Overview of the Collection
Smithsonian Institution Archives,
Washington, D.C.,
osiaref@si.edu
Perrygo, Watson M., 1906-1984
Personal Papers
Watson M. Perrygo Papers
circa 1880s-1979
6.16 cu. ft. (3 record storage boxes) (3 document boxes) (1 half document box) (1 16x20 box) (2 5x8 boxes)
Record Unit 7306
English
Prefered Citation
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 7306, Watson M. Perrygo Papers
Historical Note
Watson M. Perrygo (1906-1984), field collector, taxidermist, and exhibits specialist for the United States National Museum (USNM), was born in Washington, D.C. As a
young man, Perrygo was a frequent visitor to the USNM. He became a protege of the ornithologist, Alexander Wetmore, then Director of the Museum, with whom he went on weekend
field trips in Maryland and Virginia.
Perrygo began his career at the USNM in 1927 as a scientific aide in the Division of Mammals and the taxidermy studio. In addition to the taxidermic and other collection-related
work, Perrygo was sent on field trips to collect birds, mammals, and snakes unrepresented in the USNM. His collecting activities included trips to Haiti, 1929; again to Haiti
in 1930 as a member of the Parish-Smithsonian Expedition; to West Virginia, 1936; to Tennessee, 1937; to Kentucky, 1938; to North Carolina, 1939; to South Carolina, 1940;
and to Rampart Cave, Arizona, 1942, as assistant to A. Remington Kellogg to excavate skeletal remains of several species of mammals, birds, lizards, and snakes. Between 1946
and 1953, Perrygo also accompanied Wetmore to Panama on several occasions to collect birds.
Perrygo served as exhibits preparator and zoological exhibits worker in the Department of Zoology, USNM, 1952-1958, and as zoological exhibits worker in the Office of Exhibits,
Museum of History and Technology (MHT), 1958-1960. He was in charge of taxidermy for MHT, 1960-1962, and for the Museum of Natural History (MNH), 1962-1964. Perrygo was an
important figure in the exhibits modernization program at the USNM during the 1940s and 1950s.
After his retirement in 1964, Perrygo was an active participant in historical preservation projects in Maryland as president of the Charles County Historical Society and
as a member of the Board of the Maryland Historical Trust. He also directed the museum exhibits program of the Botanical Garden Museum, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
From time to time, Perrygo also did consulting work on exhibits in the Smithsonian Institution.
Chronology
October 18, 1906
Born, Washington, D. C.
1926
Helped USNM prepare natural history specimens for the Philadelphia Sesquicentennial
1926
Bird collecting in the vicinity of Ocean City, Maryland, with Alexander Wetmore and Frederick Charles Lincoln; learned how to collect and label birds
July-November, 1927
Worked part-time on the osteological specimens located in the attic of the Natural History Building
1927
Became permanent staff member of the USNM, as scientific aide, working half-time for the Division of Mammals and half-time for the taxidermy shop, and as field collector to collect birds and other natural history specimens for the USNM
December, 1928-April, 1929
Field collecting trip to Haiti with Arthur J. Poole
February-June, 1930
Field collecting trip to Haiti as a member of the Parish-Smithsonian Expedition. The expedition was sponsored by Lee Hamilton Parish and his parents, Samuel W. and Ella Parish. Perrygo sailed to Haiti with the Parishes on their yacht, the "Esperanza." The "Esperanza" made an unplanned stop in Cuba after a storm wrecked her mast. Perrygo collected bird specimens in Cuba while the yacht was being repaired. In Haiti, Perrygo continued to collect bird and other natural history specimens, mostly along the coastal region of Haiti, and collected live reptiles for the National Zoological Park.
1931
Went with USNM taxidermists Earl D. Reid and J. S. Warmbath to Bayhead, New Jersey to prepare a 1200 pound sailfish for exhibition
1932
Helped prepare natural history specimens for the George Washington Bicentennial
April-July, 1936
Field collecting trip to West Virginia to collect bird specimens with Carleton C. Lingebach
September-November, 1936
Field collecting trip to West Virginia with Carleton C. Lingebach
April-July, 1937
Field collecting trip to Tennessee with Herbert Friedmann (Alexander Wetmore joined them briefly in June)
September-November, 1937
Field collecting trip to Tennessee with Carleton C. Lingebach and Henry R. Schaefer
April-July, 1938
Field collecting trip to Kentucky with Henry R. Schaeffer and James Cole
September-November, 1938
Field collecting trip to Kentucky with Gregor Rohwer and Herbert G. Deignan
April-July, 1939
Field collecting trip to North Carolina with Charles Wheeler and Gregor Rohwer
September-November, 1939
Field collecting trip to North Carolina with Charles L. Wheeler (Alexander Wetmore and John Enos Graf joined them briefly in October)
April-July, 1940
Field collecting trip to South Carolina with J. Southgate Hoyt and John C. Calhoun
September-December, 1940
Field collecting trip to South Carolina with J. Southgate Hoyt and John S. Webb
March-May, 1942
Accompanied A. Remington Kellogg, Assistant Director of the USNM, to Rampart Cave, Arizona to excavate sloth fossils as well as skeletal remains of several species of mammals, birds, lizards, and snakes. Also visited the Denver Museum and Chicago's Field Museum of Natural History to study their exhibit methods.
1943-1964
Worked as a taxidermist full-time
1943-1964
USNM taxidermists were involved in the gradual modernization of the mammal, bird, osteology, and sealife exhibits in the Natural History Building
1946-1953
Accompanied Alexander Wetmore (Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1944-1952) on their annual field collecting trips to Panama to collect birds (usually between March and May)
1952-1958
Exhibit preparator and zoological exhibits worker in the Department of Zoology, USNM
October, 1957
Visited several plastic manufacturing companies in New York City and Philadelphia to learn to make accessories from plastic for the exhibits
November, 1957
Visited the University of Kansas Museum to study its exhibits methods
1958-1960
Zoological exhibits worker in the Office of Exhibits, Museum of History and Technology (MHT)
1960-1962
Was in charge of taxidermy for MHT
1962-1964
Was in charge of taxidermy for the Museum of Natural History (MNH)
1964
Retired from the MNH
1970-1978
President of the Charles County (Maryland) Historical Society
1970s-1983
Member of the Board of the Maryland Historical Trust
1977-1983
Directed the museum exhibits program of the Botanical Garden Museum, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
August 5, 1984
Died at home in Port Tobacco, Maryland
Descriptive Entry
These papers consist of correspondence from Alexander Wetmore, field co-workers, and museum curators concerning authorization for field trips, instructions on natural
history specimens desired and areas to visit, and acknowledgments of specimens and camping equipment; correspondence from state game and fisheries agencies concerning hunting
licenses and permits; letters of introduction; and a letter from Mamie Doud Eisenhower thanking Perrygo for restoration work on her Chippendale mirror, 1955. Other materials
include field trip reports, 1936-1940; expense accounts; specimen lists; black and white photographs taken during Perrygo's field trips, 1929-1942; and color motion pictures
of the Panama trips, 1950-1953, Skyline Drive, Virginia, and the USNM taxidermy studio.
Materials collected by Perrygo include instructions on taxidermy techniques and newspaper articles about Perrygo, William L. Brown, and taxidermy in general. Also included
are photographs of USNM taxidermists, c. 1930s to 1973; mounted animal specimens and zoological exhibits; floor plan of the African and North American mammal halls, MNH; selected
art work at the National Gallery of Art and exhibits in the USNM collected by William Henry Holmes for a postcard series, c. 1918; the yacht, "Esperanza," signed by the Parishes,
1938; the taxidermy studio at the Natural History Building, 1950s; and Alexander Wetmore, Lawrence L. Oliver, and Perrygo at Skyline Drive, Virginia, 1955. Also, there are
materials that may have belonged to the Taxidermist and the Department of Living Animals, USNM, during the 1880s, including labels for the natural history exhibits; taxidermists'
addresses; and photographs of incomplete taxidermy models and mammals used as taxidermy models.
Additional materials documenting Perrygo's field trips include journals and field notebooks kept by Perrygo, 1936 to 1940, and by Wetmore during trips to Panama, 1946 to
1953, which are part of the Collected Notes, Lists, Drawings and Catalogs on Birds, and Mammals, record unit 7215 and record unit 7217, respectively. In 1978, taped interviews
with Perrygo were made as part of the Archives' Oral History Project (record unit 9516).
Index Terms
This record series is indexed under the following controlled access subject terms.
Name
Perrygo, Watson M., 1906-1984
Wetmore, Alexander, 1886-1978
United States National Museum. Taxidermist
National Gallery of Art of the Smithsonian Institution
United States National Museum. Division of Mammals
United States National Museum. Department of Zoology
Museum of History and Technology (U.S.). Office of Exhibits
National Museum of Natural History (U.S.)
Parish-Smithsonian Expedition (1930)
Subject
Taxidermy
Fieldwork
Museum exhibits
Taxidermists
Haiti
West Virginia
Tennessee
Kentucky
North Carolina
South Carolina
Arizona
Panama
Skyline Drive (Va.)
Physical Characteristics of Materials in the Collection
Motion pictures (visual works)
Manuscripts
Clippings
Black-and-white photographs
Series 1
CORRESPONDENCE, 1928-1973
This series consists of incoming correspondence documenting, for the most part, Perrygo's field trips from 1936 to 1940. In addition there is some correspondence
pertaining to Perrygo's trips to Haiti in 1929 and 1930 and to West Virginia in 1952.
Box 1
Box 1 of 8
Abbot - Cuban
Box 1 of 8
Deignan - Friedman
Box 1 of 8
Graf, John Enos
Box 1 of 8
Grimes - Mabry
Box 1 of 8
Maryland Game and Inland Fish Commission, 1933-1973
Box 1 of 8
Maule - Miller
Box 1 of 8
Oliver, Lawrence L., 1936-1940
Box 1 of 8
Palmer - Pruette
Box 1 of 8
Reid - United States
Box 1 of 8
Wetmore, Alexander, 1928
Box 1 of 8
Wetmore, Alexander, 1930
Box 1 of 8
Wetmore, Alexander, 1936
Box 1 of 8
Wetmore, Alexander, 1937
Box 1 of 8
Wetmore, Alexander, 1938
Box 1 of 8
Wetmore, Alexander, 1939
Box 1 of 8
Wetmore, Alexander, 1940
Box 1 of 8
Wetmore, Alexander, 1942
Box 1 of 8
Wetmore, Alexander, 1946-1951, 1966, 1969
Box 1 of 8
Wheeler-Wilson
Box 1 of 8
Letters of introduction, 1928, 1936-1948
Box 1 of 8
Scientific collecting permit correspondence
Box 1 of 8
Unidentified correspondence
Series 2
MATERIALS DOCUMENTING FIELD TRIPS, 1929, 1936-1942, 1947-1948
Box 1
Box 1 of 8
Expense account, South Carolina, June-July, 1940
Box 1 of 8
Expense account, South Carolina, September-December, 1940
Box 1 of 8
Receipts, Panama trips, 1947-1948
Box 1 of 8
Receipts, Tennessee, 1937
Box 1 of 8
Reports on field trips, written by W. M. Perrygo, 1936-1940
Reports on field trips, written by W. M. Perrygo, 1936-1940 [Image nos. SIA2015-004693 to SIA2015-004724]
Box 1 of 8
Specimen and camp equipment lists, 1942
Specimen and camp equipment lists, 1942
Box 1 of 8
Specimen lists, Haiti, 1929 (typewritten list of fishes)
Specimen lists, Haiti, 1929 [Image nos. SIA2015-004725 to SIA2015-004743]
Box 1 of 8
Specimen lists, birds, South Carolina, 1940 (notebook)
Specimen lists, birds, South Carolina, 1940
Series 3
MATERIALS ON TAXIDERMY AND EXHIBITS
Box 2
Box 2 of 8
Taxidermy techniques (2 folders)
Box 2 of 8
Taxidermists' addresses, c. 1880-1910 (bound volume)
Box 2 of 8
Miscellaneous notes documenting botanical specimens in exhibit cases, undated
Series 4
NEWSPAPER ARTICLES
Box 2
Box 2 of 8
Articles concerning William L. Brown's statement, "that an ash tray made of an elephant's foot can cost a hundred dollars or more," September, 1954
Box 2 of 8
Newspaper articles on W. M. Perrygo, 1936, 1979
Box 2 of 8
Newspaper articles on MNH exhibits, SI Building, and on H. C. Oberholser's plan for a bird census
Box 2 of 8
Cartoons, taxidermy humor
Series 5
PHOTOGRAPHS
Box 2
Box 2 of 8
Elephants, location and dates unknown
Box 2 of 8
Haiti expedition, 1928-1929:
Photograph list - Haitian Expedition, 1928-1929
Photographs - Nos. 1-100, Haitian Expedition, 1928-1929
Photographs - Nos. 100-206, Haitian Expedition, 1928-1929
- Photograph #s 1-100
- Photograph #s 101-206
- Voodoo marking from St. Michel
- Haitian currency
- Photograph list
Box 2 of 8
Tennessee, 1937; Kentucky, 1938
Photographs - Tennessee, 1937; Kentucky, 1938
Box 2 of 8
Living Animals, Department of, c. 1880s
Box 2 of 8
Mammal species, USNM
Box 2 of 8
Museum of Natural History, floor plan for African and North American Big Game halls
Box 2 of 8
Brown, William L., nature scenes, location and date unknown, B&W prints and negatives
Box 2 of 8
North Carolina, 1939
Box 2 of 8
Lawrence, L. Oliver
Box 2 of 8
Panama trips, 1947 and undated
Box 2 of 8
Parish-Smithsonian Expedition to Haiti, 1930
Photographs - Parish-Smithsonian Expedition to Haiti, 1930
Box 2 of 8
Postcard series (2 folders)
Box 2 of 8
Rampart Cave
Photographs - Rampart Cave, Arizona, 1942
Box 2 of 8
Reginald "Bud" Sayre and W. M. Perrygo
Box 2 of 8
Skyline Drive, Virginia
Box 2 of 8
USNM Staff
Box 2 of 8
Taxidermist, USNM, c.1930-1973
Box 2 of 8
West Virginia, 1936 and undated (also, 571 nitrate negatives of field trips in cold storage)
Box 2 of 8
Original photograph album, Haiti trip, 1928-29 (no photographs but hand-written notes)
Series 6
MOTION PICTURES, 1950-1953
Box 3
Box 3 of 8
Wetmore-Perrygo Expedition to Panama, 1950, Reel 1 of 2: Chiman & Maje (#1)
Documentary Film - Wetmore-Perrygo Expeditions to Panama, 1950-1953
Box 3 of 8
Wetmore-Perrygo Expedition to Panama, 1950, Reel 2 of 2: Chiman & Maje (#2)
Box 3 of 8
Wetmore-Perrygo Expedition to Panama, 1951: Cerro Campana & El Valle (#3)
Box 3 of 8
Wetmore-Perrygo Expedition to Panama, 1952: East Coast, Rio Indio (#4)
Box 3 of 8
Wetmore-Perrygo Expedition to Panama, 1953: Sona, Bullfights (#5)
Box 3 of 8
USNM Taxidermy Studio, 1950s (#6)
Box 3 of 8
Misc. (#1)
Box 3 of 8
Panama, 1950 (#1)
Box 3 of 8
Panama, 1950 (#2)
Box 3 of 8
Panama, 1951 - Campana & El Valle (Original) (#3)
Box 3 of 8
Panama, 1952 - East Coast (Original) (#4)
Box 3 of 8
Panama, 1953 - Sona (Original) (#5)
Box 4
Box 4 of 8
Wetmore-Perrygo Expeditions to Panama, 1950-1953, VHS Cassette 1 of 2: Chiman, Maje and Cerro Campana (USE COPY)
Box 4 of 8
Wetmore-Perrygo Expeditions to Panama, 1950-1953, VHS Cassette 2 of 2: Rio Indio and Sona (USE COPY)
Box 4 of 8
Shot logs for Panama expedition films, 1950-1953
Box 5
MASTERS (NOT FOR USE):
Box 5 of 8
Watson M. Perrygo Films, 1950s, 3/4" videotape transfer master of original 8mm film, Tape 1 of 1: Taxidermy studio, Skyline Drive, and home scenes
Box 5 of 8
Watson M. Perrygo Expeditions to Panama, 1950-1953, 3/4" videotape transfer master of original 8mm film, Tape 1 of 2: Chiman, Maje and Cerro Campana
Box 5 of 8
Watson M. Perrygo Expeditions to Panama, 1950-1953, 3/4" videotape transfer master of original 8mm film, Tape 2 of 2: Rio Indio and Sona
Box 5 of 8
Wetmore-Perrygo Expeditions to Panama, 1950-1953, 3/4" videotape transfer of original 8mm film, audio with narration and segments of the Alexander Wetmore and Watson M. Perrygo oral history interviews, Tape 1 of 2: Chiman, Maje and Cerro Campana
Box 5 of 8
Wetmore-Perrygo Expeditions to Panama, 1950-1953, 3/4" videotape transfer of original 8mm film, audio with narration and segments of the Alexander Wetmore and Watson M. Perrygo oral history interviews, Tape 2 of 2: Rio Indio and Sona
Box 5 of 8
Wetmore-Perrygo Expeditions to Panama, 1950-1953, 3/4" videotape copy of 8mm film, use dub of edited master with sound, Cassette 1 of 2: Chiman, Maje and Cerro Campana
Box 5 of 8
Wetmore-Perrygo Expeditions to Panama, 1950-1953, 3/4" videotape copy of 8mm film, use dub of edited master with sound, Cassette 2 of 2: Rio Indio and Sona
Series 7
LARGE FORMAT MATERIALS
Box 6
Box 6 of 8
"Esperanza," 1938 (photograph)
Box 6 of 8
Exhibits labels, c. 1890s
Series 8
COPY NEGATIVES
Box 7
Box 7 of 8
Copy Negatives, Numbers 1-320
Box 8
Box 8 of 8
Copy Negatives, Numbers 321-575