Collection Principles. Zoos: A Historical Perspective is a digital collection of excerpts from pamphlets and guide books published by zoos over the past century that have been collected by the National Zoological Park branch of the Smithsonian Institution Libraries. The collection is an online sample of those publications, including maps, drawings and photographs of zoos from over 30 states and 40 countries, which illustrate the variety of roles that zoos have played and the many facets of their operation and promotion. As noted in the introductory text by the institution’s National Vertebrate Librarian, the guides to wildlife conservation parks and descriptions of early animal collecting expeditions by zoo curators give some insight to the roots of modern animal study. Some of the photographs of animal enclosures, restraint devices and mock theatrics may be unsettling to some, but are nevertheless an important part of the history of human-animal relations. The promotional nature of the items in this collection also demonstrates the history of graphic design, illustration and advertising used by public and private institutions throughout the years.
Many of the items in this collection were collected by former National Zoo directors and staff or accumulated over the years as zoos routinely mailed their publications to and among one another. Those materials were filed and maintained for many years by former National Zoological Park librarian, Kay Kenyon. Because annual reports were retained for each year, the collection grew enormously. A consolidation of the files resulted in the October 2002 online exhibit presented here.
Object Characteristics. Thumbnail images drawn from the pamphlets and guidebooks include photographs, drawings, paintings, and maps in jpeg format, largely in black and white grayscale, with a few dull color photographs. The thumbnails are 200 x 125 pixels with click–to-enlarge to full-scale images at 483 x 359 pixels.
Metadata. The choices in the main menu provide links to an Introduction, Explore the Collection, National Zoological Park Library, and the SIL Digital Library, of which this digital collection is a part. The Introduction section presents additional resources for "Zoos: a Historical Perspective" with a link to an internet site for historical zoo images from the Library of Congress' American Memory Web site, as well as a list of related books and articles, with a link to the most recent article from 2002. The collection is presented in a country-by-country listing in alpha order, with varying types of associated metadata, including the apparent name of a pamphlet and author, if any, for the pamphlet or guidebook, with a title for the image, but in many cases, very little additional information to indicate the origin of the image itself, whether a photo or painting or drawing, except, in the case of the US ones, to note the annual report from which the image is drawn. Dates are provided only occasionally.
Intended Audience. The introduction indicates that the collection is intended to highlight the value of this digital pamphlet and guidebook resource for both zoo and cultural historians. The collection could also be of interest and use for the student (high school and college) interested in researching the history of zoos, early animal conservation parks or animal collecting expeditions. Graphics artists, or at least those who study the history of graphic design for zoos or other public institutions, may have an interest in the images and graphics presented.
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