U.S. National Parasite Collection Records

Collection

Identifier: MS0223

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

This collection documents USDA parasite investigations, especially taxonomic and systematic work, from 1886 to 2003. The content of the collection also covers some of the history of parasitology in North America and globally as early as 1767, and the history of research conducted on helminth (worms) and arthropod species (mainly ticks). Parasite illustrations, including works in original hand-drawn format and in various stages of preparation for publishing, make up the majority of this collection. The second largest group of materials includes lantern slides, negatives, and photographs of parasites. Other materials detail the history of the Animal Parasite Institute and include correspondence, research notes and data, publication drafts, manuscripts, articles, reports, written histories, photographs, motion pictures, journals, clippings, meeting minutes, and artifacts. The collection is comprised of 160 boxes occupying 167 linear feet. Materials are in fair to good condition. There are no restrictions on access or use of the collection.

The extensive collection of documents and images that makes up the U.S. National Animal Parasite Collection Records in the National Agricultural Library’s Special Collections complements the United States National Parasite Collection (USNPC), which is among the largest specimen-based collections in the world. The USNPC, developed and continuously maintained by the USDA since 1892, serves as a national and international resource for research in parasitology. In 2014, the entire USNPC (including fluid specimens, slide specimens, frozen tissues, and reprints) was moved from its long-time home at the USDA’s Henry A. Wallace Beltsville Agricultural Research Center in Maryland to the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.

The document collection at NAL represents significant efforts by USDA scientists to publish and disseminate their research findings. Much of the collection consists of more than fifteen thousand drawings of nearly one thousand parasite species. Scientists rendered drawings of parasites as they examined specimens in the laboratory. These visual representations, along with detailed written notes, were the means by which scientists recorded the characteristics of specific parasite species and prevented the renaming of previously discovered species. Drawings were frequently used to illustrate USDA publications and journal articles. When the Biosystematics and U.S. National Parasite Collection Unit donated their files to the National Agricultural Library between 2001 and 2006, the collection of drawings had been maintained as a reference resource for USDA staff. The parasite drawings of various sizes and formats, along with some related illustrations and photographs used in publications, make up Series I of this collection.

Series II consists of photographic materials, including glass plate positives (lantern slides), glass plate negatives, acetate negatives, and photographic prints. Images in these various formats show individual parasite specimens.

Materials used for a number of projects chronicling the history of the Animal Parasitology Institute compose Series III. Items were gathered by John S. Andrews during his term as a visiting scientist at the Animal Parasitology Institute in the early 1980s. The materials representing the history of the Institute are grouped together, although many were most likely collected from various sources by Andrews to write his publications. Andrews was the former head of helminthological investigations at the Beltsville Parasitology Laboratory, Animal Disease and Parasite Research Division of the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service. He began work for USDA in 1930, and pages from his diary for the years 1930 and 1931 are included among the papers in Series III. Several publications written by Andrews on the history of parasitology are listed in the bibliography. Notes he took while researching and writing these publications appear throughout this series.

Series III is comprised of six subseries. The first, Subseries III.A, contains general historical information about the field of parasitology and parasite research conducted by USDA. Subseries III.B contains photographic materials that document people, facilities, and research activities of the Animal Parasite Institute and the Beltsville Parasitological Laboratory. Of particular note are the photographs of animal research from Beltsville and the USDA’s regional research laboratories, as well as the portraits file, part of which contains studio portraits of prominent parasitologists and veterinary scientists collected by Brayton Howard Ransom in 1913. Subseries III.C consists of a set of portraits, drawn in charcoal, of Animal Parasite Institute staff. The largest group is Subseries III.D, which contains manuscripts and personal papers of Animal Parasite Institute staff. Some highlights of this subseries include John S. Andrews’ notes and drafts for API publications; personal papers of Brayton Howard Ransom, including correspondence and honors; correspondence of Charles Wardell Stiles, including letters from his two years serving as scientific attaché in Berlin during a German embargo on American pork; and Leonard Erwin Swanson’s papers related to swine parasite research conducted at USDA’s regional research laboratories from the mid-1920s to early 1950s. Subseries III.E comprises partial sets of bibliographic and taxonomic information on cestodes, digenes, and nematodes. These sets consist of notes, excerpts, and copies of articles. Finally, in Subseries III.F are motion picture films and filmstrips about animal parasite work, along with notes and transcripts from some of these works.

Series IV consists of the office files of J. Ralph Lichtenfels, former curator of the U.S. National Parasite Collection and Research Leader of the Biosystematic Parasitology Laboratory. Of note is correspondence related to the loan of parasite specimens from the U.S. National Parasite Collection and Animal Parasitology Institute reports highlighting research efforts and accomplishments of the staff.

Series V contains engraved printing blocks used for printing illustrations in USDA publications, journal articles, and textbooks.

Dates

Creation: 1886-2003

Conditions Governing Access

Contact Special Collections for access.

Organizational History

In 1884, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) established the Bureau of Animal Industry. In 1891, the bureau was divided into four sections. Animal parasite research was assigned to the Zoological Laboratory of the Division of Animal Pathology. Charles Wardell Stiles started the laboratory's parasite specimen collection (which became the U.S. National Parasite Collection) and the Index-Catalogue of Medical Veterinary Zoology with his assistant, Albert Hassall. When the USDA eliminated its system of bureaus in 1953, the parasitology lab of the Zoological Division of the Bureau of Animal Industry became the Beltsville (Maryland) Parasitological Laboratory of the Animal Disease and Parasitic Research Branch of the Agricultural Research Service. By the end of the 1960s, the name changed to the National Animal Parasite Laboratory. Since 1972, this unit has been known as the Animal Parasitology Institute.

In 2014, the U.S. National Parasite Collection was transferred to the Smithsonian Institution. The records relating to the activities of the USDA's National Animal Parasite Laboratory, which formerly housed the specimen collection, were transferred to the National Agricultural Library's Special Collections.

Biographical / Historical

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) established the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) in 1884. Under the direction of Daniel Elmer Salmon (Daniel E. Salmon), who oversaw the Department’s veterinary disease experiment station the previous year, the BAI set out to study animal diseases and address the many problems they caused in the domestic and global livestock trade. The first staff of the BAI included Theobald Smith, Fred Kilborne, and Cooper Curtice. Parasitological work began in 1886 under the direction of Curtice.

Expansion of livestock research increased the BAI’s activities. By 1891, the Bureau was made up of four divisions, one of which was the Division of Animal Pathology. This division’s Zoological Laboratory was home to the USDA’s animal parasite research. Curtice, who had been named the assistant in charge of the Zoological Laboratory, resigned in that year and was replaced by Charles Wardell Stiles (Charles W. Stiles). Stiles and his assistant, Albert J. Hassall, began two projects that would eventually reach international prominence in the field of parasitology: the BAI’s Parasite Collection and the Index-Catalogue of Medical Veterinary Zoology. The Zoological Laboratory’s work in parasitology came to be recognized as a distinct entity within the Bureau of Animal Industry. When the Animal Pathology and Biochemic Divisions moved from the Department of Agriculture’s main building in Washington, D.C. to rented space at 1362 B Street, S.W., the laboratory relocated there as well.

The next two decades brought many changes to the Zoological Laboratory. Stiles was appointed scientific attaché to the American Embassy in Berlin, where he served from 1898 to 1899. After his return, he conducted research on hookworm disease in humans and discovered Necator americanus, a hookworm species responsible for widespread illness in the American South. This led to a successful campaign to eradicate hookworms, which resulted in tremendous improvements in the health and economic status of the people in rural communities.

In 1903, Stiles left the BAI to further his work in the public health sector. He joined the U.S. Public Health and Marine Hospital Service, and Brayton Howard Ransom (B.H. Ransom) replaced him as head of the Zoological Laboratory. Hassall continued work on the comprehensive Index-Catalog of Medical Veterinary Zoology, which was published in sections beginning in 1902. In 1906, Ransom became head of the newly-formed Zoological Division and moved its operations into the east wing of the USDA’s new headquarters building two years later. Other important scientists to join the division around this time included Maurice Crowther Hall (M.C. Hall) (1907) and Benjamin Schwartz (1915).

During the 1920s the Zoological Division’s research efforts spread outside the District of Columbia into other states and countries. Experiments conducted at various stations contributed new methods for the control of parasitic diseases in animals and safer meat production. Leadership of the division changed once again as M. C. Hall became the new chief following Ransom’s untimely death in 1925. In 1928, Hall expanded and reorganized the division’s research programs, grouping parasite research projects according to animal host species.

In 1930, the Zoological Division established a field laboratory at the Beltsville, Maryland farm run by the BAI’s Animal Husbandry Division, where its parasitologists had been conducting experiments. Lawrence Avery, who started as a laboratory technician with the division, became the administrative officer of the new field station. By 1931, the Beltsville laboratory was recognized as an autonomous unit of the Zoological Division.

The Bankhead-Jones Act of 1935 enabled the Zoological Division to greatly expand its research programs. The following year, the U.S. National Museum’s Helminthological Collection was combined with the Bureau of Animal Industry’s Parasite Collection at the Beltsville laboratory to form one of the world’s largest specimen-based collections of animal parasites.

M.C. Hall resigned from the Bureau in 1936. Benjamin Schwartz took charge as the last head of the Zoological Division. In 1942, the rest of the Zoological Division was moved from Washington, D.C. to Beltsville to join the laboratory operation.

When the USDA eliminated its system of Bureaus in 1953, the parasitology laboratory of the Zoological Division, Bureau of Animal Industry became the Beltsville Parasitological Laboratory (BPL) of the Animal Disease and Parasitic Research Branch, Agricultural Research Service. By 1961 the laboratory had moved to a 400-acre tract of the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center. The location change expanded the laboratory’s capacity for raising and pasturing farm animals and for conducting pasture experiments.

By the end of the 1960s, the laboratory’s name changed again to the National Animal Parasite Laboratory. In 1972, it became known as the Animal Parasitology Institute.

On January 4, 1984, the Animal Parasitology Institute underwent a major internal reorganization. Its three host-oriented laboratories and the Parasite Classification and Distribution Unit were abolished and replaced by three new laboratories. The titles of these new laboratories reflected the emphasis on the parasite in the Institute’s research program; they included the Helminth Diseases Laboratory, the Protozoan Diseases Laboratory, and the Biosystematics Laboratory.

During the 1990s and early 2000s, the organizational name for parasitological work changed with various reorganizations and consolidation of laboratories. As of 2015, staff conducts research in the Animal Parasitic Disease Laboratory (APDL).

Outline of Organizational Structure of Animal Parasitology Work (From Houck, 1924 and updated thereafter by library staff)

Biographical / Historical

Timeline of major events

1883-1884

Veterinary Division

1884

United States Department of Agriculture established the Bureau of Animal Industry

1886

Zoological Laboratory established within the Bureau of Animal Industry

1886

Start of animal parasitology research at Bureau of Animal Industry

1891

Bureau was divided into four sections with parasite research assigned to the "Zoological Laboratory" of the Division of Animal Pathology

1892

Start of the Index-Catalogue of Medical and Veterinary Zoology and the Parasite Collection

1901

Zoological Laboratory name changed to Zoological Division, Bureau of Animal Industry

1930-1942

Name changed to Beltsville Laboratory of the Zoological Division, Bureau of Animal Industry

1935

The Beltsville Research Center changed name to the Agricultural Research Center

1941

Plant Industry Station move from Arlington Farm to Beltsville, which expanded into the Agricultural Research Center

February 23, 1942

The six research bureaus, the Office of Experiment Stations, and the Beltsville Research Center combined to form the Agricultural Research Administration

1942-1953

Zoological Division, Animal Disease and Parasite Research Branch, Bureau of Animal Industry, Agricultural Research Administration, Beltsville Agricultural Research Center

November 2, 1953

Agricultural Research Administration and the Bureaus were abolished and reformed into the Agricultural Research Service

1953-1957

Name changed to the Beltsville Parasitological Laboratory (BPL) of the Animal Disease and Parasitic Research Branch (ADPRB) of the Agricultural Research Service

1957-1970

Name changed to Beltsville Parasitological Laboratory of the Animal Disease and Parasitic Research Division of the Agricultural Research Service

1970-1971

Name changed to the National Animal Parasite Laboratory,Veterinary Sciences Research Division, Agricultural Research Service

1971-1972

Name changed to the Animal Parasitology Institute, Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, East, Northeastern Region, Agricultural Research Service

January 4, 1984

Animal Parasitology Institute reorganized into three laboratories: Protozoan Diseases Laboratory under Michael D. Ruff, the Helminthic Diseases Laboratory under K. Darwin Murrell, and the Biosystematics Laboratory under J. Ralph Lichtenfels

1990-2000

Name changed to Biosystematics and National Parasite Collection Unit, Livestock and Poultry Sciences Institute, Agricultural Research Service

November 19, 2000-January 12, 2003

Agricultural Research Service reorganized. Name changed to Parasite Biology, Epidemiology and Systematics Laboratory, Animal and Natural Resources Institute, Agricultural Research Service

2004

Name changed to Animal Parasitic Disease Laboratory (APDL)

June 2014

The U.S. National Animal Parasite Collection (specimens) was transferred to the Smithsonian Institution and National Museum of History; USDA no longer has operational controls for the collection but does have responsibility for management of materials and specimens

Total Size of Collection

81 records_box

1 letter_document_box

25 boxes (11 boxes, 25 x 19.5 x 2.5; 1 box, 24.75 x 21 x 1.5; 1 box, 25 x 21 x 3; 2 boxes, 31 x 25 x 1.5; 1 box, 31 x 25 x 2.5; 1 box, 22.5 x 15.5 x 2; 5 shoeboxes, 12.5 x 8 x 5.75; 2 wooden boxes, 18.5 x 21.5 x 6; 1 wooden box, 5.5 x 15 x 4.5)

182 Linear Feet (168 boxes (Total number of boxes from Access record does not agree with box subtotals))

15 Linear Feet (12 boxes of various sizes)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Content Description

The U.S. National Parasite Collection Records contain photographs, line drawings, lantern slides, and negatives of animal parasites. Many of the drawings were used as illustrations for U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) publications. There are copies of articles, reprints, and several manuscripts, materials on the history of animal parasitology in USDA, including biographical information on various scientists, photographs, and documents prepared for the centennial anniversary of the Bureau of Animal Industry. The materials also include a large diagram of ticks and tick anatomy, hand-drawn on fabric by parasitologist Cooper Curtice, which he used in a presentation before the Biological Society of Washington in 1934.