USDA's Contributions to Veterinary Parasitology

Illustration of dorsal and ventral views of male Boophilus annulatus. Quote overlaid: 'The [parasite collection] records are important in illuminating the history of parasitology in North America and globally and the history of research conducted on helminth (worms) and arthropod species-mostly ticks-of economic importance in North America.'--Dr. Eric Hoberg, 'History Comes Alive at the National Agricultural Library', Agricultural Research Magazine, August 2012

About the Exhibit

This exhibit is based on an extensive collection of late nineteenth and early twentieth century documents, drawings, photographs, lantern slides, negatives, and publications from the U.S. National Animal Parasite Collection Records. The materials were collected by scientists working in the Biosystematics and U.S. National Parasite Collection Unit in Beltsville, Maryland. These papers were transferred to the National Agricultural Library's Special Collections between 2001 and 2015 and are now available to the public for historical research.

The collection of papers chronicling the USDA's veterinary parasitology work complements the United States National Parasite Collection (USNPC), a scientific specimen collection that is among the largest of its kind in the world. In 2014, the entire USNPC (including fluid and 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.

 

Related Collections in Special Collections

Photograph of Albert Hassal going through the drawer of a card catalog.