 cloth; 
$26.95 paper). In this volume, 11 leading 
systematists provide an overview of recent 
advances and controversies, summarizing 
new methodological developments and 
evaluating ho"w morphological phylogenet- 
ics has actually been practiced. 
Khevrisa: European Klezmer Music 
(Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, 2000, 
$15 CD). This is the first modern studio 
recording of the klezmer music of Europe, 
performed with the original European 
instrumentation?first violin, cimbal 
(hammer dulcimer), sekund (contra-fiddle) 
and bass. 
Safarini: Music of African Immigrants 
(Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, 2000, 
$15 CD). Well-known master musicians 
from Ghana, Kenya, the Democratic 
Republic of Congo and Zimbabwe, now 
living in the United States, perform. 
Tuva, Among the Spirits (Smithsonian 
Folkways Recordings, 2000, $15 CD). The 
compact disc is a "sonic journey" to the 
steppes of southern Siberia, the wellspring 
of Tuvan and Sakhan music, "where the 
spiritual power of nature is manifested 
through its sounds. 
Larry Long: Well May the World Go 
(Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, 2000, 
$15 CD). Singing the stories of hardwork- 
ing people in "ways that highlight the 
courage, deep personal experiences and 
heroism found in their lives. Long delivers 
lyrics that are as complex and rich as the 
lives he describes. 
Discover Indonesia (Smithsonian Folk- 
ways Recordings, 2000, $6.99 CD). Part of 
the "Music of Indonesia" compact disc 
series, these 15 tracks provide an exciting 
and varied introduction to musical styles 
from different parts of Indonesia. 
Malvina Reynolds: Ear to the Ground 
(Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, 2000, 
$15 CD). In this compilation of studio and 
live recordings, this well-known songwriter 
and activist for social justice and the envi- 
ronment performs some of her most 
famous songs. 
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 Folk"ways 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 Research Reports ? Summer 2000 ? 7 
Off the Shelf 
The Stone Carvers: 
Master Craftsmen of 
Washington National 
Cathedral 
By Marjorie Hunt (Published by Smithsonian 
Institution Press, 1999, $27-95) 
When Marjorie Hunt set out 
for Washington National 
Cathedral one day in 1978 
to begin documenting the 
"work of its stone carvers, she never expected 
to be memorialized herself. But master 
carver Vincent Palumbo has seen to it that 
she will be long remembered at the Eng- 
lish Gothic style church in the nation's 
capital. 
Several years after meeting Hunt, 
Palumbo carved a limestone angel, with a 
likeness of her face, for a spot high on the 
cathedral's northwest tower. The angel 
should endure for centuries. In the mean- 
time. Hunt, a folklorist in the Smithso- 
nian's Center for Folklife and Cultural 
Heritage, has been doing her part to keep 
alive the story of artisans like Palumbo. 
Hunt is the author of The Stone Carvers: 
Master Craftsmen of Washington National 
Cathedral, a book recently published by 
Smithsonian Institution Press. Her goal, 
she writes, was "to understand the craft of 
stone carving from the perspective of the 
carvers." To that end, she focuses on both 
the technical skills and aesthetic attitudes 
shared by Palumbo and other carvers who 
have spent decades creating the cathedral's 
gargoyles, grotesques, capitals, pinnacles, 
saints and angels. 
In her years of research. Hunt haunted 
the stone carvers' workshop at the cathe- 
dral, climbed construction scaffolding and 
visited craftsmen's families at their homes. 
The Stone Carvers, illustrated with pho- 
tographs of the carvers at "work, describes 
the origins and the demanding apprentice- 
ships that shaped these men for careers in 
"what Palumbo?noting that even the Ten 
Commandments "were carved on stone 
tablets?calls "the oldest trade in the 
"world." 
To begin to understand that trade. Hunt 
used one of the most important tools of 
her own profession?her ears. "I "was 
interested in their ideas about how they 
viewed themselves as craftspeople," she 
says. "I listened to them. I really didn't 
know anything about stone carving when I 
began." 
In 1978, Hunt "was a graduate student 
under contract to do fieldwork for the Fes- 
tival of American Folklife. The Festival 
program that year was the folklore of 
Washington, D.C. The carvers at the 
cathedral, which had been under construc- 
tion since 1907, were a natural choice. 
Hunt recalls. "So I went up and knocked 
on their "workshop door and met Vincent 
Palumbo, who was the master carver at 
that time, and he introduced me to Roger 
Morigi [Palumbo's predecessor as master 
carver] and other stone carvers." 
She followed the artisans around and 
took notes and photographs. "I "was 
inspired by their "work and by their love 
for their "work," says Hunt, who ended up 
"writing her doctoral dissertation on the 
culture of the stone carvers. 
That "was only the beginning of her fas- 
cination with the trade. Hoping to bring 
the carvers' story to a broader public, she 
teamed up with a filmmaker friend, Paul 
Wagner. By 1984, the two had completed 
a documentary film about the men who 
transform blocks of stone into art at the 
cathedral. 
The film won an Academy Award for 
best documentary short in 1985 (the Hunt 
angel on the cathedral tower clutches an 
Oscar). Broadcast on public television, the 
documentary also "was a"warded an Emmy. 
Nonetheless, Hunt says that the film only 
hints at the depth of knowledge and skill 
possessed by the carvers and at the roots 
connecting them to their craft. 
Hunt calls her Smithsonian Institution 
Press book?with its in-depth exploration 
of the carvers' "work?"an ethnography of 
craftsmanship." In it, she investigates the 
carvers' earliest years, the learning they 
received in carving workshops in Italy and 
w-w^ 
Gargoyle of a wild cat, carved by Frederick 
Hart (Stewart Bros. Photographers) 
the traditional values they absorbed on the 
job and at home. 
"I was born into the stone," Palumbo 
told the folklorist. A fifth-generation 
carver who learned the craft from his 
father and grandfather at the family shop 
in Italy, he says, "I never had any concept 
to do anything else." 
Palumbo has been the cathedral's master 
carver since 1978. As a youngster in Italy, 
he was brought to his father's studio after 
school. He cleaned the shop, watched the 
carvers and learned. At night around the 
dinner table, Vincent listened to his father 
and grandfather discuss work and tell stories. 
Hunt writes in The Stone Carvers: "Like 
a child learning language, he began to 
acquire a grammar of stone carving; he 
began to piece together knowledge of the 
various elements of the craft and the 
underlying principles that governed 
them." Learning the names of tools and of 
types of stone, along with ideas of "what 
constituted good work, Palumbo recalls 
that his mind became "drunk with all 
those things." 
Morigi, who died in 1995, also had fol- 
lowed in the family stone-carving tradi- 
tion. His father, Napoleone Morigi, carved 
decorative works for the U.S. Library of 
Congress and other buildings in this coun- 
try. The younger Morigi follo"wed his 
father to the United States in 1927 and 
was the Washington National Cathedral's 
master carver for 23 years. 
Hunt taped many hours of intervie"ws 
with Morigi, Palumbo and their families, 
gathering tales of strict teachers and com- 
petition among apprentices, of past mas- 
ters and their beautiful carvings. She 
devotes much of The Stone Carvers to these 
stories and the light they shine on the 
carvers' culture of "work. 
Hunt remembers being surprised at the 
degree to "which the cathedral's carvers 
view themselves as performing artists 
rather than creators: "One might think 
that the work that they prize the most 
"would be the whimsical gargoyles and 
grotesques that they themselves had the 
freedom to create," she says. "But what 
they valued most, w^hat they considered 
the most difficult and challenging, "was 
translating a sculptor's work in clay per- 
fectly into stone?giving life to that 
through their skill. They taught me that 
satisfaction doesn't only lie in creating. 
This sense of performing in stone is their 
great satisfaction." 
Hunt's current work builds on her years 
studying the stone carvers. "I'm curating a 
program for the Folklife Festival, for the 
summer of 2001, called 'Masters of the 
Building Arts.' " The program will present 
stone carvers, along "with brick masons, 
ornamental metalworkers, woodworkers, 
mosaic tile artists and many other building 
artisans. "I want to bring to a large 
national audience a sense of appreciation 
and understanding of the skill and knowl- 
edge and, again, the deep feeling these 
people bring to their craft." 
Her enthusiastic efforts to understand 
and explain the work of the National 
Cathedral stone carvers has already 
brought fresh blood to that ancient trade. 
Hunt recalls how, on a visit to Italy, she 
"was peering into the window of a stone 
shop in Carrara "when she heard a carver 
speaking English. "It "was this young 
American guy," she says. "I started talking 
"with him, and I said, 'Well, how did you 
get interested in carving?' And he said, 'I 
sa"w this great film called 'The Stone 
Carvers,' and I decided that's what I 
"wanted to be.' " Laughing at that memory. 
Hunt says, "That was pretty amazing!" 
?Michael Lipske 
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