Department of Vertebrate Paleontology departmental records

Department of Vertebrate Paleontology records, including annual reports, minutes of staff meetings and some scientific reports. Administrative activity is recorded in the Annual Report documents of the early Department of Paleontology from 1873-1891. Following are reports for the later Department of Vertebrate Paleontology from 1891-1976. Records during the years following 1891 provide a robust account of the Department’s personnel hired, administrative costs and spending. Field work and costs are notated along with departmental happenings and staff meetings through 1941.

Two significant reports provide additional context of the operating and working conditions of the Department: one, an Annual Report of Museum Trustees of 1930 recorded at the start of the Great Depression; and two, Scientific Departmental Reports of May 1944 communicated a year before the end of WWII.

Various groupings have been brought together and bound at various times. The arrangements have not been consistent. The boxes and folders are a listing as the volumes have been shelved with as much description as has seemed necessary. The volumes have been given a chronological order for the purpose of maintaining a permanent staff arrangement. Boxes 1-3 consist of annual reports, and there are bound volumes of reports of staff meetings and minutes.

Includes photographs.