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At Home in the Field: Smithsonian Tropical Science Field Stations in the U.S. Panama Canal Zone and the Republic of Panama*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2015

Catherine A. Christen
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Extract

By the 1960s many biologists affiliated with North American institutions were intent upon establishing a new kind of field station within tropical America. Conditions at such new stations contrasted with those at tropical medicine research centers, commodity-oriented agricultural research stations like those run by the United Fruit Company, or established botanical centers such as the Atkins Garden and Research Laboratory in Cuba. Absent were the arboreta, the crop demonstration plots, full-scale expatriate residences and most home comforts. Absent too were the nearby plantations served by the economic botany practiced at the agricultural stations.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Americas , Volume 58 , Issue 4 , April 2002 , pp. 537 - 575
Copyright
Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 2002

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Footnotes

*

The author thanks the Smithsonian Institution for supporting this research through a Smithsonian postdoctoral fellowship and a STRI research grant. Thanks also to the many Smithsonian personnel in Washington, D.C., and Panama who have facilitated this research, especially at the Smithsonian Institution Archives and at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. Special thanks to Marshall Eakin, Judith Ewell, Pamela Henson, and Peter Leimgruber for their very helpful comments on earlier drafts, and to those who commented on related draft papers at an Autumn, 1997, History of Science, Medicine & Technology Department Colloquium at The Johns Hopkins University, at a Smithsonian Institution Archives Research in Progress in Spring 1998, and at the Program on Tropical Science Roundtable lecture, “Natural Places, Unnatural Ideas?” organized by Hope Hollocher and Ben A. Heller at Princeton University in Autumn, 1999.

References

1 For many years the Atkins Garden and Research Laboratory was closely affiliated with Harvard University. In 1959 Harvard lost its access to the facility, now known as Cienfuegos Botanical Garden; Stone, Donald “The Organization for Tropical Studies (OTS): A Success Story in Graduate Training and Research,” in Almeda, Frank and Pringle, Catherine eds., Tropical Rainforests: Diversity and Conservation (San Francisco: California Academy of Sciences, 1988), pp.144–145 Google Scholar; National Academy of Sciences-National Research Council, A Report on the Conference on Tropical Botany, Fairchild Tropical Garden, May 5–7, 1960 (Washington, D.C.: National Academy of Sciences-National Research Council, Division of Biology and Agriculture, 1960), pp. i–iii.

2 Odum, Eugene P. Fundamentals of Ecology (Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders, 1953), p. vi.Google Scholar

3 NAS-NRC, Conference on Tropical Botany, p. 2, pp. 7–8.

4 As with other areas of science, funding for the upturn in these activities was partly driven by the psychological fallout on America from Sputnik; A. C. Smith memorandum to Mrs. Ann S. Campbell through Dr. Kellogg, 11 April 1962, Smithsonian Institution Archives [SIA] Record Unit [RU] 50, Box [B] 216, Folder [F]: Tropical Biology; Association for Tropical Biology, “Minutes of the Regular Meeting of Council,” Barro Colorado Island, 4–8 November 1963, SIA RU 50, B216, F: Tropical Biology; Ira Rubinoff, interview by Pamela M. Henson, 21 April 1989, SIA RU 9582.

5 Stone, “OTS,” pp. 144–151.

6 NAS-NRC, Conference on Tropical Botany, p. 4, pp. 6–8; A. C. Smith memorandum to Dr. [Leonard] Carmichael, 18 Dec 1962, “Official detail of October 15–31, 1962, for South American trip, SIA RU 50, B32A, F: CZBA 1928–63; Association for Tropical Biology, “Minutes,” 4–8 November 1963.

7 Dr. Leslie Holdridge and Dr. Joseph Tosi founded the Rincón station shortly after together co-founding the Tropical Science Center (TSC) in San José, Costa Rica, which administered it. Holdridge had attended the 1960 meeting in Miami, and TSC staff remained active in ATB and associated (often contentiously) with OTS. NAS-NRC, Conference on Tropical Botany, p. iii; for more on this station's history and its role in Osa conservation, see Christen, Catherine A. “Development and Conservation on Costa Rica's Osa Peninsula, 1937–1977: A Regional Case Study of Historical Land Use Policy and Practice in a Small Neotropical Country” (Ph.D. diss., The Johns Hopkins University, 1995)Google Scholar, and Christen, Catherine A. “Tropical Field Ecology and Conservation Initiatives on the Osa Peninsula Costa Rica 19621–973,” in Twentieth Century Sciences: Beyond the Metropolis, Vol. III: Nature and Environment (Paris: ORSTOM, 1995).Google Scholar

8 Donald Allen, a U.S. citizen, was interested in profiting from a real estate scam he called “Rincon Resorts,” one of several crooked speculations he perpetrated during the 1960s and 1970s from Alaska to Panama and perhaps beyond; Christen, “Development and Conservation.”

9 Originally Leslie Holdridge's farm retreat, La Selva's transformation from field station to “world-class research center” took place during the 1980s. See Clark, David B. “La Selva Biological Station: A Blueprint for Stimulating Tropical Research,” in Four Neotropical Rainforests, ed. Gentry, Alwyn H. (New Haven: Yale, 1990), pp. 9–14.Google Scholar

10 Quotation from David Fairchild, “Barro Colorado Island Laboratory,” reprint from Journal of Heredity, Washington, D.C., Vol. XV, No. 3, March 1924, p. 105, SIA RU 135, BIO, F5; Thomas Barbour, manuscript, “In the Beginning,” pp. 1–5, SIA RU 135, BIO, F5; Annual Report of the Smithsonian Institution for 1947 (Washington: United States General Printing Office, 1948), p. 126; J. E. Graf, “Canal Zone Biological Area,” p. 16, SIA RU 135, BIO, F5; Moynihan, Martin “General Information Concerning Facilities for Study at Canal Zone Biological Area (Barro Colorado Island),” Turtox News 37:1 (January 1959), pp. 2–5 Google Scholar, SIA RU 135, BIO, F5; Frank B. Jewett letter to Dr. Alexander Wetmore, 14 June 1945, SIA RU 135, BIO, F6. For more on this station's creation and early years, see Henson, Pamela M. “Invading Arcadia: Women Scientists in the Field in Latin America, 1900–1950,” The Americas (Spring 2002), pp. 582–589 Google Scholar, and Hagen, Joel B.. “Problems in the Institutionalization of Tropical Biology: The Case of the Barro Colorado Island Biological Laboratory,” History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences 12 (1990), pp. 225–247.Google Scholar

11 Barbour, , “In the Beginning,” p. 2 Google Scholar; Zetek, James manuscript, “The History of Barro Colorado,” p. 5, SIARU 135, BIO, F5.Google Scholar

12 As Henson explores elsewhere in this issue, in “Invading Arcadia” pp. 582–589, the island was also effectively off-limits to North American research scientists who were women. They were allowed daytime visits only, hardly adequate conditions for most field research; James Zetek letter to C. A. Mcll-vaine, 29 January 1924, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Earl S. Tupper Tropical Sciences Library [hereafter STRI Library], Canal Zone Biological Area Vertical File [hereafter CZBA VF]; Heckadon-Moreno, Stanley Naturalistas del Istmo de Panamá: un siglo de historia natural sobre el puente biológico de las Américas (Panama: Editorial Santillana, 1998), pp. 143–144.Google Scholar

13 Eugene Eisenmann, “Panama Canal Zone Faunal Conservation,” manuscript, 1950; Eisenmann, Eugene Annotated list of Birds of Barro Colorado Island, Panama Canal Zone, Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, 117:5 (Washington: Smithsonian Institution, 1952)Google Scholar; Heckadon, , Naturalistas, p. 207.Google Scholar

14 Jewett to Wetmore, 14 June 1945; Annual Report of the Smithsonian Institution for 1946 (Washington: United States Government Printing Office, 1947), p. 13.

15 R[ichard] S. Boardman memorandum to [S. Dillon] Ripley, 8 February 1965, SIARU 429, B6, F: Field Stations, 1964–1965; William Stern, interview by author, Gainesville, Florida, 3 July 1997; Henson, Pamela M. “The Smithsonian Goes to War: The Increase and Diffusion of Scientific Knowledge in the Pacific,” in MacLeod, Roy M. ed.. Science and the Pacific War: Science and Survival in the Pacific, 1939–1945 (Amsterdam: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2000), pp. 27–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

16 Martin H. Moynihan memorandum to Leonard Carmichael, 5 July 1963, SIA RU 197, Bl, F: POLI A–2; Smithsonian Annual Report 1947, p. 127; A. S. Campbell memorandum to A. C. Smith, 30 January 1963, S1ARU 50, B32A, F: CZBA 1928–1963; Heckadon, , Naturalistas, pp. 139–149.Google Scholar

17 Heckadon, , Naturalistas, p. 6. Google Scholar, p. 147; Crawford H. Greenewalt letter to Leonard Carmichael, 1 July 1957, SIA RU 135, B8, F7; Leonard Carmichael memorandum to J. E. Graf and Remington Kellogg, 1 July 1957, SIA RU 135, B8, F7; Smith, Neal Griffith “In Memoriam: Martin Humphrey Moynihan, 1928–1966,” The Auk, 115: 3 (July, 1998), pp. 755–758.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

18 Carmichael to Graf and Kellogg, 1 July 1957.

19 Leonard Carmichael letter to Crawford H. Greenewalt, 9 July 1957, SIA RU 135, B8, F7; Greene-wait, board chairman of DuPont, an authority on hummingbirds and a Smithsonian Regent, had recommended Moynihan for the post, on the advice of Dr. Charles Sibley, Professor of ornithology at Cornell, also a Moynihan mentor; Greenewalt, to Carmichael, 1 July 1957. Carmichael, to Graf and Kellogg, 1 July 1957; Dyne, Larry Van “The Sun King Ambitions of Dillon Ripley,” Washington Magazine, December 1979, p. 210 Google Scholar; Smith, , “In Memoriam,” p. 755 Google Scholar, notes that Sibley, Mayr, and Eugene Eisenmann all later claimed to have been solely responsible for prompting the hire of Moynihan to this position.

20 All quotations, Martin Moynihan memorandum to Remington Kellogg and James Bradley, 6 August 1962, SIA RU 50, B32A, F: CZBA 1928–63; Heckadon, Naturalistas, pp. 155–159 Google Scholar; A. C. Smith to Dr. Martin B. Moynihan, 26 December 1962, SIA RU 50, B32A, F: CZBA 1928–63.

21 [Martin Moynihan], “Canal Zone Biological Area: Accomplishments from 1953 to 1964,” n.d. [September 18, 1963], SIA RU 135, B11,F1.

22 [Moynihan], “Canal Zone Biological Area: Accomplishments.”

23 Eisenmann, “Panama Canal Zone.”

24 Smithsonian Annual Report 1947, p. 126; recent studies indicate the frugivore die-offs have been caused by preceding short, rainy, dry seasons that prevent sufficient flowering and hence lead to insufficient fruit production; Wright, S. Joseph Carrasco, C. Calderón, O. and Patón, S. “The El Niño Southern Oscillation, variable fruit production and famine in a tropical forest.” Ecology 80:5 (1999).Google Scholar

25 [Moynihan], “Canal Zone Biological Area: Accomplishments.”

26 Moynihan, , “General Information Concerning Facilities,” p. 5 Google Scholar. Turtox News was published by Chicago's General Biological Supply and widely distributed to its clients, potential visiting researchers at CZBA. Remington Kellogg letter to Blair Coursen, 17 November 1958, SIA RU 135, BIO, F6.

27 Fairchild, , “Barro Colorado Island Laboratory,” p. 111.Google Scholar

28 Moynihan, to Kellogg and Bradley, 6 August 1962.

29 Remington Kellogg and James Bradley memorandum to Dr. Martin H. Moynihan, 31 July 1962, SIA RU 50, B32A, F: CZBA; Moynihan to Kellogg and Bradley, 6 August 1962; Martin H. Moynihan memorandum to Dr. Remington Kellogg, 14 August 1962, SIA RU50, B32A, F: CZBA; Ira Rubinoff letter to Dr. Remington Kellogg, 28 August 1962, SIA RU 50, B32A, F: CZBA; I. E. Wallen memorandum to Dr. Remington Kellogg, through Dr. Albert C. Smith, 7 September 1962, SIA RU 50, B32A, F: CZBA; Rubinoff interview, 21 April 1989.

30 Kellogg was the Assistant Secretary in charge of scientific affairs, and Bradley the Assistant Secretary in charge of administration, but at that time both of these positions were titled only “Assistant Secretary.” Kellogg and Bradley to Moynihan, 31 July 1962; M[artin] Moynihan memorandum to Miss Maria M. Hoemann, 30 June 1964, SIA RU 50, B32A, F: Budget.

31 Kellogg and Bradley to Moynihan, 31 July 1962. The memo lists the two authors, but the first sentence begins with “I.” The memo's content and that of adjacent documents in this file, as well as other available information at SIA clearly indicate the “I” in question is Kellogg, not Bradley; A 1954 CZBA inquiry about constructing a hydrobiology laboratory in the Atlantic marine Canal Zone area was favorably received by the U.S. Canal Zone governor and other authorities, contradicting Kellogg's implication that such a development, off BCI, would be opposed by U.S. government officials. That initiative was led by J. E. Graf, Assistant Secretary (then Acting Secretary), and Dr. R. B. Withrew, chief of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory's Radiation and Organisms division, along with Zetek. Why this facility was not built is not evident from the following documents, but lack of funding or perhaps a deficit of zeal on Zetek's part, facing his wife's illness and death and his own ill health, may hold the answer. J. E. Graf letter to Brigadier General John S. Seybold, 7 July 1954; [Governor] J. S. Seybold memorandum for Military Assistant David S. Parker, [12 July 1954]; James Zetek letter to Lt. Col. D. S. Parker, 14 July 1954; H. O. Paxson letter to Mr. J. E. Graf, [14 July 1954]; all in STRLLibrary, CZBA VF.

32 Watson M. Perrygo interview, SIA RU 9516; Kellogg and Bradley to Moynihan, 31 July 1962.

33 All quotations from Moynihan to Kellogg and Bradley, 6 August 1962; Phil[lip] Ritterbush to Mr. [S. Dillon] Ripley, 18 October 1966, SIA RU 99, B20, F: IBP General; S. Dillon Ripley to Dr. [Phillip] Humphrey, 20 October 1966, SIA RU 99, B20, F; IBP General; Smith, Neal “In Memoriam,” p. 758 Google Scholar; Sidney R. Galler note to Dr. Martin H. Moynihan, 21 December 1965, SIA RU 254, B37, Fl ; Personal communication with author by Olga Linares, Panama City, Panama, February 1999.

34 Remington Kellogg memorandum to Dr. Martin H. Moynihan, 15 August 1962, SIA RU 50, B32A, F: CZBA; [Albert Charles Smith], “Biographical Resume,” n.d. [ca. 1960], Smith, Albert Charles Biographical File, SIA RU 7098. .

35 Moynihan to Kellogg and Bradley, 6 August 1962; Ira Rubinoff, interview by Pamela M. Henson, 7 June 1990, SIA RU 9582.

36 Sanchez, Peter M. “Panama's Foreign Policy after the U.S. Withdrawal: The Limits of Sovereignty in the New World Order,” paper prepared for delivery at the 2001 meeting of the Latin American Studies Association, Washington, D.C., 6–8 September 2001, pp. 2–4 Google Scholar; Personal communication with author by STRI personnel, Panama City, Panama, February 1999; Rubinoff interview, 7 June 1990.

37 Moynihan to Kellogg, 14 August 1962.

38 Martin Moynihan letter to James Bradley, 25 August 1962, SIA RU 50, B32A, F: CZBA; Senate of Scientists Interviews, SIA RU 9508; Rubinoff interview, 21 April 1989. For more about relations with U.S. Canal Zone officials regarding facility development, see comment in note 31.

39 James Bradley telegram to Dr. Martin H. Moynihan, 27 August 1962 loriginal telegram in all caps], SIA RU 50, B32A, F: CZBA; [James] Bradley note to Dr. [Remington] Kellogg, Dr. A. C. Smith, and [I. E.] Wallen, [August 1962], attached to Martin Moynihan letter to Mr. [James] Bradley, 25 August 1962, SIA RU 50, B32A, F: CZBA.

40 Moynihan to Kellogg, 14 August 1962; Rubinoff to Kellogg, 28 August 1962.

41 All quotations from Wallen to Kellogg, A. C. Smith, 7 September 1962; Moynihan to Bradley, 25 August 1962; Bradley to Moynihan, 27 August 1962.

42 Remington Kellogg memorandum to Dr. Martin H. Moynihan, 12 September 1962, SIA RU 50, B32A, F: CZBA; Martin Moynihan letter to S. Dillon Ripley, 27 October 1964, SIA RU 197, Bl, F: POL1A–2.

43 Moynihan had been sent the original Smith document, A. C. Smith memorandum to Mrs. Ann S. Campbell, through Dr. Kellogg, 11 April 1962, SIA RU 50, B216 F: Tropical Biology, and was sent Kellogg's formal reply to this, Remington Kellogg memorandum to Dr. Leonard Carmichael, 31 May 1962, SIA RU 50, B216, F: Tropical Biology, but he had not been sent a copy of the other Kellogg memo, R[emington] Kellogg memorandum to “For the Record,” 16 May 1962, SIA RU 50, B216, F: Tropical Biology.

44 A. C. Smith to Campbell, through Kellogg, 11 April 1962; [A. C. Smith], “Biographical Resume,” n.d. [ca. I960]; biogeography quotation from Smith, Albert C. “Robert Allerton Award Recipient's Response,” The Bulletin: Pacific Tropical Garden 9:4 (October 1979)Google Scholar, in Smith, Albert Charles, Biographical File, SIARU 7098.

45 [A. C. Smith] “Preliminary Notes: Panama Visit October 1962,” typescript, SIA RU 50, B32A, F: Marine Laboratory; Mary K. Johrde letter to Dr. Martin H. Moynihan, 5 September 1962, SIA RU 50, B32A, F: CZBA 1928–63; Remington Kellogg letter to Miss Mary K. Johrde, 18 September 1962, SIA RU 50, B32A, F: CZBA; Paul H. Scherer letter to Leonard Carmichael, n.d. [9 February 1963], SIA RU 50, B32A, F: CZBA 1928–1963; A. S. Campbell to A. C. Smith, 30 January 1963; A. C. Smith letter to Dr. Martin H. Moynihan, 9 November 1962, SIA RU 50, B32A, F: CZBA 1928-63; A. C. Smith letter to Moynihan, 26 December 1962.

46 A. C. Smith memorandum to Dr. [Leonard] Carmichael, through Dr. [Remington] Kellogg and Mr. [James] Bradley, 10 July 1962, SIA RU 50, B216 F: Tropical Biology.

47 W. H. Hodge and D. D. Keck, mimeographed report on “Biological Research Centers in Tropical America,” National Science Foundation, Washington, D.C., 1962, p. 6, SIARU 134, B10, F5.

48 A. C. Smith memorandum to Leonard Carmichael, 17 September 1962, attached to Hodge and Keck report on “Biological Research Centers,” with handwritten notation by Carmichael, SIA RU 134, B10, F5; A. C. Smith to Campbell, through Kellogg, 11 April 1962.

49 In early 1963 Harvard became a charter member of OTS, which then focused on developing field courses in Costa Rica: Stone, , “OTS,” p. 144 Google Scholar, p. 149; [A. C. Smith], “Preliminary Notes,” October 1962; A. C. Smith letter to Dr. Ernst Mayr and Dr. Reed C. Rollins, 26 December 1962, SIA RU 50, B32A, F: CZBA 1928–63; M[artin] Moynihan to Carmichael, through Dr. A. C. Smith, 5 July 1963.

50 All quotations from A.C. Smith memorandum to Dr. [Leonard] Carmichael, 18 December 1962, SIA RU 50, B32A, F: CZBA 1928–63; A. C. Smith to Moynihan, 26 December 1962; [A. C. Smith] “Preliminary Notes.”

51 A. C. Smith to Moynihan, 9 November 1962.

52 Its delicate wording notwithstanding, Secretary Carmichael's office still filed this letter under “marine laboratory.” A. C. Smith to Dr. Martin H. Moynihan, 3 January 1963, SIA RU 50, B32A, F: Marine Laboratory.

53 The $10,000 limit still wasn't lifted for several years after this, but by the mid-1960s, Smithsonian, probably through Bradley, worked out an arrangement whereby the $10,000 per year limit would apply only to spending for BCI, while the rest of CZBA/STRI would have access to another line containing whatever further level of appropriation Congress was willing to provide; Rubinoff interview, 7 June 1990; Martin Moynihan letter to Mr. [James] Bradley, 26 February 1963, SIA RU 50, B 32A, F: CZBA 1928–1963; James Bradley-memorandum to Dr. Martin H. Moynihan, 7 March 1963, SIARU50, B32A, F: CZBA 1928–1963; Martin H. Moynihan letter to Mr. James Bradley, 11 March 1963, SIA RU 50, B32A, F: CZBA 1928–1963; Moynihan to Carmichael, 5 July 1963, see marginalia.

54 Moynihan to Carmichael, 5 July 1963.

55 Ibid.

56 Quotation from Smith, Neal “In Memoriam,” p. 755 Google Scholar; Personal communication with author by Roberta Rubinoff, Washington, D.C., May 27, 1998; Personal communication by STRI personnel, February 1999.

57 Moynihan to Carmichael, 5 July 1963.

58 Ibid.

59 A. C. Smith letter to Dr. [Leonard] Carmichael, through Mr. [James] Bradley, 1 March 1963, SIA RU 50, B32A, F: Fellowships; A. C. Smith letter to Dr. Martin H. Moynihan, 18 March 1963, SIA RU 50, B32A, Fellowships; “Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute,” in The Smithsonian Year 1966 (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 1967), p. 171.

60 A. C. Smith letter to Dr. Charles F. Bennett, Jr., 7 October 1963, SIA RU 50, B33 F: Personnel: Scientific; [Moynihan], “Canal Zone Biological Area: Accomplishments.”

61 S. Dillon Ripley, interview by Pamela M. Henson, 18 May 1982, S. Dillon Ripley Interviews, SIA RU 9591; Dyne, Van “The Sun King,” pp. 208–209.Google Scholar

62 Smith, Neal “In Memoriam,” pp. 755–758 Google Scholar; Saxon, Wolfgang “Martin H. Moynihan, 68, an Authority on Animal Behavior,” The New York Times 15 December 1996, p. 67 Google Scholar; Dyne, Van “The Sun King,” pp. 139–216 Google Scholar; Personal communication by STRI personnel, February 1999.

63 Ripley interview, 18 May 1982; S. Dillon Ripley letter to Frank B. Golley, 24 February 1969, SIA, Raymond B. Fosberg uncatalogued papers, B; FRF Personnel, F: Tropical Biology Program, for “ecology” comment.

64 S. Dillon Ripley memorandum to Professional Staff Members, Museum of Natural History, and Heads of Organization Units Concerned, 21 July 1964, SI RU 197, Bl, F: POL1A-9.

65 Phil[lip] Ritterbush memorandum to Members, Ecology Panel [at the National Museum of Natural History], 27 November 1964, SIA RU197, Bl [1964] F; POL1A-9; Phillip C. Ritterbush cover letter, n.d., SIA RU 99, B9 F: Comments on Minutes, Environmental Biology Conference.

66 Quotation from S. Dillon Ripley letter to Participants in the Smithsonian Discussions on Ecology, 10 February 1965, SIA RU 197, Bl, F: POL1A-9; Pierre Dansereau letter to S. Dillon Ripley, 25 January 1965, SIA RU 99, B9, F: Environmental Biology; Richard S. Boardman interview with Pamela M. Henson, 12 February 1976, SIA RU 9508, BIO. These events and personalities are addressed in more detail in Catherine Christen, A. “Tropical American Field Science and the Smithsonian Institution: Agendas for Research and Conservation, 1964–1970,” paper presented at the History of Science, Medicine & Technology Department Colloquium, The Johns Hopkins University, 23 October 1997.Google Scholar

67 Smithsonian policy initiatives and practices regarding Neotropical field science stations are also further addressed in Christen, “Tropical American Field Science.” Among the more seriously debated Neotropical station development opportunities (aside from STRI) was the potential transfer from the United Fruit Company of Lancetilla Botanical Gardens in Honduras; see, for example, William L. Stern and Richard L. Zusi, “Potential of the Lancetilla Botanical Gardens, Honduras, as a Tropical Research Station,” November 1964, SIARU 197, Bl, F: POL1A–2–1–1.

68 See note 53 on financing. Moynihan to Carmichael, 5 July 1963, see marginalia; S. Dillon Ripley letter to Martin H. Moynihan, [20 October 1964], SIARU 197, Bl, F: POL1A-2; Rubinoff interview, 7 June 1990.

69 [Martin Moynihan], “The Proposed Institute for Research on Tropical Biology,” [January 1965], SIA RU 254, B40, F: STRI Tropical Biology Program, 1966–1967.

70 Ibid.

71 Ripley interview, 18 May 1982.

72 Personal communication by STRI personnel, February 1999; [Moynihan], “The Proposed Institute,” [January 1965]; [Martin Moynihan], “A Preliminary Outline of the Objectives and Future Programs of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, (as of May 1, 1966)” SIA RU 197, B1, F: POL 1A-2.

73 Moynihan's drive time was a breakneck estimate. Driving across the isthmus really took (and takes) about an hour and a half; Moynihan to Ripley, 27 October 1964; Rubinoff interview, 21 April 1989.

74 Phil[lip] Ritterbush memorandum to Mr. [S. Dillon] Ripley, 2 October 1964, SIA RU 197, Bl, F: POLIA-2; Ripley to Moynihan, [20 October 1964]; all quotations, Moynihan to Ripley, 27 October 1964.

75 Sidney R. Caller letter to Dr. Martin Moynihan, 22 November 1965, SIA RU 197, Bl, F: POL 1–A–2; Chief of Naval Operations memorandum to Chief, Bureau of Yards and Docks, [ 1 June 19651, SIA RU 197, Bl, F: POL1A-2; Martin Moynihan letter to Chief of Naval Operations, 29 March 1965, SIA RU 197, Bl, F: POL1A-2; I. E. Wallen memorandum to Mr. [S. Dillon] Ripley, , 7 June 1965, SIA RU 197, Bl F: POL 1A-2; Rubinoff interview, 21 April 1989; “Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute,” in The Smithsonian Year 1966, pp. 163–164, p. 171.

76 Wallen to Ripley, 7 June 1965; Rubinoff interview, 21 April 1989; Sanchez, , “Panama's Foreign Policy,” p. 5 Google Scholar; quotation from [Moynihan], “A Preliminary Outline,” p. 27.

77 Quotation from Martin Moynihan letter to Dr. Sidney R. Galler, 12 December 1966, SIA RU 254, B40, F: STRI, Tropica] Biology Program 1966–1967; [Moynihan], “A Preliminary Outline”; Other pertinent files for this period are found in abundance in SIA RU 254 and SIA RU 197; see Christen, “Tropical American Field Science.”

78 S. Dillon Ripley memorandum to Professional Research Staff: Museum of Natural History, Radiation Biology Laboratory, National Zoological Park, 13 February 1967, SIARU 197, Bl, F: POL1A-9-1.

79 The Smithsonian Year 1966, p. 59; S. Dillon Ripley, interview by Pamela M. Henson, SIA RU 9591 ; [Moynihan], “A Preliminary Outline,” p. 1, pp. 27–28; S. Dillon Ripley Papers Accession 87–030, SIA.

80 S. Dillon Ripley memorandum to Dr. [Theodore] Reed, 10 July 1974, SIA RU 254, B18, F2; Donovan, Amy “Zebras in Virginia? A Future for Animals,” in Meyer, Alfred ed., A Zoo for All Seasons (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Press, 1979) pp. 128–151.Google Scholar

81 Personal communication by STRI personnel, February 1999; In the late 1970s STRI divested itself of this Cali station, giving it over to local institutional partners. Martin H. Moynihan letter to Dr. William J. Riemer, 24 January 1966, SIA RU 254, B40, F: STRI, Tropical Biology Program 1966-1967; Rubinoff interview, 7 June 1990; [Moynihan], “The Proposed Institute” [January 1965]; Ira Rubinoff letter to Dr. S. Dillon Ripley, 15 April 1975, SIA RU 254, B38, Fl.

82 All quotations, Rubinoff interview, 7 June 1990; Robert L. Dressier, interview by author, Gainesville, Florida, 1 July 1997; Rubinoff to Ripley, 15 April 1975; Personal communication by STRI personnel, February 1999; Consejo Nacional de Legislación, “Ley No. 57 de 6 de Junio de 1974,” (Panama: Gaceta Oficial, 26 June 1974).

83 Personal communication by STRI personnel, February 1999; Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Report: October 1, 1987 through September 30, 1988from Smithsonian Year 1988, (Panama: Impresora Panama, 1989), p. 9; Rubinoff interview, 7 June 1990.

84 Rubinoff interview, 7 June 1990; STRI, Report…from Smithsonian Year 1988, p. 29; Ventocilla, Jorge “Alternativas a la Destrucción: Lineamientos y Objetivos del Programa en Panamá,” Proceedings of the Symposio, Conservación y Manejo de Fauna Silvestre Neotropical, 10–11 October 1983, Arequipa, Peru, pp. 73–76.Google Scholar

85 S. Dillon Ripley letter to Dr. Donald F. Hornig, 23 December 1968, SIA RU 197, Bl, F: POLI A–2; Ross Robertson, interview by author, Panama City, Panama, February 1999; Harilaos Lessios interview by author, Panama City, Panama, February 1999; Ira Rubinoff, interview by Pamela M. Henson, 11 June 1990, SIA RU 9582; “Plan for the Future Development of Marine Research,” STRI, 7 January 1998, pp. 4–6, Tupper Center, STRI, Panama, Elena Lombardo Working Files. There was also another oil spill by Galeta in 1986.

86 Robertson interview; Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, “Foreword” to “Compilation of Scientific Publications, Comarca de San Blas, Republic of Panama,” manuscript, n.p. 1987; Robertson, D. Ross and Glynn, Peter W. Field Guidebook lo the Reefs of San Bias Islands, Panama (prepared for the Third International Symposium on Coral Reefs) (Miami Beach: University of Miami), 1977, p. 4.Google Scholar

87 All quotations from Dave Meyer letter to Ira [Rubinoff], 15 November 1974, in Tupper Center, STRI, Panama, Elena Lombardo Working Files, Folder: San Bias Pico Feo Island; Robertson interview; Christen, , “Development and Conservation,” pp. 286–288, p. 302Google Scholar; Costa Rica, Registro Nacional Mercantil, Tomo 114, Folio 584, Asiento 438, 21 January 1974; Day, Sonia “Osa: It's Tropical, Troubled,” Tico Times, 12 July 1974.Google Scholar

88 Rubinoff interview, 7 June 1990; Personal communication by STRI personnel, February 1999; Ross Robertson interview; Lessios interview; Robertson, and Glynn, , Field Guidebook, pp. 1–6.Google Scholar

89 Robertson interview; Lessios interview; STRI, “Foreword,” in “Compilation of Scientific Publications … 1987”; “Summary of Research Activities at the San Bias Station, 1988,” in Tupper Center, STRI, Panama, Elena Lombardo Working Files, Folder: Kuna Congress, October 1987-October 1988.

90 República de Panamá, Congreso General Kuna, Kuna Yala, “Permiso del Congreso General Kuna, al Instituto Smithsonian, para las investigaciones científicas en el litoral de Kuna Yala,” 3 May 1986, in Tupper Center, STRI, Panama, Elena Lombardo Working Files, Folder: Lombardo E., Negotiation with Kuna Congress; Robertson interview; Personal communication with author by Elena Lombardo, Panama City, Panama, February 1999; STRI, Report… From Smithsonian Year 1988, p. 30.

91 Personal communication with author by John Christy, Panama City, Panama, February 1999; James Howe letter to Ira Rubinoff, 7 August 1986, and accompanying memorandum, “The Educational Campaign,” in Tupper Center, STRI, Panama, Elena Lombardo Working Files, Folder: San Blas Convenio.

92 “Keeping a Promise to Kuna Community Elders,” Smithsonian Runner, 93:1 (January-February 1993), pp. 6–8; Chapin, Mac “Defending Kuna Yala: PEMASKY, The Study Project for the Management of the Wildlands of Kuna Yala, Panama” (Washington D.C.: Biodiversity Support Program Website, 2001)Google Scholar, a case study for Wyckoff-Baird, Barbara Kaus, Andrea Christen, Catherine A. and Keck, Margaret Shifting the Power: Decentralization and Biodiversity Conservation (Washington, D.C.: Biodiversity Support Program, 2000)Google Scholar; Ventocilla, Jorge and Ologuagdi, , Anmar Napguana Mimmigana/Nosotros, los hijos de la Madre Tierra. (Panamá: Impresora Educativa, 1991).Google Scholar

93 “Keeping a Promise,” pp. 6–8; Elena Lombardo, memorandum, 12 May 1987, “STRI Attendance at Kuna General Congress,” in Tupper Center, STRI, Panama, Elena Lombardo Working Files, Folder; San Blas Convenio.

94 Chapin, “Defending Kuna Yala”; Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, “Informe de Asistencia General, Programas Educativos y Servicios Bibliotecarios Brindados a la Nación Kuna (San Blas), 1987–1991, notebook, Tupper Center, STRI, Panama, Elena Lombardo Working Files; Congreso General Tradicional Nación Kuna Comarca de San Blas, letter to Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, 18 November 1985, in Tupper Center, STRI, Panama, Elena Lombardo Working Files, Folder: San Bias General Correspondence, 1986.

95 Robertson interview; STRI, “Compilation of Scientific Publications … 1987.”

96 Chapin, “Defending Kuna Yala”; Lombardo memorandum, 12 May 1987.

97 Personal communication by John Christy, February 1999; Personal communication with author by Jorge Ventocilla, Panama City, Panama, February 1999.

98 Milius, Susan “When Worlds Collide: Why Can't Conservation Scientists and Indigenous Peoples Just Get Along?,” Science News 154 (8 August 1998), p. 94.Google Scholar

99 Personal communication by Elena Lombardo, February 1999.

100 Personal communication with author by Bocas del Toro conservation organization representa-tives, February 1999; Personal communication with author by Anthony Coates, Panama City, Panama, February 1999.

101 “STRI's place in Panama is secure,” The Torch 97:8 (August 1997), p. 1, p. 3; Personal communication by Elena Lombardo, February 1999.