Gessner’s Octopus

Have you ever wanted to browse the stacks of a rare book library? To explore the pages of Gessner’s sixteenth century masterpiece Historiae Animalium and ask an expert why a walrus is illustrated with wing-like appendages? Or study Alexander Wilson’s passenger pigeon illustration and learn from a rare book authority the scientific implications of the depictions of now-extinct species?

Of course, you can examine the digital surrogates of many incredible rare books on BHL, but where can you go to get expert knowledge of the importance of these titles, or even understand what these authors of long-ago wrote in the first place if you can’t read Latin?

The American Museum of Natural History can help you get answers to some of your burning rare book questions. A new book, Natural Histories: Extraordinary Rare Book Selections from the American Museum of Natural History, provides insight into a selection of spectacularly illustrated volumes from the AMNH’s rare book library. The work, edited by Tom Baione, the Harold Boeschenstein Director of Library Services at AMNH and BHL Institutional Council member, features 40 essays from museum curators, scientists, librarians, and other experts discussing each rare book’s unique qualities and scientific contributions. Furthermore, Natural Histories includes 40 “suitable-for-framing” prints selected from the illustrations found within the rare tomes discussed.

Cover of Natural Histories. Image: “Great Horned Owl” from Alexander Wilson’s American Ornithology.

The books highlighted in Natural Histories span from the 16^th century to the early 20^thcentury and include such critical works as Gessner’s Historiae Animalium, Robert Hooke’s Micrographia, Alexander Wilson’s American Ornithology, Ernst Haeckel’s Kunstformen der Natur, and John James Audubon’s The viviparous quadrupeds of North America. According to Baione,

Natural Histories came about because we wanted to let people know about our rich rare book collection, which contains more than 14,000 volumes and is used by researchers from around the world and includes many unique and hard-to-find volumes.

Microscopic view of snow and frozen water. Micrographia.

Natural Historiesfocuses in particular on the importance of the scientific illustrations found within each rare book discussed. As Baione articulates,

In the days before photography and printing, original art was the only way to capture the likeness of organisms, people, and places, and therefore was the only way to share this information with others. Printed reproductions of natural history art enabled many who’d never seen an elephant, for instance, to try to begin to understand what an elephant looked like and how its unusual features might function…I hope this collection of essays and plates will give readers a better understanding of the science behind these works and an appreciation of the art illuminating their pages.

This week we feature a user that has been active in BHL development since the beginning of the project, helping to see it go from a single digitization instance to an incredible digital library with over 34 million pages of digitized literature. An adjunct research scientist in the Entomology Department at the Smithsonian Institution, we are proud to highlight Dr. F. Christian Thompson.

Q: What is your title, institutional affiliation, and area of interest?

A: Adjunct Research Scientist, Emeritus; Department of Entomology, Smithsonian Institution. My interests include flower flies and others; their diversity; cybertaxonomy; and better ways to do things today.

Q: How long have you been in your field of study?

A: My first paper was published in 1965, so I have been working on flower flies for about a half-century.

Q: When did you first discover BHL?

A: I did not discover BHL, but helped create it. Back in 1996 when the Smithsonian was preparing for its 150th celebration, there was a desire to go online in order to share the event with the widest possible audience. So, the Smithsonian Libraries did a demo project and put online Weber (1796) that summer, a rare book from its collections which highlighted another collection two hundred years earlier! Thus began the endeavor of digitizing scientific works, an idea that eventually became BHL.

Q: What is your opinion of BHL and how has it impacted your research?

A: I have only the highest opinion of BHL. The key question is NOT how it has impacted my research but how it impacts and will continue to impact the research of my students and the younger generation. My generation built libraries of reprints and xerox copies. Today workers build digital files of critical works, and the BHL is the best source for these old works.

Q: How often do you use BHL?

A: At least a couple of times a week and sometimes multiple times in a day. If I am in the final process of finishing a research manuscript, I will repeatedly go online to check references and sometimes include the appropriate URL in my manuscript.

Q: How do you usually use BHL (read the titles online/download whole PDFs/Selecting Pages to Download/etc.)

A: On occasions, when I need something in PDF format to share with colleagues, I go first to BHL to see whether they have done the work. If so, then I download the pages we need. Naturally, over my years of work, I have developed a very large personal library, so most things I already have in the traditional printed format. HOWEVER, because my library has become so large, I frequently go to the BHL as it can be faster than getting up from my computer and looking for something in my library!

Q: What are your favorite features/services on BHL?

A: Obviously, my favorite service is simply having RARE natural history books available to all.

Q: If you could change one thing about BHL, what would it be, or what developmental aspect would you like the BHL team to focus on next?

A: BHL is growing. Hence, there are various things that can be improved. Unfortunately with only limited resources, what is the most important? Pragmatically I feel the first priority remains scanning MORE PAGES. Later given more funding, etc., BHL can go back and clean up its metadata, etc.

Q: If you had to choose one title/item in BHL that has most impacted your research, or one item that you prefer above any other in BHL, what would it be and why?

A: My favorite item remains the first item that the Smithsonian Libraries put online years ago. That is, the Sturm (1796) Verzeichniss Meiner Insecten-Sammlung, as that was the beginning of the BHL.

Thank you, Dr. Thompson, for your influence over the development of the project and your continued feedback provided for our development. To learn more about Dr. Thompson, visit his page on the Smithsonian’s Natural History website.

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