On October 29,
the NOAA Central Library dedicated the Charles Fitzhugh Talman Special
Collections 
Room.
This room is of special significance to all of NOAA and much of the
American science community because of its rare and historic documents
encompassing the fields of meteorology, oceanography, geophysics, geodesy,
and fisheries. Over 6,000 documents reside in this room and span over
5 centuries of scientific thought.
The Special
Collections Room is named for Charles Fitzhugh Talman (1874-1936), librarian
of the Weather Bureau from 1908 to 1936. Talman began his career as
a meteorologist with the Weather Bureau and was a pioneer in the hurricane
warning service. He headed the Weather Bureau Library from 1908 to his
death in 1936 and was responsible for starting it on the road to becoming
one of the great meteorological libraries of the world. He was known
as a scholar of meteorological literature, a meteorological lexicographer,
and a tireless advocate of the Weather Bureau through writings and radio
addresses. He prepared 3,000 radio addresses over a ten-year period
under the title "Why the Weather" as well as preparing numerous
articles for the popular press and authoring a number of books on meteorological
topics.
The earliest document
in the Talman Room was printed in 1485 and is a Latin translation of
an essay by Hippocrates on the effect of climate on health. Over 400
additional works printed before 1800 are found in this room. Works by
Kepler, Newton, Franklin, Bouguer, Bernoulli, Hooke, LaPlace, Priestley,
Cavendish, Boyle, and Cook are found among these early volumes as well
as documents written by lesser luminaries. Accounts of tornadoes, hail,
and hurricanes as well as early weather observations at Washington,
D.C., are found here. Revolutionary War era charts of the British colonies
in North America are found in the Talman Room as are charts drawn and
published by Captain James Cook. Illustrations in these early works
include such items as a map of the Gulf Stream and a diagram of a waterspout
by Benjamin Franklin, illustrations of early surveying and meteorological
equipment, and even a variety of monsters, both real and imagined.
Besides these early
works, the history of NOAA ancestor agencies is found in this room in
the Annual Reports of the Superintendent of the Coast Survey, Chief
Signal Officer of the Army, Chief of the Weather Bureau, and Commissioner
of Fish and Fisheries. Stories of scientific progress, adventure, and
disaster are found in the reports. Accounts of the 1900 Galveston Hurricane,
the 1889 Johnstown Flood, the Sea Island Hurricanes of 1893, the Great
St. Louis Tornado of 1896, and other lesser- known disasters are found
side by side with sixteenth century treatises on winds and rains. Complementing
the annual reports are monthly bulletins and newsletters as well as
many important historical documents of our various ancestor agencies.
Publications and accounts of deep sea expeditions are found here also
such as: C. Wyville Thomson's account of the Challenger Expedition;
Robert Fitzroy's account of the voyage of the Beagle with Charles Darwin;
accounts of the German Gazelle, Valdivia, and Meteor Expeditions; Atlantic
expeditions of the Coast Survey Steamer Blake; and accounts of the voyages
of the Fisheries Steamer Albatross.
The Charles Fitzhugh
Talman Special Collections Room encompasses only a small part of the
information available in the NOAA Library System. The NOAA Library System
is comprised of over 30 libraries at numerous locations throughout the
United States. ( See http://www.lib.noaa.gov/docs/map.html.)
The largest library in the system is the NOAA Central Library (NCL)
at http://www.lib.noaa.gov/ in
Silver Spring, Maryland, with approximately 1.5 million documents on
site. The NOAA Library System contains at least another 1.5 million
documents. Collections within the system contain subject matter ranging
from the surface of the sun to the bottom of the sea, over 5 centuries
of scientific thought and information, and a geographic range encompassing
over 100 countries and former colonies around the globe. Online bibliographic
services including pertinent elements of Cambridge Scientific Abstracts,
Web of Science, and First Search provide much of NOAA with access to
millions of scientific abstracts.
Besides books,
journals, and electronic documents the NOAA Central Library at Silver
Spring houses the NOAA image collection. The NOAA Central Library and
the Office of the NOAA Chief Information Officer (CIO) have jointly
developed the NOAA Photo Library at http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/.
The Photo Library presently has over 26,000 images online representing
all major elements of NOAA, both present-day work and historical aspects.
The Library system
works with and serves all elements of NOAA and often works on cooperative
projects with specific offices within NOAA and outside organizations.
Examples of this include the NOAA Aquaculture Information Center at
http://www.lib.noaa.gov/docaqua/frontpage.htm,
the NOAA Marine Protected Area Library at http://www.mpa.gov/mpaservices/library/referencelist.html,
the Coral Reef Information System (CoRIS) Library at http://www.coris.noaa.gov/library/welcome.html,
and Ocean Exploration History at http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/history/history.html.
The Library has also developed the NOAA History site with the Office
of the CIO at http://www.history.noaa.gov/
which contains historical writings, biographical sketches, and even
poetry from NOAA's past. The NOAA Central Library hosts a Brown Bag
Luncheon Seminar Series which has provided an opportunity for speakers
from throughout NOAA, academia, and other government organizations to
present their work to NOAA Headquarters personnel for nearly ten years
now. The 100th Seminar in this series will be hosted early this next
year.
