Jan

Today in Smithsonian History: January 5, 1982

The striking Panamanian golden frog (Photo by Brian Gratwicke, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute)

January 5, 1982 Construction begins on the new facility for the Earl S. Tupper Tropical Sciences Library at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in the Republic of Panama.

The library is one of the most comprehensive resources for tropical biology and conservation in the world, serving the international and local scientific community, students and the public. The collection contains more than than 66,000 volumes and maintains 500 paper subscriptions to scientific journals. The main topics of the collection are: animal behavior, archaeology, anthropology, biodiversity, canopy studies, conservation, ecology, entomology, evolution, geology, herpetology, history of natural history, indigenous groups, ornithology, marine invertebrates, molecular biology, Panama Canal, Panama Canal watershed, paleoecology, pharmacognosy, plant physiology, plant taxonomy, protected areas, tropical vertebrates and Panamanian history.