Personal Papers
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 7053, Alexander Dallas Bache Papers
This record unit consists of the papers of Alexander Dallas Bache (1806-1867) relating to his study of European education, magnetic and meteorological observations at Girard College, his appointment as Superintendent of the United States Coast Survey, his professional discourse with other scientists on a broad range of topics, his own research, and his work on the Light House Board. Materials include diaries, 1836-1837, of his study of educational institutions in Britain; correspondence, 1821-1866, documenting his European trip; his work on education during the years 1839-1841; and his contact with the American scientific community. Materials also include small collections of papers concerning the Coast Survey, the Light House Board, and the Smithsonian Institution; letters to his wife, Nancy Clarke Fowler Bache; and a small collection of posthumous papers.
This record series is indexed under the following controlled access subject terms.
This series includes diaries from Bache's 1836-1838 trip to Europe to study educational institutions in preparation for the establishment of Girard College. Both
volumes record parts of his visitations in Britain. Materials include information used in his
This series includes outgoing correspondence, usually tissue copy but occasionally a draft copy, and a few other documents inserted. Materials include correspondence, 1836-1838, while Bache was in Europe conducting a study of education for Girard College; correspondence with scientific figures; and personal correspondence.
This series consists of incoming letters to Bache concerning a broad range of scientific topics and other business. The correspondence in box 4 is apparently part of a larger, very structured series of letters, and may well be Coast Survey correspondence.
This series includes correspondence, 1849, 1853-1854, mostly from scientific institutions and important figures, endorsing Bache's administration of the Survey; two reports, one printed on the Survey, 1849, by a committee on the Franklin Institute and the American Philosophical Society; and related materials.
This series consists of correspondence, mostly incoming but including outgoing and copies of letters, resulting from Bache's work as a member of the Lighthouse Board; notices of Lighthouse Board meetings, 1854-1864; reports, 1857-1858; salaries, circa 1860; a list of committees, 1861-1862; papers relating to Congress, circa 1862; and papers organized by topics, as follows: Buoys, Cape Race Proposal, Fog Whistle at Gull Island, Lights in Delaware and Chesapeake Bays, Nantucket South Shoal, and miscellaneous Lighthouse Board Correspondence. Correspondents include: James Alden, H. Bache, H. W. Benham, William B. Franklin, Thorton A. Jenkins, William E. Morris, R. Semmas, W. B. Shubrick, and W. P. Trowbridge.
This series includes a Water Wheel Report and Water Wheel Experiment Book, circa 1830-1831; a lecture on the Social and Political Life of Vienna, circa 1839; "The
Wants of Science in the United States," delivered at the April 1844 meeting of the National Institute; and an address at the Exhibition of American Manufactures, 1842 (see