Images

This desk, used in the field, was originally made for the US Army. The drawers all pull into the desk and the writing surface of the desk then folds up for transport. Often, scientists took advantage of surplus items for their field work.
Object ID: USGS-000017

This is one of many heavy, canvas and leather panniers. They were used by Arnold Hague in the late 1800s and are no longer made or used. Many are imprinted with "US Geol. Sur."
Object ID: USGS-000037

This canvas cinch was developed by Dr. J. D. Love. This type of cinch was used to protect sores from developing on animals that carried surveying or camp equipment for field scientists.
Object ID: USGS-000039

This is one of many objects used by field scientists in the care of their animals. This type of halter was used to provide an easy way to hold on to animals that might otherwise become unruly or wander away.
Object ID: USGS-000076

This is one of many objects used by scientists in the care of their animals. This hobble, consisting of two leather straps connected with a chain, was placed around the feet of an animal to keep it from straying far.
Object ID: USGS-000084

This is a replica of a watercolor done by James Hutton when he was doing his field work in Scotland. It is titled, Frederick Street, Edinburgh.
Object ID: USGS-575011

The soles of made of heavy-duty rubber with metal studs.
Object ID: USGS-000212

This is a telescopic alidade in which a pendulum device, or compensator replaces the conventional bubble for establishing a horizontal reference line from which vertical angles may be measured. Alidades were the primary mapping instrument in the U.S. from about 1865 to the 1980s, when they were replaced by the total station.

This Rembrandt Portrait Studio Camera uses sheet film negatives. AGFA was the abbreviation for Actien-Gesellschaft für Anilin-Fabrikation, given in 1873 to a company that had been founded in Berlin in 1867.
Object ID: USGS-000322

The rectangular base (blade) features two different types of spirit levels and a trough compass. Manufactured by W. & L.E. Gurley, Troy, New York.
Object ID: USGS-000328

Model #6367, believed to be manufactured December 15, 1898 by the Weston Electrical Instrument Company, Newark, New Jersey. Edward Weston introduced this type of meter in 1889 and was a serious competitor of Thomas Edison in the development of electricity.

Prism level manufactured by C.L. Berger & Sons, serial# 16898. The company was founded by Christian Louis Berger (1842-1922) who was born at Stuttgart, Germany and moved to Boston in 1866. In 1871 he joined with George Louis Buff, and began trading as Buff & Berger.

Also known as a Forrester's Compass or Miner's Compass, a dip (or dipping) needle is an instrument for measuring the intensity of the earth's magnetic field. It is used to locate buried or hidden metal. Manufactured by W. & L.E. Gurley, Troy, New York.
Object ID: USGS-000345

Distilling Apparatus or Still. The prominent feature of this antique lab equipment is the spherical copper globe. Object ID: USGS-000240

Shipwrecks and other artificial structures increase the potential for large invasions of unwanted species into coral reefs, even relatively pristine ones. In this picture, a shipwreck in the remote Palmyra Atoll in the central Pacific Ocean resulted in the dense colonization of an invasive coral-like species called Rhodactis howesii, pictured here.

2006 oblique-angle aerial photo of South Cascade Glacier, northwestern Washington State, looking approximately south-southeast.

USGS Researcher Calin Tatu sampling a spring in a Balkan endemic nephropathy (BEN) village in Romania. Samples of water are tested for the presence of toxic organic compounds that are linked to BEN.

USGS researcher examining bass for abnormalities in the field.

Researchers implant a radio transmitter in a 16-foot, 155-pound female Burmese python (Python molurus) at the South Florida Research Center, Everglades National Park. Radio-tracking builds understanding of where pythons spend their time and therefore where they can be controlled in practice. Photo courtesy of Lori Oberhofer, National Park Service.

Wright Todd applies light-sensitive color solution to a base sheet on a photo lab whirler. This method was used for generating color-composite proofing of map separate registration.

Some of the larger wind energy facilities in North America are composed of hundreds of wind turbines dispersed across tens of thousands of acres, like this one in Colorado.