Summary
Overview
Seeley
G. Mudd Manuscript Library.
Princeton Scientific Expeditions
Collection
1834-1995 (mostly 1834-1930)
23.26 linear feet, 29 boxes
Abstract
The Princeton Scientific Expeditions Collection brings together original
materials from the university archives that document the work of various scientific
expeditions conducted under the aegis of Princeton University and its corporate
predecessors. The connection with the university ranges from enterprises duly
authorized in the trustees' minutes to expeditionary tasks that happen to have been
carried out by members of the university faculty, often with little official notice
of Princeton as an institution.
Description
Description
The manuscript, printed and photographic materials in the collection are duly
noted in the folder descriptions. Folders labeled as “Archival description and
notes” contain information on the expeditions randomly gathered by the compiler
of this collection, with pertinent xeroxes and relevant correspondence that
document each expedition. The geological expeditions are most fully represented.
The journeys of other categories are noted by scant documentation.
Collection Creator
History
The history of scientific expeditions with connections to the college and university
at Princeton is fragmentary and tentative. From the information now at hand it seems
possible that the earliest such enterprises were Astronomic. The College of New
Jersey's Professor Stephen Alexander journeyed to Georgia in 1834 to observe an
eclipse of the sun. While no notice of this has been found in the trustees' minutes
of the time, at least two of three subsequent eclipse expeditions (in 1854, 1860,
and 1869) were official college investigations, duly authorized and even funded by
the trustees. Alexander's successor, Professor C. A. Young, led his own eclipse
expeditions in 1878 to Colorado, in 1887 to Russia, and in 1900 to North Carolina.
An 1882 journey to observe the transit of Venus is, so far, the only other
identified astronomic expedition of the 19th century.
The Geological expeditions are more fully documented. The first, of 1877, was a
student initiated effort, nurtured by the Natural Science Association, founded by
the same group of students. The expedition was conceived on military lines with
specific tasks set out for members of the official party. Its conspicuous success,
not only as a training ground for the student members of the expedition, but also in
the professional publication of discoveries that were genuine contributions to
paleontological and topographical knowledge gave a solid foundation to subsequent
expeditions. These followed in 1878, 1882, 1884, 1885, 1886, 1890, 1891, 1893, 1894
and 1895. All had the American West as their destination, most the Rocky Mountain
regions, with an emphasis on paleontological collection, most frequently in the
Dakotas. Many of these journeys were made colorful by rumors of Indian trouble,
though few of these details reflected reality. By the late 1890's the expeditions
had assumed the routine form of annual academic summer camps for students of
geology. The early expeditions generated an enthusiasm for the professional
responsibilities of the scientific pursuit and were pivotal in producing such
distinguished scientific careers as those of William Berryman Scott, Henry Fairfield
Osborn and William Libbey. The expeditions brought to the Princeton museum of
Geology and Archaeology one of the most important paleontological collections in the
world. They were also an important factor in Princeton's pre-eminence for nearly a
century in the field of paleontology.
William Libbey, a member of the first geological expedition, and the photographer on
subsequent geological and astronomical efforts, connected the Princeton name to
other scientific expeditions with more diffuse objectives. As Professor of Geography
and Curator of the E. M. Museum of Geology and Archaeology, Libbey frequently called
upon his Trustee father to be the monetary patron of both the museum and many of the
expeditions that were tangentially connected with it. These included journeys with
diverse goals which Libbey defined as geographic, ethnographic and archaeological.
Many of these expeditions enjoyed sponsoring agencies other than Princeton, but his
connection with the college and its museum were always conspicuous in reports of the
enterprises. The 1886 Mt. St. Elias expedition to Alaska was followed by an 1888
expedition to Cuba, an 1890 exploration of the Sierra Madre in Mexico, an 1893
Hawaiian expedition and a 1897 exploration to Pueblo County in New Mexico. These
journeys yielded mainly ethnographic riches. Three expeditionary summers (1889,
1890, 1891) were spent investigating the Gulf Stream and its relation to the
Labrador Currents, and Libbey was second in command and geographer of the Peary
Relief Parties of 1894 and 1899 in Greenland. Libbey's investigations were
successful mainly in the collections that resulted, mostly ethnographic and
archaeological, and enriched the Princeton museums.
Expeditions more properly categorized as archaeological (involving professional
excavation) are thinly represented in this collection. The 1876 excavations at
Panosoffkee Lake in Florida were surely followed by other investigations that led to
the archaeological excavations of Classical sites sponsored by the Department of Art
and Archaeology in the 20th century, but they are not documented here.
Access and Use
Access Restrictions
Collection is open for research use.
Use Restrictions
Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. Permission to publish
material from the collection must be requested from the University Archivist.
Copyright is held by the Trustees of Princeton University.
Preferred Citation
Princeton Scientific Expeditions
Collection; 1834-1995 (mostly 1834-1930), Princeton University Archives, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Princeton University Library.
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