During the 18th Annual 2008 SAIL meeting at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama, a suggestion was made for the need to digitize and make available through the Aquatic Commons some of the early documents related to the U.S. biological survey of Panama from 1910 to 1912. With SAIL’s endeavor, a new digital project was born and this presentation describes its process, beginning to final product.



The main source consulted for determining copyright clear publications was:

Heckadon-Moreno. 2004. Naturalists on the Isthmus of Panama: A hundred years of natural history on the biological bridge of the Americas. 1st English ed. Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama City, Republic of Panama. (Document contains 26 slides

DeHart, Liz

Haas, Stephanie C.

Heil, Kathy

Walton, Jennifer

English

Aquatic Commons

Biological Survey of Panama (1910-1912)
Presenters: Stephanie Haas, Liz DeHart, Jennifer Walton, & 
Kathy Heil
Historical Atlas by William R. Shepherd from the University of Texas Libraries  
http://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/rhatch/pages/03-Sci-Rev/SCI-REV-Home/Historical-
Research/maps/shepherd-c-216.jpg
Official Name of Expedition: Biological Survey of the Panama Canal Zone 
Alias of the Expedition: Panama Canal Zone Biological Survey Project 
Date of Expedition: December 1910 - January 1912 
Where to: Panama Canal Zone
` Prominent Scientists: 
` Paul Bartsch, United States National Museum 
` August Busck, Bureau of Entomology, United States Department of Agriculture 
` Edward Alphonso Goldman, Biological Survey 
` Samuel Frederick Hildebrand, Bureau of Fisheries 
` A. S. Hitchcock, Bureau of Plant Industry, United States Department of Agriculture 
(sent August 1911) 
` William Ralph Maxon, United States National Museum 
` Seth Eugene Meek, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago 
` Henri A. Pittier, Bureau of Plant Industry, United States Department of Agriculture 
` E. A. Schwarz, Bureau of Entomology, United States Department of Agriculture 
[From: http://siarchives.si.edu/findingaids/faexplist.htm ]
“In the ensuing saga of the quest for knowledge that unfolded in this 
section of the Isthmus, the Smithsonian Institution, with its headquarters 
in Washington, D.C., would play a prominent role. Between 1910 and 
1912, it carried out the first great biological study ever made of Panama.” 
Research proposal prepared & approved by Taft 
Cost of study was $11,000 – over half the funds came from 
donations from citizens who were interested in promoting 
scientific research
Scientific expedition members (1st group)
2 botanists – Francois Pittier, William R. Maxon
2 ichthyologists – Seth E. Meek, Samuel F. Hildebrand
2 entomologists – E. A. Schwartz, August Busk
1 zoologist – Edward A. Goldman
later scientists – Edward W. Nelson, Dr. Malloch, Dwight Marsh
Results of biological survey
In 1912, the Smithsonian published 10 articles about 
discoveries in Panama
Edward Nelson – new bird species, including a hummingbird   
William Maxon – studies of new species of ferns and mosses 
August Busk – new species of microlepidopterans (tiny moth)
Edward Goldman – new findings on flora & fauna; 12 new mammal species; 
monumental work:  Mammals of Panama
Meek & Hildebrand – articles on fishes; Marine Fishes of Panama  
Henri Pittier – collected 3,600 plant species
Original intention of survey was to publish in several volumes as summary 
of flora and fauna, but became untenable.  Most information published as 
independently authored articles in scientific journals.

And Vielka Chang-Yau of the Smithsonian Tropical Research 
Institute mentions the need to have access to the Survey’s 
early documents.
And thus was born our first collaborative digital project: 
SAIL Panama Canal Zone Project 2008 
1) $200 in funding was sought from SAIL to digitize the Leonard Carpenter 
Panama Canal collection, a small set of materials housed in the Special 
Collections Department of the University of Florida.  The collection is now 
available through the Aquatic Commons and the UFDC collections at the 
University of Florida http://www.uflib.ufl.edu/ufdc/?s=lcpcc 
2) References identified by Vielka that got the project going:
Goldman, Edward A. Mammals of Panama (with thirty-nine plates). 1920.
Meek, Seth E. and Samuel F. Hildebrand. The Marine fishes of Panama. 1923.
Pittier, Henri. On the relationship of the genus Aulacocarpus, with description of a 
new Panamanian species. 1914.
Pittier, Henri and C.D. Mell. A century of trees of Panama. 1931?
Berthold, Seemann. Introduccion a la flora del istmo de Panama. 1928.
(Traducido por Maria Luisa Melendez y H. Pittier)
3) Google Docs was set up to identify documents that needed scanning. It provided 
a means for project members to share, view, and edit data in real-time.  Each 
line item includes author, title, date, copyright clearance, scanner’s name, pages 
and direct link to the full-text provider (i.e., Aquatic Commons, Google Books, 
Biodiversity Heritage Library, SORA, etc.)
EXAMPLE listing:
Author Date Title Copyright Scanner Pages URL
Adams, Charles F. 1911 The Panama Canal Zone; an 
epochal event in sanitation
Clear L. DeHart 38 http://aquacomm.fcla.
edu/1248/
Bangs, Outram 1900 List of Birds Collected by 
W.W. Brown, Jr., at Loma del 
Leon, Panama in Proceedings 
of the New England 
Zoological Club, II:13-34. 
Boston, Massachusetts
Clear 21
Bentham, George 1844 The Botany of the Voyage of 
H.M.S. Sulphur, under the 
Command of Captain Sir 
Edward Belcher; R.N. During 
the Years 1836-1842. Smith 
Elder and Co., London. 
(Second edition, Verlag 
Cramer Sons, New York, 
1968)
Clear BHL 155, 60 
plates
http://www.biodiversity
library.org/item/15490
Berry, Edward W. 1918 The fossil higher plants from 
the Canal Zone 
Clear K. Heil 29, 7 
plates
http://aquacomm.fcla.
edu/1236/
Special Collections 
& Area Studies, 
George A. 
Smathers Libraries
1914 The Corogal: one of the big 
dredges in Culebra Cut,  
Panama Canal (ca. 1914)
Clear S. Haas IMAGE http://aquacomm.fcla.
edu/1220
4)  Main source consulted:  
Naturalists on the Isthmus of Panama : a hundred years of natural history on 
the biological bridge of the Americas / 1st English ed. / Panama : Smithsonian 
Tropical Research Institute, 2004
Chapter:  The Smithsonian Institution 
and the Biological Survey of Panama
(1910-1912), pp. 81-89    
5) Finish bibliography and link to Aquatic Commons
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/msl/sailbibv3.html
BENTHAM, George. 1844. The botany of the Voyage of H.M.S. Sulphur, 
under the Command of Captain Sir Edward Belcher; R.N. during the 
years 1836-1842. Smith Elder and Co., London. (Second edition, 
Verlag Cramer Sons, New York, 1968)
BUSCK, August. 1912. Descriptions of new genus and species of 
microlepidoptera from Panama in Smithsonian Miscellaneous 
Collections, 59(4). Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
GOLDMAN, Edward A. 1914. Descriptions of five new mammals from 
Panama in Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, 63(5). Smithsonian 
Institution, Washington, D.C.
MEEK, Seth E. and S.F. Hildebrand. 1912. Descriptions of new fishes from 
Panama in Zoological Series, 10(8): 77-91. Field Museum of Natural 
History, Chicago, Ill.
Title Downloads
Panama Canal Company. (1928) Panama Canal Review: Special 
edition Panama. (multiple parts)
318
Hardy, Rufus. (1928) Canal diggers in Panama, 1904 to 1928. 27
Goldman, Edward A.. (1912) New mammals from eastern Panama. 25
Berry, Edward W.. (1918) The Fossil higher plants from the Canal 
Zone.
19
Nelson, Edward W.. (1912) Descriptions of new genera, species and 
subspecies of birds from Panama, Colombia, and Ecuador. 
16
The Panamal Canal: general information. (1914)  Washington, D.C.. 
U.S. Government
14
Marsh, Charles Dwight. (1913) Report on fresh-water copepoda 
from Panama, with descriptions of new species. 
13
Goldman, Edward Alphonso. (1914) Descriptions of five new 
mammals from Panama. 
12
Adams, Charles Francis. (1911) The Panama Canal Zone: an 
epochal event in sanitation.
11
Title Downloads Images
Leonard Carpenter Collection, UF  (1928) 80 C 
143 U.S. Aeroplane carrier "Saratoga" in 
Guillard Cut- Panama Canal - Feb. 7, 1928.
68
Leonard Carpenter Collection, UF (1928) 
Panama Railroad Station, Balboa, Canal Zone -
Old Timers arriving Jan. 18, 1928.
28
Leonard Carpenter Collection, UF(1914) 
Emergency dam at Pedro Miguel, Panama Canal 
(ca. 1914).
23
Leonard Carpenter Collection, UF (1914) First 
U.S. battleships through Panama Canal: 
Missouri, Ohio, Wisconsin (postcard ca 1914).
17
Leonard Carpenter Collection, UF (1928) U.S. 
Favorite, Pedro Miguel Lock - Old Timers Trip 
through the Canal, Jan. 20, 1928.
12
` BHL Libraries include Institutions with 
connections to the surveys:
◦ •Smithsonian Institution
◦ •Missouri Botanical Garden
◦ •Harvard Botany and MCZ
◦ •Field Museum 
◦ •American Museum of Natural History
◦ •New York Botanical Garden






Double Stacked Annual Reports – New in back 
of Older volumes
Miscellaneous Reports in one of their three locations 
` I checked the list of what was wanted/needed
` I did a search in the USMAI catalog to see 
what I had and what other campuses might 
have
` I pulled the older items from my collection
` I placed hold/recalls on materials from other 
sites
` I set about scanning as time permitted
` I had only used my 
scanner for ILL so really 
knew nothing about 
how to make the best 
use of it. 
` My first item needed 
lots of editing by 
Stephanie & Liz
` I then learned a little 
more about adobe .
` Beside being able to 
change the size of the 
page to be scanned in 
the scanner.
` I learned an even better 
way!  Scan and then 
crop pages!
` There are multiple options under DOCUMENT
` CROP PAGES
◦ You can do a single page
◦ The whole document or any section
◦ Odd pages or Even pages
◦ When you review the pages can still be edited/ have 
the original cropping changed to fit the page better.
` If I can figure it out and do it, anyone can.
` Geological Survey of Panama
` Official Name of the Expedition: Geological Survey of Panama 
` Date of Expedition: 1914- (the end-date of the Expedition was not found) 
` Where to: Panama 
` Sponsor: United States Geological Survey/Isthmian Canal Commission 
(see also the Biological Survey of the Panama Canal Zone) 
` Scientific Team:
` The scientific team was not detailed. 
` Brief History:
` In February of 1912, Ricardo M. Arango, Chief Engineer of the Republic of 
Panama, wrote the Isthmian Canal Commission requesting information on 
the cost and feasibility of a general survey of the entire Republic of 
Panama. The Isthmian Canal Commission referred him to the Smithsonian 
Institution. Secretary Charles D. Walcott then directed all further 
correspondence regarding a general survey of Panama to the United States 
Geological Survey. 


SAIL Panama Canal Zone Project 2008 : Biological Survey of Panama (1910-1912)

http://aquaticcommons.org/2203/1/SAIL_2009_Panama_Canal_Zone_project.pdf

SAIL Panama Canal Zone Project 2008 : Biological Survey of Panama (1910-1912)

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