Medicine Case, Smithsonian African Expedition 1909-1910
date: label: date made
content: 1909
name: label: user
content: Roosevelt, Theodore
label: maker
content: E. R. Squibb and Sons
notes: label: Description
content: Edgar Alexander Mearns (1856-1916) was an army surgeon, ornithologist and field naturalist. His estate donated this medicine case to the Smithsonian in 1922, explaining that it had been “supplied by E. R. Squibb & Sons, for use on the Smithsonian African Expedition under the direction of Colonel Roosevelt, 1909-1910, and used by Dr. E. A. Mearns, U.S.A., physician of the Expedition.” The case is made to hold 24 glass jars. An inscription on the inside lid that reads “E. R. SQUIBB & SONS, MANUFACTURING CHEMISTS, NEW YORK.”
label: Description
content: Ref: Charles W. Richmond, “In Memoriam: Edgar Alexander Mearns,” The Auk 35 (1918): 1-18.
label: Description
content: Smithsonian African Expedition (1909): Immediately following the end of his service as President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt lead the Expedition to Eastern Africa with his son, Kermit, serving as Expedition Photographer. The Smithsonian, through anonymous private donations, funded the three naturalists who worked on the Expedition in return for the receipt of live and preserved specimens. Edgar Alexander Mearns was selected as head naturalist and bird-collector, Edmund Heller was to care for the large mammals, and John Alden Loring was to have charge of the small mammal collecting. The party left New York March 23, 1909 and sailed for British East Africa. The route took them through the Azores, Gibraltar, Naples, Messina, the Suez Canal and Ismailya, Aden and Italian Somaliland to Mombasa in British East Africa on April 21. From there, the expedition traveled by the Uganda Railway to Kapiti Plains where their safari awaited them. The party followed a route that took them to Nairobi, the vicinity of Mt. Kenja, the Loita Plains, Lake Victoria, Lake Albert and up the Nile to Khartoum. The expedition broke up there on March 14, 1910. The official photographer for the expedition was Roosevelt's son Kermit, although other members of the party also took a number of photographs, especially Edmund Heller. The result was that the United States National Museum acquired approximately 1,000 skins of large mammals, 4,000 of small mammals, and other specimens totaling approximately 11,400 items. About 10,000 plant specimens were also obtained, as well as a small collection of ethnological objects.
label: Description
content: [Description from Smithsonian Institution Archives]
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Medicine
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Estate of Dr. E. A. Mearns
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MG.M-01632
label: accession number
content: 69128
label: catalog number
content: M-01632
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Medical Kit
label: Object Name
content: medicine case
label: Other Terms
content: Medical Kit; Medicine
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 4 1/2 in x 13 5/8 in x 6 1/4 in; 11.43 cm x 34.6075 cm x 15.875 cm