Library Guides: History of Science, Technology, & Medicine: Scientific Expeditions

Records

Logbooks of the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey Ships
More than 500 logbooks can be viewed and downloaded from the National Archives Catalog. A typical logbook contains daily entries of the ship’s position, the ship’s movements, weather conditions, and descriptions of the day’s surveying activities. Those currently in the catalog cover the period 1874-1942 for seven ships.
Photographs taken by John K. Hillers during the Powell Survey and other Geological Surveys
Photographs of geological formations and the topography of Arizona, Utah and Wyoming in the vicinity of the Colorado River and its tributaries that were taken during the Geographical and Geological Survey of the Rocky Mountain Region led by John Wesley Powell, 1871-78; also photographs of survey members, surveying equipment, American Indians, and Indian ruins; photographs by Hillers and others of earthquake damage in Charleston, SC, in 1886; and of geological formations in North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, New York, Florida, California, and the Chesapeake Bay area, 1886-1900.
Records relating to the United States Surveying Expedition to the North Pacific Ocean, 1852-1863
Comprises forty-seven volumes and parts of two additional volumes of records of the Navy Department relating to the U.S. Surveying Expedition to the North Pacific Ocean, 1852–1863
Reports of Explorations Printed in the Documents of the United States Government
Primarily nineteenth-century reports of explorations funded by the US government.

Sample Collections in the Bancroft Library

Geological Survey of California Records

The Geological survey of California was established in 1860 and began operation in 1863. J.D. Whitney served as State Geologist until the survey was discontinued in 1874. Other individuals involved in the work of the survey included Amos Bowman, William H. Brewer, G.H. Goddard, S. Mather and Vitus Wackenreuder. Consists of field notes and memoranda; notebooks concerning geological data, fossils, meteorology, roads and surveys; sketches, diagrams and parts of maps bound together with some items; reprints of scientific reports and other materials related to the survey are also included.

BANC MSS C-A 183

William E. Siri Papers

Correspondence, financial reports and files, and writings concerning the first American Mount Everest Expedition in 1963.

BANC MSS 88/22 c

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History of Science, Technology, & Medicine

Records

Sample Collections in the Bancroft Library